IT’S always a contest in my family to be the first to spot El Elefante, the elephant-shaped mountain of Costa Blanca town Javea.
Its proper name is Montgo but it’s rarely called that.
I’ve been visiting this part of Spain for years, and Javea, around 90km from Alicante and 100km from Valencia, is a favourite.
A far cry from Benidorm, just 50km to the south, the coastal town is also popular with Spanish holidaymakers — and a break here feels wonderfully healthy because it is recognised by the World Health Organisation as having one of the best climates in the world — sunny and mild year-round, and with low humidity.
Javea is divided into three areas — the port, Playa Arenal (the main beach), and the old town full of medieval alleyways.
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In the old town, tourists can visit its centrepiece, the 15th-century gothic gem of San Bartolome Church, which is riddled with bullet holes dating from the Spanish Civil War.
It is also where you will find authentic tapas bars — for warm charm you can’t beat La Taberna de Javea.
The blue-flag beach of Arenal is vast and golden, and is all you need to keep the family happy.
There’s kayaks, paddleboards and pedalos to hire, plus volleyball nets, playgrounds for the kids and an inflatable, floating obstacle course.
Javea’s port is a bustling place where locally caught fish including sea bass and bream are auctioned early in the morning, to be served up later in many of the town’s restaurants.
Lunch, including roasted octopus and patatas bravas is served cheaply and well at laidback Es Tapa di Javea.
For dinner, splurge on sea bream, fresh off the boat, at La Perla de Javea, with a view of the bay.
And for a treat, we like to call in at the parador — one of 97 state-owned traditional hotels found throughout Spain — to enjoy the coastline from its lush Mediterranean gardens while sipping a glass of sangria made with cava.
To get a bird’s-eye view of Javea’s coastal beauty, hike in the Montgo National Park, where trails range from light walks to challenging climbs, including trekking up the trunk of El Elefante — pick up a walking guide at the tourist information office in the old town.
Another walk not to miss is what the Spanish call a paseo — an early- evening stroll — from the parador on the north side of Arenal’s promenade, to the artisan market on the south, where raffia bags, jewellery and leather goods can be found.
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Sunset paddle
Javea’s atmosphere after dark is blissfully carefree, with foreign holidaymakers rubbing shoulders with multi-generational Spanish families feasting on paella, while kids venture off safely after dinner to play on the sand.
Those looking for a more peaceful beach experience can head ten kilometres out of town to the pretty scallop shell-shaped cove of La Granadella, one of the Costa Blanca’s loveliest shores, where the sand dips gently into clear, shallow water that is perfect for snorkelling.
As there are few facilities, pack a picnic of tortilla (Spanish omelette), cured local ham, pan rustico (a delicious spongy bread with crisp outer crust) and large, plump tomate rosado bought at the nearby produce market.
It would be easy to while away a week on the coast, but for a taste of Spanish rural life you can drive 20km into the rural Jalon Valley, famous for its groves of orange, lemon and almond trees.
It is flanked by the Sierra de Bernia mountains, with the Gorgos river running through, and life here seems to have stood still.
Simple pleasures include stopping at a bodega for a tasting the local sweet mistella wine with its creamy butterscotch flavour, and buying orange blossom honey and baskets woven from river reeds from roadside stalls.
Gata de Gorgos is maybe the most scenic of the small villages with an ornate church dating to 1535, where smoky-tasting paella, cooked over a woodfire, is the speciality.
Back in Javea, we hire kayaks for a sunset paddle along the bay, gazing back to views of El Elefante, now golden-skinned in the setting sun.
The elephant’s eye — a flukily positioned cave on the mountainside — appears to shine brightly and ever-watchful over this alluring port town.
