Altea was a scenic 4 hour drive from Granada. You approach the town through the outskirts of Benidorm with its ugly high rises and scruffy highway of storefronts catering to the tourist and expat markets.
Altea old town
I was on the brink of wishing myself back in Portugal, but then turned a corner, drove up a hill and emerged into Altea, which turned out to be a perfect hilltop town, as unlike Benidorm as you could imagine.
My room was comfortable with a little terrace and right on the edge of the old town. Everything was very reasonably priced and the atmosphere was friendly.
Altea old town looks and feels quite glamorous with well-dressed crowds and stylish boutiques – but it’s also very accessible and easy-going. It was mainly populated by weekending Spaniards with a few holidaymakers from the UK and Europe. I arrived on Friday night and by Monday, it was noticeably quieter.
The white buildings and stairways give everything a Greek island feel. I didn’t have chance to explore all the eateries, but there was a big selection of gorgeous restaurants and rooftop bars.
Altea at sea level
I braved the steep 20-minute climb down to sea level both days I was there and really enjoyed walking along the sea front. The pebbly beaches and promenade are much more modern than the old town, but just as nice in their own way.
The Comunitat Valenciana and the Valencian language (a dialect of Catalan) is much in evidence in the signage. I like the logo – it’s as colourful as Miró’s Spanish tourism sun logo.
On my second day, I met up with a friend, Gill, from Tavira who just happened to be passing through.
More than just a holiday town
Altea is well connected as it’s on a train line running along the coast to Benidorm in one direction and Dénia in the other. The town has an arts centre, music conservatory and university campus.
After two days and three nights of doing very little, I set off north towards Valencia with the aim of dropping in on some other Costa Blanca towns along the steep and winding coast road.
First up was Calp. The town centre looked just like Benidorm, so I gave it a wide berth.
The scenery gradually got nicer with every available inch of hillside crammed with villas, mostly very luxurious-looking.
Moraira
The next destination was Moraira and this was a lot more promising.
Although it lacks Altea’s spectacular old town, it has a lovely promenade and very accessible town beach. Dogs are banned on the beach but I spotted a German Shepherd retrieving sticks in a secluded inlet and let Lottie off the lead to play in the water for a while.
Moraira has more than its fair share of public statues.
And there was a touching monument to Chester B. Himes, an African-American thriller writer, and his cat Paco.
There were plenty of bars and restaurants for refreshment, including a venerable Irish pub.
Jávea (Xàbia) and Dénia
After passing many more mountainsides packed with precipitously-perched villas along the rugged coast road, I arrived in Jávea. This was a much bigger hillside town with some out-of-town beaches and a nice-looking old quarter with a lot of tourists in evidence.
It was getting late by then, so I just had time for a quick stop in Dénia, which turned out to be a big port town with a beach and ferries to and from the Balearics.
Next stop: Santa Bàrbara just over the border in Catalonia near the Delta de l’Ebra natural park.
