The 326,5 square kilometres of the extensive district of Elche offer the visitor a wide range of landscapes, habitats, flora and fauna, divided between three different ecosystems. The hills and mountains which form the sierras or ranges of the inland part of the district, the sand dune areas on the coast and the typical Mediterranean coastal wetlands, which lie between the other two areas.

The wetlands of Elche constitute some of the most important in the Autonomous Valencian Region and form some of the last vestiges of the extensive marshlands or salt marshes in existance along its coastal strip. Only the Valencian Albufera region exceeds the area of El Hondo Nature Reserve, which lies between between Elche and Crevillente, in ecological and ornithological importance.

The Clot de Galvany Nature Reserve, which forms part of the wetlands of the small town of Balsares, and connects them with the dune systems of Arenales and Carabassí, constitutes another noteworthy element of Elche´s rich environmental heritage