Les Salines de Manuel is a municipal natural site of 28 hectares, of great landscape value, which is located next to the town of Manuel.
It is a protected space of high ecological and historical value, as it was an old salt mine of the army, now turned into a large green lung.
The exploitation was possible thanks to the composition of the so-called Serra de les Salines, formed by a rich combination of mineral salts from sandy rocks, limestone, reddish clay and other materials, giving rise to what we know as "common salt" . Due to the presence of all these minerals, the vegetation has the particular characteristic of being different from that of other places, either because of the adaptation to the terrain or because of the abundant foliage.
This is why the site of Les Salines de Manuel houses two very different types of vegetation. On the one hand, the white pine forest with its traditional companions (lentiscle, coscolla, margallon, rosemary, rudder, buckthorn, juniper, etc.); and for another, the saline outcrops, where a Valencian endemic known as Limonium mansanetianum grows in honor of José Mansanet, the great botanist of Simat de la Valldigna. Next to this grass, capable of filtering salt water and expelling the salt through the leaves, grow several tamarinds, trees more typical of coastal areas.
The circular route of the area, known as the Ruta de la Sal, is divided into 3 paths, which make up a total of approximately 4 kilometers, all signposted. On the way, you will meet a hill called the "wall of bullets", used in the past for shooting exercises by the army, which had an Engineers and Sappers School here between 1906 and 1996. There is also the Paret del Moro , which are the remains of a Muslim fortification from the 10th century; the remains of an old machine gun nest and trenches; buildings of the old salt exploitation; or the birth of salt water that supplied the salt pans, as well as the recreational area.
Les Salines de Manuel, full of vegetation and pines adapted to salt, was exploited since ancient times by the Romans, being handed over a little over a century ago to the army, who finally handed it over to the population to be recovered for the use and enjoyment of visitors as a natural site.
The military use lasted until 1996, although it was not until 2006 when the Manuel City Council acquired the land to be used for sports, a rural tourism center and the adaptation of the area as a municipal natural site and the adaptation of various hiking routes.