The Curious Museums of Guadalest

In a village of a few streets there is room for eight museums. They are small, lie between Avenida de Alicante and the upper village and can be seen in half an hour each: the Micro-miniatures Museum and the Micro-giant, with paintings made on a grain of rice and portraits carved on a grain of sand; the Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum; the Nativity and Dolls' Houses Museum, with antique toys; the historic vehicle collection, with motorbikes and microcars from the 1920s to the 1970s; the Medieval History Museum, of torture instruments, and the Ethnological Museum, with country life and work and models of a mill and an olive press. Each charges its own admission: check the price at the door.

Where each one is

• Micro-miniatures: 11 Calle Iglesia; 965 885 062. Among its pieces, a bullring on a pinhead, the Bible on the cross-section of a hair and a flea on a bicycle on the edge of a seed, which are viewed with magnifying glasses.
• Micro-giant: 2 Calle Sol; 600 790 072. It contrasts miniature work with large sculptures.
• Salt and Pepper Shakers: on Avenida de Alicante, next to the bar of the same name (699 871 658). More than 20,000 pieces from all over the world.
• Nativity and Dolls' Houses: 2 Calle de la Virgen; 965 885 323. The work of Antonio Marco, in a building against the rock: dolls' houses, an ecological nativity scene with bonsais and a river with fish, and antique toys.
• Medieval History, torture and capital punishment: 6 Calle Honda; 655 817 674. Guillotine, garrotte, iron maiden.
• Ethnological: 1 Calle La Iglesia; 639 336 057. A typical 18th-century house with the life of the valley from the 18th to the 20th century.
• Vall de Guadalest historic vehicles: Callosa-Guadalest road, km 7; 965 882 197. About 140 motorbikes and several microcars from the 1920s to the 1970s, with ample parking, a bar-restaurant and a shop.
• Casa Orduña, the municipal museum, on 2 Calle Iglesia, through which you climb to the castle.

How to organise them

You don't need to see them all. With children the miniatures and the dolls' houses work well; the torture one is not for the youngest. The vehicle museum is 7 km away, at the entrance to the valley: leave it for the drive in or out. The town council cites as accessible for people with reduced mobility the salt cellar museum, the Micro-giant, the dolls' house museum and the vehicle museum. Also see the walk through the old town and the San José tunnel.