The municipality has an area of 367.19 km2, and stretches all the way down to the Mediterranean coast, west of Torrevieja, and had a total population of 92,000 inhabitants at the beginning of 2013.

This includes not only the city of Orihuela, but also the coastal tourist development hub (urbanización turística) of Dehesa de Campoamor with 33,277 inhabitants (2013) and a few other villages.

The city was settled by Romans who called it Orcelis and subsequently Aurariola (Latin: "breeze").

Between 1988 and 2006 various research studies from the Universities of Andalusia, Castile and Murcia demonstrated that Orihuela was more culturally part of Murcia than Valencia in terms of phonetics, lexicon, architecture, agriculture, folklore, musical celebrations, instruments, language, burial customs, gastronomy and varieties.

This is due to the perception among the largely foreign born population of Orihuela Costa that they are being unfairly treated by the local government.

[10] The metropolitan area of Orihuela includes the eleven municipalities of Vega Baja del Segura: Benejúzar, Benferri, Beniel, Bigastro, Callosa de Segura, Cox, Jacarilla, Rafal, Redován and Santomera.

[1] The agriculture of Orihuela is based on lemons, oranges, almonds, olives, palm trees, pomegranates, cotton, hemp and vegetables.

The tourism industry is today the single most important sector in the economy, and has been the main engine of growth for Orihuela in the 21st century.

The medieval town center houses five National Monuments and an urban layout that is the result of its former rank as a University Centre and Episcopal See.