What to see in Jávea: 1, 2 and 4-day itineraries

This guide is not a list of places: it is how to fit them together. For what each place actually is, the Xàbia town page and the four thematic guides at the end have the detail. What follows is how to order them by the number of days you have, and above all which conditions govern the planning.

The three conditions that decide your plan

Before dividing up days, three facts that change any itinerary:

1. Xàbia is three separate centres, not one village. The poble (historic centre, inland), Duanes de la Mar (the port) and the Arenal (the beach). There are about 2 km between them. A plan that hops from one to another three times a day turns into a day of driving.

2. The TRAM does not reach it. Line 9 does not serve the municipality; the nearest stops are Gata de Gorgos or Dénia. There are urban buses between the three centres, but at low frequency. Without a car, the plan is organised around the centre where you sleep.

3. In summer, the two best coves have paid access and a barrier. From 2 June to 6 September (plus the weekends of 12-13, 19-20 and 26-27 September), driving to the Granadella and to Barraca–Portitxol costs €9/day per vehicle from 9:00 to 19:00, with 130 and 59 spaces; once they fill, the barriers close. You can go up to the Granadella on the tourist train from La Guardia Park (€6 adults, €4 under 12), from 3 July to 13 September. The Portitxol has no public transport at all.

And a fourth, smaller one that ruins a lot of mornings: the fish market is not a morning market. The boats come in around 15:30, the auction runs from 16:00 to 16:30 behind closed doors, and the fish counter opens from 16:30.

One day in Xàbia

With a single day, two centres fit. The combination that works best:

If you want to spend your only day on the Granadella, reverse the order: go up to Cala Granadella before 9:30 (or by tourist train), come down for lunch and leave the poble for the afternoon. Do not attempt both.

Two days

Day 1 — the bay and the poble. The one-day itinerary above, without rushing.

Day 2 — the south and the capes.

• Morning: Cala Granadella early, with the Castell de la Granadella viewpoint right by the car park
• Midday: the Cap de la Nao and its lighthouse, the eastern tip
• Afternoon: La Barraca – Portitxol, the town’s postcard, with the Illa del Portitxol opposite
• Fallback if the Portitxol is closed on capacity: Cala del Francés, right next door and with no barrier

Four days

The first two the same. The other two open up the north and the inland part of the municipality:

Day 3 — the Montgó and the Cap de Sant Antoni.

• The Montgó Natural Park, shared with Dénia
• The Cap de Sant Antoni and its marine reserve, where the red route starts
• The Cova Tallada, between Xàbia and Dénia: check the access restrictions beforehand, as there are some in summer
• At sunset, the windmills at the Mirador dels Molins

Day 4 — the coves you have to earn, or the neighbours.

Two options depending on how much walking you fancy:

• On foot: Cala Sardinera, on the north face of the Cap Prim, via the SL-CV 98 path from the Creu del Portitxol (1 km, 15-20 minutes). No facilities and the densest concentration of mooring buoys on the coast. Afterwards, Punta de l’Estrella.
• By car, leaving the municipality: to the south, Cala del Moraig in Benitatxell or the Benissa coves; to the north, the Dénia beaches.

With small children

The plan moves elsewhere: El Arenal is the only comfortable beach with young children, thanks to the sand, the shallow water, the full facilities and the accessible bathing point. The rest is gravel, boulders and tosca.

• Base yourself at the Arenal, so you are not in the car every day
• One morning at El Arenal and another at La Grava, which also has a promenade, toilets and a lifeguard
• One afternoon at the port watching the boats unload: this works very well with children
• If you head for any cove, water shoes: the tosca and the boulders are unforgiving
• The Granadella with children only if you arrive early; with the car park full, waiting in the car is worse than the cove

Out of season (November to March)

This is when the town looks its best, and almost nobody says so:

• No regulated access at all: the Granadella and the Portitxol are open and free
• The port keeps working: the boats still come in at 15:30 and the fish counter opens at 16:30. Duanes de la Mar is the liveliest quarter out of season
• The Montgó and the coastal paths can be walked without the August heat, which makes them punishing
• Winter fiestas: Sant Sebastià from 17 to 20 January, Jesús Nazareno from 9 to 16 March and the Mercat Medieval from 20 to 22 November
• The trade-off: fewer restaurants open at the Arenal, and the Portitxol slipway closed from 1 March to 30 June for protected wildlife

What NOT to plan

These four things appear in many Jávea guides — and in an earlier version of this one — and are false or outright punishable:

• Going down to Cala Ambolo. It has been closed for years due to serious rockfall risk, with access prohibited by land and by sea, surveillance on calle Igor Stravinsky and fines. You look at it from the Torre del Ambolo viewpoint, and that is all.
• Camping on the coast. Wild camping is not permitted along the protected shoreline. “Wild camping” and “coastal campsite” are recommendations that can end in a penalty.
• Going to the lonja in the morning. There is no dawn fishermen’s market: sale to the public is from 16:30.
• Counting coves as Jávea’s when they are not. The Peñón de Ifach is in Calpe; Cala del Moraig and Cala Llebeig are in Benitatxell; the Sierra de Bernia is not in the municipality at all. They are worth the trip, but they are excursions to other towns and must be counted as driving time.

Practical facts

Go deeper on each theme

• Jávea beaches and coves — the 8 official ones north to south, with the full access rules
• Nature and hiking — the Montgó, the capes and the paths
• Heritage and history — the fortress church, the windmills and the towers
• Events and fiestas — the full festive calendar
• Xàbia town page — the municipality at a glance
• All the coves of the Costa Blanca — the index by municipality