Formentera Del Segura Area Guide

As its name indicates, Formentera del Segura is located on the left bank of the Segura river and shares the mill and the waterwheel with the population of Benijófar. Its municipal term includes the hamlet of Los Palacios. The town is located 10 km from Guardamar del Segura which is on the Mediterranean coast. It has municipal borders with Benijófar, Daya Nueva, DayaVieja, Rojales, San Fulgencio and Las Heredades, a district of Rojales and Almoradí.

Formentera del Segura belonged to the municipality of Orihuela until 1731, the date on which it became independent through the Alfonsine privilege. The 1829 earthquake, in which more than 100 residents died, destroyed the town; the heirs of the local marquis of the time were in charge of rebuilding the town, which culminated in 1840 with the building of the church.

Formentera del Segura has 3,518 inhabitants (INE 2007). Of these, 1927 reside in the nucleus of Formentera del Segura, 1591 in the district of Los Palacios and the rest spread throughout the municipality. The area of greatest growth in recent is  Los Palacios, which almost doubled from 750 inhabitants in 2001 to 1456 in 2006. According to the 2007 census, 36.6% of the population is of foreign nationality, mainly British and, to a lesser extent, Moroccans, Ecuadorians and nationals of other European countries.

The town is approximately 10 minutes by car from Ciudad Quesada and 30 minutes from Alicante El Altet airport.

There are many more bars and restaurants in Formentera than one may expect to find in a village of its size. One popular explanation for this is that some years ago a local lottery syndicate hit the jackpot “ El Gordo” in the Christmas lottery and invested their winnings in the local hostelry trade.