10/11/2013
The main bulk of shops in the municipality are in the main high street and side streets of Pilar de la Horadada itself.
Shoppers will find all of their main needs catered for with a good selection of all types of general retail shops, as well as a market on Friday mornings.
Two large supermarkets are located between Pilar de la Horadada itself and the beaches, concentrated near to the entrance of the main high street, with good parking for camper vans and larger vehicles.
Torre de la Horadada has a smaller number of retail shops, but is well serviced for basic everyday items, and Campoverde also has 2 retail areas with a range of products and services, although in both instances the main bulk of shopping is undertaken in the centre of Pilar de la Horadada itself.
Not far down the main road, between San Javier and San Pedro del Pinatar, is the Dos Mares shopping centre, and the major shopping centres of Murcia and Cartagena are also both under an hour away by car.
The Parque Mediterraneo complex in Cartagena is only a twenty-five minute drive away: apart from numerous clothes stores it includes a large supermarket, a Media Markt, Toys ‘R’ Us, Decathlon and Leroy Merlin. Those who enjoy their shopping in a more traditional environment can also visit Cartagena’s old city centre, where the pedestrian streets are full of colourful small shops, some traditional and some part of large international franchises, interspersed with bars and restaurants. The largest department store in the city is El Corte Inglés, which is located about a mile north of the Town Hall.
A similar distance away is the regional capital of Murcia, where the city centre is a shopper’s paradise, combining major chain stores with smaller traditional establishments in the central pedestrian streets, such as Platería and Trapería. The city centre is a maze of small streets clustered around the major thoroughfare of the Gran Vía, and the temptations to stop and have a coffee or a bite to eat in the myriad squares and terraces are hard to resist! In Murcia El Corte Inglés is just off the northern end of the Gran Vía, where it merges with Avenida Libertad.
Outside the centre to the north are the city’s two major out-of-town shopping centres, Thader and Nueva Condomina. Those who enjoy clothes shops will be in seventh heaven here, and among all the establishments touting their wares there are also numerous eateries. Outside the main concourses are other larger superstores, including Ikea, Media Markt, Leroy Merlin and Porcelanosa, where the number of foreign visitors normally ensures that sales staff are able to communicate in English.
Local street markets
These offer a chance to purchase a wide range of household items, clothing and fresh foodstuffs, Spanish street markets a popular and pleasurable place to spend a couple of hours shopping. Fresh fruit and vegetables are always very popular in street markets, as are dried fruits, sweets and nibbles, olives and no market is complete without a freshly roasted chicken stall.
Local markets to Pilar de la Horadada are held on the following days:
SAN PEDRO DEL PINATAR: Monday morning
ORIHUELA: Tuesday morning
MIL PALMERAS: Tuesday afternoon
SANTIAGO DE LA RIBERA: Wednesday morning
TORRE DE LA HORADADA: Wednesday afternoon (summer only)
SAN JAVIER: Thursday morning
LO PAGAN: Thursday morning
TORREVIEJA: Friday morning
PILAR DE LA HORADADA: Friday morning in Calle Isla, around 130 stalls.
Click for map, Calle Isla Pilar de la Horadada from 8am to 2.30pm
LA REGIA: Saturday morning
ORIHUELA COSTA – PLAYA FLAMENCA (C/ Nicolás de Bussi): Saturday morning
PINAR DE CAMPOVERDE: Sunday morning
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