Walk along this wall on the north side of Benacantil.| Benacantil from
Alicante Benacantil |
| Estimated net time | 1-1½ hours |
| Difficulty | No difficulties. |
| Drinking water | No access to drinking water. |
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (May 2009). |
| Parking | Several car parks around trail head (fee). |
| Start height | 2 metres |
| Vertical metres | 190 metres for the roundtrip |
| Trip distance | 3.2 km |
| GPS-file | X |
| Map |
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| Route photo |
Walk along this wall on the north side of Benacantil. |
There are several routes to Benacantil from Alicante city centre. A good starting point is from "Melia Alicante", the big building on the pier north of the harbour. From here walk around 150 metres north-east along the beach, cross the road, and find your way amongst the houses to the foot of the mountain. When you get up to the lift-station for the mountain continue uphill clockwise around to the west side of the mountain. Here you will see a wall coming up from east. Turn right just before the wall, and then soon left in order to get onto the wall. Then follow the wall east. Soon you will have a second wall, perpendicular to the direction you're walking. Cross through this wall and proceed a little downhill to the road that comes up from north-west. Then continue clockwise into the fortress area, and walk all the way to the top.
There are obviously also several descent routes, and you will of course choose the route that best suits your next destination in Alicante.
This Sunday, on the Norwegian constitution day, was the first full day of our Spanish May-week this year. I was in major need of a book store in order to get some proper hiking maps, so after tennis and swimming in the morning we all headed for Alicante, and first on the agenda was a visit to Benacantil and Castell de Santa Barbara. It was a sunny and warm day, so the hike to the summit was done in a leisurely pace, but that didn't stop me from getting soaking wet before arriving at the summit.
We spent a fair bit of time at and around the summit, together with plenty of other tourists, and enjoying the fine views although a bit hazy. After having descended we started looking for book stores, but most shops were closed and El Corte Ingles didn't do anything but road maps, so it was clear that I needed to get back to city centre tomorrow morning.