Spain is a country that we definitely want to explore further, but I’m glad we had the chance to glimpse it during a family trip to Dénia.

After spending a few days in Ireland, we set off to Spain with Clare’s family. Initially, we didn’t know where to go in Spain, and in the end, we made the decision based on where we could get a cheap flight. The final answer was Valencia. We booked a small house on Airbnb in Dénia, about an hour and a half from Valencia.

However, due to “slight” miscommunication and the fact that Dénia is halfway between Valencia and Alicante, we ended up on two different flights. Luckily, the flight times worked well, and so Clare and I rented a car in Valencia and drove first to Alicante to pick up her family, before we headed back to Dénia. The drive wasn’t the comfiest as the car was pretty much packed, but we survived.

The small villa in Dénia was nice and cozy, with a small terrace, garden, and a pool. It was also a bit on the outskirts of the town, so not busy with cars or other people, but still only a 5-minute walk from the beach.

Dénia

The first evening, we walked to the town (about a 25-minute walk) and enjoyed some beers and dinner. We ended up eating at La Barqueta, but we weren’t very happy with the food, so maybe give it a miss if you’re ever around. The town center doesn’t have a square, but it’s criss-crossed with small streets, which are full of different places to eat.

Some notable places to mention include the Calle del Marqués de Campo, the main, tree-lined artery of Dénia, and Els Magazinos, a food market featuring various food stalls and restaurants. There are no restaurants near the water in the town center, but we went for two dinners to Mala Vita on the Port de Dénia pier.

The next day, we went to explore the town. We walked along the port, passing the Castell de Dénia on the left, all the way to the beaches in the northern part of the town. Then we turned back and crossed under the Castle via the Túnel del Castell (Castle Tunnel). That was actually pretty cool. They have some information written about the use of the tunnel during the war, and there was also a small art display.

Once on the other side, we navigated the narrow streets up to the Denia Castle. The Castle – a fortress, to be precise – itself has seen better times, but the view from there is perfect and definitely a must-stop if you are in the town. There is also a small museum at the entrance to the Castle and a few open rooms in the upper part of it that you can visit. There is a small fee to enter.

We finished the walk by strolling through the small streets of Dénia and slowly returning to our wee villa.

I can’t finish talking about Dénia and not mentioning our chosen vacation bar, Eden Bar. I think it was the second day when we went out, we had a wee stop there for a pint, and it became our spot for the next couple of days. On the second last day, I believe we were there until closing, but surprisingly, I can’t really remember…

Hiking

It wouldn’t be a holiday if we couldn’t find some time for at least a bit of hiking. We managed to get three hikes done that were relatively close to Dénia. We usually left early in the morning (when it was still dark), so we could be back with the family around noon.

#1: Massís del Montgó

The first thing you see when you arrive in Denia is the mountain that the town is hidden behind. So it just made sense for this to be our first hike. We weren’t that determined to make it for a sunrise at the top, but we left early before the sun was up.

Since we stayed in the southern part of the town, we didn’t take a car to get to the trailhead, but instead walked from our villa. It was about 5 km just to get to the trail through the neighborhood, but it was nice and quiet in the morning. Once we reached the start of the trail, the path started zig-zagging up to the highest peak of the Montogo Massif.

Here we actually met a couple of Czech people just heading down after seeing the sunrise.

The path is mostly rocky, but well laid out. But after about 2 km of walking up, the path ends, and the 500 meters left took some time, as we had to follow the ridge of the mountain. There wasn’t any climbing involved, but we had to get over a few “boulders”. We made it up in just over 2 hours with 7.7 km behind us.

The way down was actually way more complicated than we thought. We didn’t go back the same way, but instead continued across the Massif to complete a loop. Since the path was rocky and almost looked like uneven stairs in some places, it took a long time to cross to the other side. We “only” had less than 3 km to go, but it took us almost an hour and a half to get to the edge and find the way down. The next part was very steep, and we had to “climb” down about 350 meters in elevation in 1 km.

We were back down after 4 hours and had to just find the way back home. We followed the mountainside for a while until we found a small trail that led us to the streets below. From there, we navigated the streets of the town back home, getting lost twice, when we reached a fence we couldn’t cross. It was a warm day, and the hike was harder than we thought, so we finished it with breakfast and Coke (I wish they had a beer) at a small restaurant that we found in one of the back streets.

#2: Puig Campana (1406 m)

This was the hardest of the three hikes. We were up again early in the morning since the drive was also the longest – yes, for the next two hikes we had to drive a bit. It took about an hour to get to the trailhead (there is a parking lot with a 24/7 toilet – a surprisingly clean one). It was still slightly dark when we got there, but there were already a few cars in the parking lot and fellas ready for a trail run. Since they looked like pros, we knew right away that this would be a good hike if they used it for training.

The main trailhead (the one we used) is on the south side of the mountain. There is a way up from the south, but we read that it is steep and, more importantly, more of a scree than a path, so we chose not to do it. We instead took the marked way, which is from the north side. We wanted to make a loop around the Puig Campana and decided to go in a clockwise direction.

The first part of the hike – the left side of the circle – was 5 km with almost 500 meters of elevation gain. I don’t know why we were so pumped for the hike that day, but we were finished with this part in under an hour and right away continued on our way up.

The main climb is also 500 meters, but this time, half the distance! The first kilometer was gradual, but then the rocky zig-zags started, and it got tougher. In about 500 meters, we reached a plateau between the peaks Portell (1245 m) and Puig Campana (1406 m) – this is also where the more direct (scree) path leads. From there, it was again a more gradual finish to the peak. We finished in 1:55 hours and 7.5 km.

We used the same way down (not many options there…), but turned right at the bottom to finish the loop around the eastern side of the mountain. This was a longer route than at the start – about 6.5 km – and it took a bit longer, since it didn’t really start descending until we cleared the mountain. We met a few more people (and dogs) on this path, and there was also an old well and caves along the way. In total, it took us another two and a half hours to get back to the car.

We finished with a quick walk through the town of Finestrat – very nice actually – and a beer at one of the local pubs.

#3: Bèrnia

We had a hike to Bèrnia planned for the day before last, but because we were drinking a wee bit too much the night before, we couldn’t muster the strength to get out of bed. But once our heads cleared, we “rescheduled” it to the last day of our trip with just a little adjustment of walking up at 4 am in the morning to have enough time to complete it and get back to make it for our flight back to Ireland.

The trail wasn’t too far away from Denia (only about 40 km), but since half of the journey was on this very narrow and winding road, it took almost an hour to get there. It was easier to drive in the morning, as we could see headlights coming the other way.

We started when it was still dark, as we were in a hurry. Again, we planned to make a loop around the mountain – this time counterclockwise. The path is gradual and easy to follow. It went up until we reached the westermost part of the loop, and then it flattened. Here we enjoyed some nice views and even spotted some Ibexes running down a hill in front of us.

Once we got to the southern side of the mountain, we came upon the ruins of the Bernia Fort. It was enclosed by a fence, but easy to get under it to check it out. There were even some signs with the history of the fort, but they weren’t readable.

There was an option to continue further up to the Bèrnia Peak (1126 m), but since we didn’t have time, we followed the traverse along the side of the mountain instead. This was mostly flat with small undulations. There were some small caves along the path, and as we were getting to the end of the loop, we took a small detour to the Pinturas rupestres de l’Ermita del Vicari. This was a site of prehistoric rock paintings, dating back to the Epipaleolithic or early Neolithic period (roughly 8,000–4,000 BCE). There was an information board with enlarged pictures of the art and a description. The paintings were then located on the wall of the mountain behind steel bars. I’m not going to lie, we tried and tried, but we couldn’t see shit.

At the end of the traverse came probably the coolest part of the hike – a tunnel that led through the mountain. Rather than going around, this was a cool way to get to the other side. Once there, the path followed the side of the mountain and started descending back to the main road we came from.

In the end, we did 9.5 km in 2:40 hours with almost 500 meters of elevation. Nice and easy hike that is made special by the tunnel crossing and the fort along the way.

A wee bit extra – #4: Castell de la Granadella

One of the days, we took the car and went for a short trip to the town called Calp. On the way there, we made a stop at the Granadella Beach. This is a very popular stop, so at the top of the hill (the last 2 km), there was a fella who was organizing the traffic, so it didn’t get too packed. We didn’t want to stay there for too long, so rather than going all the way to the beach and dealing with the traffic (and possibly paying for parking), we left the car at a small forest parking lot, about a kilometer away from the beach. It was a good decision as it wasn’t early in the morning and the place was overflowing with cars and people.

Before we reached the beach, we took a right turn and headed up towards the cliff on the southern side of the beach. There, we found a path beside a house that led us along the cliff to the Granadella Castle. It was just a small ruin, but the path was quite nice as the water below us in the cove looked amazing. However, the path is very rocky and occasionally slippery, so we wouldn’t recommend it in flip-flops. The round trip ended up being 3 km from the beach intersection.

Later, we reached Calp and wanted to hike to the top of Penyal d’Ifac, a limestone outcrop that rises dramatically from the Mediterranean Sea on the coast of the town. But when we got to the entrance to the National Park, we found out that we were too late for the day. They were not letting anyone up after 1 pm. Plus, they told us that it’s better to have a permit arranged ahead of time.

We used the extra time to walk along the beach, stopped for an ice cream, and on the way back to Denia, we made a short stop in a town called Benissa. It was a small town, and we only took a short stroll around the main square. We checked out the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception and St. Peter the Apostle and stopped for a quick beer.

A sightseeing trip

One of the days, we gathered everyone and set off to explore the old town of Guadalest, or rather, the old castle, Castell de Guadalest. It was a nice trip, not too far away. Google Maps says it should be just over an hour drive, but it took us closer to an hour and a half with all the twisty roads towards the end.

The castle is located at the top of a hill overlooking a village that is now full of shops and restaurants, and doesn’t look like any people live there permanently anymore. But clearly, it’s a very well-known sight in the area because the village was buzzing with people, and we had a hard time finding parking. There were several paid parking lots, but they seemed full, and we also didn’t want to pay, so we found a spot at the edge of the village, only about 5 minutes walk from the entrance to the castle.

As we approached the main castle gate, we could see that the castle was partially carved into the rock and its stone walls were blending seamlessly with the rugged cliffs. I can’t remember now, but I don’t think there was any entry fee to the fortress itself, though we paid a few euros (around 4) to enter the Museum of Casa Orduña, directly on the right as we entered the grounds from the St. Josep Gate. The museum is also an entry point to the ruins at the top, so it was definitely worth paying for. We got to walk on the palisades and get a better view of the whole fort.

Later, we walked around the courtyard (the entrance there is free) and bought a few souvenirs. We wanted to get a drink somewhere, but the village was small and busy at the same time, and we couldn’t find anything that would suit. Instead, we headed back to the car and made a wee stop in a village called Polop.

We parked near the center of the town and went for a short walk to the main square to check out the church we could see from the road. Polop was actually very nice. It was quiet, and we were there just around siesta time, so it felt like we were the only people in the village. We made it to the top of the village to visit the old Polop Castle. There wasn’t much to see, but still a good stop and a wee stroll up a hill. I managed to find an open bakery and get us a fresh loaf, so we made a small picnic near our car before we left the village.

On the way home

We left early in the morning to drop half of the family at Alicante airport, and because we had some extra time, Clare and I headed back towards Valencia. We didn’t plan on doing much and just wanted to stretch our legs and get a coffee. As always, we didn’t have data, so we couldn’t do any research on the way where to stop except with our offline maps, so we ended up stopping in the town of Xàtiva.

We were very surprised by how much there was in a random town along the way. We saw there were even historic routes to follow around the town, so we followed them a bit. We found out that Xàtiva used to be an important strategic and commercial center, especially during the Moorish and medieval Christian periods. Xàtiva is also famous as the birthplace of the Borgia (Borja) family, including two popes.

We spent a bit over an hour walking around the town and stopping for a coffee next to the Collegiate Basilica of Santa Maria. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to go further and didn’t visit the fortress complex of Xàtiva Castle, perched on a ridge above the town.