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The Mountains of AlicanteLand of the Moors
Fertile valleys coated in almond groves, craggy Nights: 7
Starting point: Hotel de Tárbena (2*), Tárbena. You are warmly welcomed to Valencia and the Hotel de Tárbena by Paco, who runs this tranquil, well-appointed village hotel and prepares excellent breakfasts and delicious home-cooked dinners for you. Day 1: your first walk is an excellent introduction to the region, revealing very varied landscapes and passing several breathtaking viewpoints from which you can admire the panorama of hills, gorges and fertile valleys. Watered by numerous springs, the area has been cultivated for centuries, and you pass many almond, avocado and carob groves. (16km, 6hrs) Accommodation: Hotel de Tárbena, as above. Day 2: today’s walk, a real highlight, is a very varied journey through a changing landscape. After passing through a cultivated valley, you follow an old muleteers’ trail to reach another broad valley of orchards. From here you rise into the hills to the south to reach the incredible double-arched rock formation of Els Arcs. Continuing with great views of interlocking valleys, you wind down into the town of Castell de Castells. You can shorten the walk by taking an alternative route for the last section. (20km, 7hrs or 17km, 6hrs) Accommodation: Casa Pilar (rural inn), Castell de Castells. Lovingly converted from a traditional townhouse, this is a small, family-run hotel where charming owners Pilar and Juanjo have created a relaxed, friendly atmosphere. Dinner and breakfast are served in the old vaulted stables. Day 3: our first suggested circular route from Castell de Castells starts with a short transfer (pay locally), after which you walk along the floor of a gorge planted with almond and olive trees to the site of some fascinating 8,000-year-old Neolithic cave paintings, which you have time to visit. You return to Castell on paths and tracks that follow the course of a dry riverbed. (17.5km, 6hrs) Accommodation: Casa Pilar, as above. Day 4: for your second day at Castell, we offer a choice of two circular routes. The first ascends past olive, almond and carob groves to La Llacuna, so named because it was once the site of a former mountain lake. Nowadays it is home to considerable numbers of partridges and even quails. The second rises through the hills south of the town to reach a ruined Moorish watchtower which perches on precipitous crags, affording sweeping views for miles around. You return along an equally panoramic ridge. (10.5km, 4.5hrs or 13km, 5hrs) Accommodation: Casa Pilar, as above. Day 5: this is the easiest walk of the holiday. After a scenic hour-long transfer across the sierra through changing landscapes, you ascend to the Benifallim Pass and then descend gently into the lush Rabosina Valley, passing abandoned farmsteads immersed in rich meadows and almond groves. (8.5km, 3hrs) Accommodation: Hotel Sester (country house), near Torre de les Maçanes. This is an elegant country hotel, with a good restaurant. There is a pleasant garden in which to relax in warm weather and the individually decorated bedrooms all have a balcony. Day 6: your last day's walk takes you up to the peaks and ridges above Torre de les Maçanes, rewarding you in clear weather with sweeping views of the coast. During the ascent, you pass an abandoned ice well. From the rounded summit of Els Plans (1,330 metres), you descend along drovers' trails through hidden valleys back to the town. (16km, 6hrs) Accommodation: Hotel Sester, as above. Walking chart: the chart gives the distance and an approximation of the ascents and descents involved each day. If comparing holidays, please note the scale of each chart as this can differ.
Recommendations for extra nights: Hotel Sester (Torre de les Maçanes) for a well earned day of relaxation. Other information: if you would like to see the brochure page, you can download this (and the pages for any other holidays you are interested in) by using our brochure creation system for the summer and spring/autumn/winter editions of our Walking and More programme. Similar holidays: Valleys of Las Alpujarras (grade 2), Pyrenees to the Garrotxa (grade 2), White Towns & Rugged Mountains (grade 2-3), Cyprus' Scented Slopes (grade 2), The Mountains of Sicily (grade 2) Prices & travel 2008:
*Connecting travel: return taxi from Alicante airport (out/home 1h) £90pp Extra night prices 2008 (extra nights can be booked at any hotel):
> Notes on prices > Any queries? Let us call you back  |
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Just
twenty-five kilometres from the Costa Blanca, as the crow flies, rise
the secret mountains of Alicante. This is another world completely, where
terraced slopes, dotted with small villages, climb towards craggy limestone
peaks that soar over a thousand metres into the sky. As you walk, you
discover sweeping views and also reminders of the region's multi-layered
history to which not only the Moors, but also the Iberians, Romans and
even Mallorcans, have contributed.
Around Tárbena 
