El Bufador

What it is

El Bufador is a natural tunnel that runs through the rock on which Peñíscola stands and links the old town with the sea. The tourism website describes it like this: on stormy days, the water surges violently up the tunnel and comes out with a loud roar. In calm seas you barely hear it; with an easterly wind, the water comes in hard and comes out of the mouth between the houses with a dull noise and a cloud of spray. It is a short stop, of ten or fifteen minutes, but it is one of the things children remember most about the town.

Where it is and when to go

It is inside the old town, between the Portal de Sant Pere and the Sea Museum. The gate, from 1411, opened the city's entrance on the sea side, which reached the walls until the port was built in 1925; from there you go up the old-town streets to the mouth of the Bufador. The visit is free and open, at any hour, and you can bring a dog on a lead.

To see it in action you need to come during an easterly storm. In summer, with a calm sea, it usually does nothing spectacular, so don't plan it as the main visit of the day. In heavy swell, don't lean over: the water and spray come in with force and the ground gets wet.

From the sea

The Bufador can also be seen from outside. The Golondrinas Clavel boat that goes round the rock includes among what you see the castle, its stairway and the Bufador; it lasts 30 minutes and leaves from the port. It is on our page for the boat trip around the rock.

What's nearby

El Bufador is the second stop on the Pirate Trail that the town council publishes for doing with children. Next to it is the Sea Museum, in the former Príncipe bastion, with free admission: in winter it is open Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 to 15:00; in spring, every day from 10:00 to 14:00 and from 16:00 to 20:00, and in summer, from 10:00 to 14:00 and from 17:00 to 21:00. From here, the rest of the old town and walls can be covered in an hour, with the climb to the Papa Luna castle as the finish.

To eat without leaving the walls, El Raconet de Ca Deu is a rice restaurant on an old-town street, below the castle. At the tourist office, on the seafront promenade, they give you the old-town map.