Visit picturesque Calpe, fishing town with the famous Peñón d’Ifach

Calpe is a coastal municipality of Alicante located about 20 kilometres from Benidorm, with a population reaching almost 30,000 inhabitants, and of which more than 60% are of foreign nationality, mainly German. So much so, that they held here in October the famous German Beer Festival known as ‘Oktoberfest‘.

Peñón d’Ifach

The distinctive symbol of Calpe is the Peñón de Ifach, a boulder of calcareous rock of about 50,000 square metres which reaches 332 meters above sea level, making it the highest cliff in the Mediterranean. It is a landform caused by a landslide of the Sierra d’Olta mountain. Today, it houses a natural park with an important reserve of birds, and each year presences the mass reproduction of gulls.

At the foot of the Peñón, on its south side, we can find many restaurants specializing in fish and seafood, and the fishing port, which daily receives the catch of its marine fleet. On its north side, we can find the Royal Yatch Club of Calpe and a variety of restaurants along the seafront.

Its 14 beaches and coves cover 13 kilometres of coastline, inviting the visitor to choose between pebbles or sand to frolic in the Sun.
The sunny climate of the area, its mountainous terrain and its vast sea offer ideal conditions to practice many sports, such as hiking, scuba diving, cycling, sailing, or climbing.

Baths of the Queen

In addition, the old town of Calpe lodges numerous buildings, and sights of interest to tourists, as for example the museums of collecting, the ethnological or the archaeological museum, the remains of El Castellet, numerous chapels and churches, and a site of the ancient baths of the Queen.

You can access Calpe on the AP-7, using the exits 63 or 64. There is also the National Road N-332 Valencia-Alicante. If preferred, there are buses available from Benidorm (the round trip is about 5 to 6 Euros), or you can take the tram train number 9, which runs along the coastline.