Part of the municipality is coastal, but the city itself is approximately 15 km from the Mediterranean Sea.
The small Vinalopó stream flows through the city.
Elche is the center of the shoe industry in Spain.
The main airport of the province of Alicante is located in the municipality of Elche and serves both Elche and Alicante, being the fifth busiest airport in Spain.
Together with Alicante and other municipalities, Elche forms a metropolis with a population of approximately 800,000 people.
The city is famous for its urban Palm Grove, a World Heritage Site.
Alcudia is located 10 km from the current city and is the immediate predecessor of the current Elche.
This original site was settled by the Greeks and later occupied by the Carthaginians and Romans.
Greek Ionian colonists from the Achaean city of Helike founded their new colony, calling it Helike, around 600 BC.
It was a point of resistance to the Carthaginian advance in Spain between the First and Second Punic Wars.
The Romans named the city Ilici or Illice and granted it the status of a colony;
After a short Byzantine rule, the Goths came to power, founding an episcopal see.
Elche lost importance during the Moorish occupation, when it was moved slightly further north to its current location.
James II of Aragon retook the city from the Moors in the 13th century during the Reconquista.
The town grew throughout the 18th century and became more important in the 19th century with the arrival of the railway and the rapid industrial development of what had been the traditional shoe industry.