What to see in Guadalest

A tiny village perched 500 metres up, reached through a tunnel carved into the rock and topped by a castle overlooking the valley.

A reservoir of almost unreal turquoise that winds below the village among the mountains, with the old town perched above the water.

An 18th-century Baroque parish church, rebuilt after the Civil War: plain and bright, at the top of the village.

Guadalest has more museums per resident than any other village in Spain, and this one works at the smallest scale of all: a bullring carved…

The highest square in the village juts out like a natural balcony over the turquoise reservoir and the mountains of the Marina Baixa.

This slender whitewashed bell tower, rising free-standing on a rocky crag, is the most iconic image of Guadalest and of the whole Costa…

An 11th-century fortress of Muslim origin that crowns the rocky outcrop at the highest point of the village, perched at around 587 m.

A noble house raised in the 17th century by the Orduña family, a lineage of Basque origin in the service of the lords of Guadalest, after…

An old 11th-century Muslim fortress raised on the Peñón de la Alcalá, beside the grounds of the Casa Orduña and distinct from the Castillo…

A narrow gateway cut into the living rock and fortified in the Middle Ages, the only entrance to the walled old town atop the crag.

An old dungeon carved into the rock beneath the Town Hall in the upper village, originally a water cistern and later the lordship's prison.

A small, unusual cemetery set at the very top of the crag, beside the keep and walls of the Castillo de San José.

A museum devoted entirely to salt and pepper shakers, gathering over 20,000 original pieces from around the world, with examples ranging…

A museum showing the handcrafted work of Antonio Marco: meticulous dolls' houses, a monumental nativity scene and antique toys, all built…

A free-entry museum recreating the inside of a typical 18th-century working house of the area, with its pantry, kitchen, bread oven,…

While everyone queues for the bell tower, locals slip off to the little Sant Gregori square to look at the Penyó de l'Alcalà: a rock needle…