TOP 5 Alicante's hiking trails

Alicante is a well known province for their sun & sand tourism, since it is the coast with the most blue flags in Spain. If you add nice weather all year round (it has more than 300 sunny days), its high-life quality and a delicious Mediterranean gastronomy, it turns out in one of our terrain’s most visited provinces.

But what many don’t know about this Valencian province is that it is one of the most mountainous lands in Spain, so there is an abundance of hiking trails, and it is a very practiced activity by locals as well as by the tourists. From north to south, Alicante is filled with chains and mountains over 1.000 meters which stand out for having beautiful landscapes: Mediterranean forest, crops, little towns, varied fauna and flora and stunning sea viewpoints.

There are hiking trails in Alicante for every taste and level of skills, from the easy ones than even kids can take to more complicated and physically exhausting. But the one thing all of them share is the beauty of their path and landscape.

Hiking trails in Alicante: the best trails

There are so many trails in Alicante that it’s been difficult to choose just five, but we’ve selected the ones we consider the best ones (always taking into account that there are trails for every level of skills).

Plus, for a mountain chain route in Alicante, the season of the year doesn’t matter, all of them have their charm! The surroundings of the hiking trails in Alicante do deserve a visit (alone or in company). The key is to enjoy yourself and feel the nature, and become one with the place.

We will be waiting for you at Alicante’s airport with the perfect rental car to get to the best five trails of the province. Should we begin?

1. Alicante's hiking trails: Faro de l’Albir

The first hiking route we reccomend in Alicante is an easy level, suitable for kids and bikes, and goes along a total distance of 2.5km that take you to one of the sides of Sierra Helada: Albir’s lighthouse. All along this trail you can enjoy wonderful views of Altea bay with Sierra de Bernia at the background.

This route starts at the Information Point of Albir, easy to get to and with a parking so you can leave your car there. As we said, it has 2.5km (which will be 5 if we count we’re coming back) and you’ll take about an hour and a half to go through it. Obviously there is no rush so you should take your time and enjoy the landscape around you.

Shortly after you’ve started to walk, you’ll get to a few viewpoints and there is one with an incredible view of Altea’s bay with Sierra de Bernia in the background, and another one where you can see the Peñón de Ifach, in Calpe. And by the end of the trail there is another viewpoint where you can see the sea with all its impressive cliffs and fossil dunes.

2. Alicante's hiking trails: Benitatxell's Cliffs

Following along the coast we get to Poble Nou de Benitatxell, which has one of the most beautiful coasts in Alicante (or even the whole Mediterranean shore). Portrayed by its cliffs, this route allows you to discover magical little coves with crystal water in which you’ll want to take a dip (in winter, only for the bravest ones). The trail will take us from Moraig’s beach to the Llebreig cove.

You can leave your car in a parking spot just before the slope to the cove in which this hiking trail begins. It is an easy route and you can’t get lost, the path will guide you through the cliffs that form the coast, which is stunning. Also along the path you can find multiple caves, which were used by the fishermen and farmer people from back in the day. Without a single doubt, the best thing this trail has are its views, which will leave you with no words.

When you finally arrive to the Llebreig cove you will think it is not as beautiful as the starting point, but it is much more pristine. It is an ideal place, that has nothing to envy to the beautiful balearic coves, and it’s truly a wonder. There are only a few tiny fishermen houses and an abandoned “Guardia Civil” hut, which was there because it was common to find smugglers around the difficult terrains.

3. Alicante's hiking trails: Sierra de Bèrnia

Our third hiking trail in Alicante is at Sierra de Bèrnia and it’s known for being a full mountain path and more difficult than the previous two. But we can say that it is one of the most beautiful and rounded trails throughout all Alicante. It’s a circular path in which you can appreciate many contrasts. Two places you need to stop at are the magical Forat and the ruins of the Fort of Bernia.

This path has a total distance of 8.5km and it will take you about two hours and 45 minutes to go through it all. As we said, it has a medium level difficulty and it is rocky at some points, so your shoes must be adequate. To sum up, you start at Casas de Bèrnia, a district from Xaló, and you start ascending the north side of the mountain range until you get to the Forat, a natural tunnel that goes through the mountain and takes you to the south gradient, where you can walk until you get to the Fort of Bèrnia, a structure from the 16th century, a true gem where you need to stop. From here, after you’ve passed Coll de Xaló, you can get to the starting point.

4. Barranc de l’Infern: a mythical hiking trail at Alicante

A classic of classics of Alicante’s mountain range. As its name states (“Barranc de l’Infern” means Hell’s Cliff), you can work out it is a high difficulty trail, 14km long and 800m high. Without a doubt it requieres good physical form and being used to trekking so you can enjoy all of its contrasts, landscapes, rocks and green tones.

This hike is essential if you want to go on hiking trails in Alicante, starts at Fleix, the “middle village” from the three villages that are part of the valley of Vall de Laguar. If we go to the “upper village”, Benimaurell, we will see a path to our right that takes us to Font Grossa and the sink of Fleix, where the path starts. Here the stone steps start, they are said to be more than 6.800 (do you want to count them?). It is, without a doubt, one of the most unique paths of the place, and it’s also known as “the cathedral of hiking”.

5. Alicante's hiking trails: Puig Campana

This circular path is another one of the best you can take in Alicante. Its starting point is at Font del Molí (Finestrat), where you can leave your car and start walking. It’s a soil and rocks path and, although the route is circular and you’ll end where you began, at the beginning you choose whether if you turn left or right.

If you choose to go to your left, you’ll get to Coll de Pouet through a path that skirts along the impressive vertical wall of Puig de Campana (pictured). Once you are there, the walk to the top it’s 2.1km of ascending, but the view is spectacular. There is a legend going around that says that at this mountain a hard battle was fought and a French hero called Roldán trapped on the ground the Muslim boss of the area and, when he tried to kill him, his rival dodged the hit and the sword drove into the ground with such strenght that the top of the mountain was severed and rolled down into the sea to become the island of Benidorm. Do you believe it?

These are the best hikinig paths we found in Alicante, what do you think? Do you want to go through them? We do! Plus if you’re interested in trekking, don’t forget to visit our post about the best hiking trails in Málaga, you’ll love it!