# Xàtiva

What to see in Xàtiva in a day: the double castle, the Seu, the upside-down Philip V and oven-baked rice, 50 minutes from Valencia by car or on the Cercanías.

Fuente: https://www.geocalia.com/en/spain/valencian-community/xativa · Revisado: 2026-11-13

Xàtiva is the easiest Sunday outing from Valencia: three quarters of an hour by car or on the Cercanías, and a city you can see whole in a day. Up above, a castle that fills the entire ridge of the sierra; down below, an old town of churches, palaces and fountains where the two Borgia popes and the painter Ribera were born. And a history the city has not forgotten: Philip V had it burned in 1707, and in its museum the king's portrait hangs upside down. For lunch, oven-baked rice, the city's dish.

## How do I get there from Valencia?

By car, along the A-7 towards Alicante: about 48 minutes. By train, Cercanías line C-2 leaves València Nord with a train roughly every 20 minutes and takes between 50 minutes and 1 h 10, depending on the service; the station is about a ten-minute walk from the old town. On Sundays there are fewer trains: check the Renfe timetable before leaving. From Alicante and Albacete you arrive along the A-7 and the A-35 or the A-31; allow a good hour and a half.

## How do you get up to the castle?

On foot, along the Castell road from the old town, passing the hermitage of Sant Feliu and the Bellveret viewpoint. It is a long, steep climb with almost no shade. On Sundays and public holidays from October to May there is a shuttle bus from the Plaza de l'Espanyoleto for €1.15, and in summer a tourist train. The castle is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00; it closes at 18:00 in winter and at 21:00 in summer. The ticket, €6, includes the municipal museums, such as the Almodí; buying it online is recommended.

## What to see in a day?

In the morning, the old town: the Seu, whose museum and bell tower are open on Sundays only from 11:30 to 13:00, and the Fine Arts Museum, with the upside-down Philip V, Ribera and Goya's Caprichos, open until 14:30. Between the two, the Borgia route: the birthplace of Alexander VI, the Gothic fountain of La Trinitat and the church of Sant Pere. Have lunch in the Plaza del Mercat and climb to the castle in the afternoon, which in winter stays open until 18:00. If you arrive early, reverse the order: castle at 10:00 and old town afterwards.

## And with one more day?

Leave the city. The Cova Negra trail follows an irrigation channel, flat, from the fountain of the 25 spouts to the bend of the Albaida where Neanderthals lived: an hour and a half to two hours each way. If you prefer a guide, Love Xàtiva Tours runs the castle visit on Saturdays for €10 and, as private tours midweek, the Cova Negra and the walls and the Bellveret. In summer, 22 minutes by car away, the Gorgo de la Escalera at Anna is a pool at the foot of 136 steps. And at weekends, in Moixent, Celler del Roure opens its winery with a tasting of three wines for €15.

## When to go?

October to May is best: the climb to the castle is done without the heat and the shuttle runs on Sundays. In summer, go up first thing, leave the museums for midday and look for water in the afternoon at Anna. Bear in mind that almost everything closes on Mondays: the castle, the Seu and the museums.

## Where to eat and sleep?

El Cullerot, in the Plaza del Mercat opposite the Seu, makes Xàtiva-style oven-baked rice and opens on Sundays from 12:00 to 17:00. The restaurant of the Hotel Mont-Sant, at the foot of the castle, opens every day. To sleep, Mont-Sant itself, on an estate with gardens and a pool below the wall; La Maga Rooms, designer rooms at the top of the old town where dogs are admitted; or Casa Rosetta Boutique, five adults-only rooms near the station.

## Dónde está
- Cerca: Bocairent (a 25.8 km), Guadalest and the Guadalest Valley (a 44.5 km), L'Albufera de València and El Palmar (a 48.4 km), Villajoyosa (a 58.9 km)

## Qué hacer
- **Xàtiva Castle** (2 h · Everyone; lots of slopes and steps · €6 · reduced €4 · free up to age 7): What it is
The castle occupies the whole crest of the ridge above Xàtiva and is really two. The Castell Menor, the older one, of Iberian and Roman origin, has the Porta Ferrissa, Hannibal's gate, Himilce's balcony and a square tower that serves as a viewpoint. The parade ground joins it to the Castell Major, the medieval and better-preserved one: the Socorro gate, four cisterns, the Santa María gate, the cell where the Count of Urgell was imprisoned and the Gothic chapel of Queen María, where her remains lie. Between them are gardens dedicated to the Andalusi poet Ibn Hazm. There are audio guides for each area.
How to get up
On foot from the old town along the Carretera del Castell, passing the hermitage of Sant Feliu and the Bellveret viewpoint: it is a long, steep climb. On Sundays and public holidays from October to May there is a shuttle bus from Plaza de l'Espanyoleto for €1.15, and in summer a tourist train from Autobuses Chambitos runs.
Hours and tickets
Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 to 18:00 from November to February, until 19:00 in March and October, until 20:00 in April and September and until 21:00 from May to August. Closed on Mondays. Admission costs €6 and includes the municipal museums, such as the Almodí; the reduced rate is €4 (ages 8 to 16, students, pensioners, large families and groups), and it is free up to age 7, although children also need their ticket. Buying online is recommended; tickets are non-exchangeable and non-refundable.
- **Collegiate Church of Santa María (La Seu)** (45 min · Everyone; the bell tower has 180 steps · €3 · children and groups €2): What it is
La Seu is the collegiate basilica of Santa María, Xàtiva's great church and, with the castle, the city's silhouette. It is a Site of Cultural Interest and stands in Plaza de Calixto III, on the site of the old mosque. Saint John of Ribera laid the first stone in 1568, when the city aspired to be an episcopal seat, something it never achieved. The works lasted more than four centuries and it is still unfinished today; in Xàtiva they say something "lasts longer than the work on La Seu". The bell tower is nineteenth-century and the main door was not finished until the first third of the twentieth. On that door are the bronze statues of the two Borgia popes born in the city, Calixtus III and Alexander VI, the work of Octavio Vicent.
The church outside and in
It has a Latin-cross plan, with a very marked transept and ambulatory, and the dimensions of a great Gothic cathedral, although its Herrerian sobriety relates it to El Escorial. Walk round it to see its doors: the Mercat door, Renaissance, the oldest, facing Calle Sant Vicent; the Escalones door, Baroque, on the north façade on Calle Abat Pla, with the castle and all its towers in the pediment; and the main one, the Popes' door.
Inside, the pink marble columns are each made from a single piece brought from the Buixcarró range. The high altar is the work of Ventura Rodríguez, the great Neoclassical architect, and is presided over by Mariano Benlliure's Mare de Déu de la Seu.
The museum and the bell tower
The collegiate museum is entered from the ambulatory. It holds Gothic painting, with altarpieces attributed to Jacomart, and goldwork linked to the Borgia popes. The processional cross, of late fourteenth-century silver with some 30 translucent enamels, is among the best Gothic pieces of the former Crown of Aragon. The great monstrance, of fifteenth-century Flamboyant Gothic, goes out every year in the Corpus Christi procession; tradition says it was made with the first silver to arrive from America, a gift from the Catholic Monarchs to Alexander VI, who donated it to the Collegiate Church. There are also the gold chalice of Calixtus III and the altarpiece of Saint Anne, commissioned by the pope for his family chapel and attributed to Jacomart, to Pere Reixac or to both, on the border between Gothic and Renaissance.
The bell tower is 60 metres high and is climbed by 180 steps to the little temple of the Virgin of La Seu, patron of the city.
Hours and tickets
The museum and the bell tower open Tuesday to Friday from 10:30 to 13:00, and Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 11:30 to 13:00. Closed on Mondays. It costs €3; children and groups of at least ten people, €2. The tourism website mentions audio guides. The Collegiate Church's phone is 962 281 481, and it has its own website at seudexativa.org. It is one of the stops on the Borgia route, and opposite it, in Plaza del Mercat, is El Cullerot for lunch.
- **Fine Arts Museum (Casa de l'Ensenyança)** (1 h · Everyone): What it is
The museum occupies the Casa de l'Ensenyança, in Plaza del Arzobispo Mayoral 2. It is a mid-eighteenth-century building with a Baroque doorway and the coat of arms of Archbishop Mayoral, who founded the educational institution that occupied it until the end of the twentieth century. Its conversion into a museum is, according to the tourist office, one of the city's most important cultural projects in recent decades.
The pieces you can't miss
The most famous is a portrait of Philip V, by the local painter Josep Amorós, which hangs upside down: it is the city's answer to the king who in 1707 ordered it burned and destroyed. According to the tourism website, it was a municipal curator who hung it that way in the mid-twentieth century, and so it remains.
Xàtiva is the birthplace of Josep de Ribera, El Españoleto, who worked mostly in Italy. The museum has his Saint Matthias the Apostle, on loan from the Prado, as well as a Saint Andrew and a Salvator. Of Goya it holds the complete series of the Caprichos and the Disparates, from the Carreño Gómez donation. By Vicente López there are The Last Supper and a portrait of Ferdinand VII.
Old Valencian painting is represented by the altarpiece of the Saviour or the Transfiguration, with 22 panels attributed to the Master of Borbotó, a sixteenth-century painter whose identity is unknown, and by the panel of Sant Nicolau and Sant Dionís by Nicolau Falcó, the only one left from the altarpiece of the hermitage of the Santes. There are also remains of the Gothic chapel that Pope Calixtus III had built in the old main mosque, demolished centuries later: the keystone and a corbel with an angel holding the Borgia coat of arms. That is why the museum is one of the stops on the Borgia route. The collection is completed by a late Gothic boundary cross that stood at the entrance to the city on the Valencia road, the royal portraits that hung in the Casa de la Ciudad and work by Benlliure, Rusiñol, Antoni Miró and Pérez Contel, among others.
Hours and tickets
Tuesday to Sunday and public holidays, from 10:00 to 14:30. Closed on Mondays. Phone 962 28 24 55. The ticket for the municipal museums costs €4 and also includes the Almodí Museum; the reduced rate, €2, is for young people aged 8 to 16, students, pensioners, large families, groups of ten or more and people with disabilities, and it is free up to age 7. Buying online is recommended, and tickets are non-exchangeable and non-refundable. Admission to the castle includes the municipal museums; ask at the ticket desk whether yours covers this one. Allow an hour.
How to combine it
Plaza del Arzobispo Mayoral is in the old town, about 400 metres' walk from the Collegiate Church. As it closes at 14:30, it fits in the morning: La Seu, the museum, lunch in the old town and the castle in the afternoon.
- **Borgia Route Through the Old Town** (1 h 30 · Everyone; gently sloping streets · Free): What it is
Xàtiva is the cradle of the Borgias: the two popes of the family were born here, Calixtus III (Alfons de Borja) and his nephew Alexander VI (Roderic de Borja, pope from 1492 to 1503), father of Joan, Cèsar, Lucrècia and Jofré. The tourist office suggests a self-guided route through the old town that links their traces, with no guide or ticket: it is done along public streets and you only pay if you enter the Collegiate Church, the museums or the castle.
The route, stop by stop
It starts at the church of Sant Francesc, where the Borgias had their funerary chapel in the late fourteenth century; Catalina de Borja, sister of Calixtus III, and Roderic's grandparents were buried there, until in 1470 their remains were moved to the Collegiate Church. It continues along Calle Montcada, one of the most stately, with palaces and convents; tradition says Pere Lluís Galcerà de Borja, last grand master of the Order of Montesa, lived there. The Royal Monastery of Santa Clara, founded in 1325 by Saurina de Entença, widow of Roger de Lauria, is Gothic-Mudéjar and had Beatriz de Borja as abbess.
The Trinitat fountain, from the last third of the fifteenth century, is one of the few Gothic fountains preserved in Spain, with an octagonal basin and the coats of arms of the city and the Kingdom; in the square the doorway of the old Trinitarian convent remains. Then you reach the birthplace of Alexander VI, in the square that bears his name, which in the Middle Ages was called the Borgias' square: the family was already living there in 1378 and a plaque commemorates Roderic's birth. Next comes the church of Sant Pere, Gothic of the conquest, with a single nave with three diaphragm arches and a Mudéjar coffered ceiling, where he was baptised.
Then, the ceramic altarpiece of Casa Artigues, Rococo, eighteenth-century, with illustrious xativins both real and imaginary, among them the two popes. At the Collegiate Church their bronze statues await you, the work of Octavio Vicent, and in its museum the altarpiece of Saint Anne, the chalice of Calixtus III and the great monstrance. The next stop is El Palau, fifteenth-century, seat of the archdeacon, with the coat of arms of Calixtus III over the door. The Fine Arts Museum holds the keystone and a corbel from the chapel Calixtus III built in La Seu. The route ends at the castle, state prison of the Crown of Aragon, where in the sixteenth century Diego de Borja was imprisoned and executed.
Fountains, time and tips
On the way you pass several of the city's royal fountains: the Trinitat and the Aldomar, Baroque, in Plaza de Alejandro VI. Without going into anywhere, it is about an hour and a half on foot along gently sloping streets. If you want to enter the museum and bell tower of La Seu, note that they only open in the morning and close on Mondays, like the municipal museums. You can do it with a dog on a lead, because it is all street.
- **Almodí Museum** (45 min · Everyone · Included in the castle ticket): What it is
Xàtiva's archaeological museum, at Calle de la Corretgeria 46, in the heart of the old town. It occupies the Almodí, the city's former grain exchange, completed in 1548 according to the plaque on the façade. The tourist office presents it as the last medieval building raised in Xàtiva and the first to use the language of the Renaissance: the façade is Gothic and keeps three royal coats of arms of the Crown of Aragon, which marked its public character; inside there is a Renaissance courtyard with Ionic columns. The adjoining building was the royal weigh-house and later the customs house and Bank of Spain.
What you will see
The tour runs from the Palaeolithic to Andalusi Xàtiva. It begins with reproductions of the first finds from Cova Negra, among them a Neanderthal parietal bone from the excavations of the first half of the twentieth century. It continues with an Iberian head of the fourth century BC, a legacy of Iberian Saiti, with Greek influence. From Roman Saetabis, a stop on the Via Augusta, with its own mint and famous for its linen, there is a collection of inscriptions. From the Visigothic period an altar reused by Bishop Athanasius stands out, whose name appears in the engraved text: Xàtiva was an episcopal seat in the sixth and seventh centuries, and the museum holds remains of that cathedral, over which the hermitage of Sant Feliu was built.
The most important piece is the eleventh-century Islamic basin, the first to enter the collection. It is carved from pink marble from the Buixcarró range, served as a drinking trough until the late eighteenth century, and its reliefs, by at least two sculptors, show scenes from ivories and textiles, motherhood, the tree of life and war. The Islamic room completes the ensemble with three horseshoe arches from the Arab baths, the double arch and the coffered ceiling from the Pinohermoso palace, of Almohad date and probably a private oratory, and Iberian, Roman, Muslim and district-made pottery, up to industrial ceramic murals from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Hours and tickets
Tuesday to Sunday and public holidays, from 10:00 to 14:30; the website gives this as the summer timetable (11 June to 8 September) and the sales calendar shows days with opening until 18:00, so confirm for the day you go. Phone 962 27 65 97; email museo@ayto-xativa.es.
The castle ticket, €6, includes this museum. If you don't climb the castle, the municipal museums ticket costs €4 and is also valid for the Fine Arts Museum; the reduced rate is €2 (ages 8 to 16, students, pensioners, large families, groups of ten or more and people with disabilities) and it is free up to age 7, although children also need their ticket. Buy online; tickets are non-exchangeable and non-refundable; bring the QR code on your phone or printed.
How to combine it
From the Corretgeria you are a few minutes from the Collegiate Church and within the layout of the Borgia route. Allow about 45 minutes to see it at a leisurely pace. As it closes in the early afternoon almost all year, it fits in the morning, before lunch in the old town and the climb to the castle, which opens later.
- **Hermitage of Sant Feliu** (30 min · Everyone): What it is
Sant Feliu is on the Carretera del Castell, on the hillside, beside the Bellveret viewpoint: you see it as you go up to the castle. It is one of the oldest churches in the former Kingdom of Valencia. It was built in 1265, shortly after James I's Christian conquest, on the site of Roman Saetabis and over the remains of the Visigothic cathedral: Xàtiva was an episcopal seat in the sixth and seventh centuries, and some of those stones can be seen today in the Almodí Museum.
Outside: the porch and the doorway
The first thing that catches the eye is the side porch, facing north, which covers the side façade. It is supported by six marble columns taken from older Roman buildings, all different; some have the pinkish tone of the nearby Buixcarró quarries. The doorway is Romanesque, plain, and a rarity: the conquest came when Gothic was already spreading, so very few like it remain in Valencian lands.
Inside
Inside there is a thirteenth-century alabaster baptismal font, Romanesque in style, with scenes of the Nativity and the Adoration of the Shepherds, floral decoration at the base and traces of its original polychrome. The walls keep wall paintings from the first half of the fourteenth century that were hidden under whitewash and have been partly restored. The tourist office describes them as the largest surviving ensemble of linear or proto-Gothic medieval painting in the Valencian Community: an altarpiece of Saint Nicholas of Bari to the left of the high altar, the Virgin enthroned in the chapel between the second and third arch, and a Saint Christopher and a Calvary in the second chapel on the Epistle side.
The high altarpiece presides, Gothic from the early fifteenth century and attributed to the workshop of the Cabanes brothers. It has 27 painted panels, arranged in three streets plus the predella and the polsera, and two later sculptures of Saint Feliu of Girona and Saint Felix of Lyon. It was commissioned by the city's jurats and bears the arms of Xàtiva and of the Crown of Aragon. The tourism website offers two audio guides, one for the exterior and one for the interior, which you can listen to on your phone during the visit.
Hours and how to get there
The tourism website does not publish the hours or the price: ask at the tourist office, at Avenida de Selgas 2, on 96 227 33 46 or at oficinaturisme@xativa.es. You walk from the old town along the Carretera del Castell, uphill with little shade. If you would rather not walk up, the Sunday and public holiday shuttle goes to the castle. Allow about half an hour to see it.
- **Walk from Xàtiva to the Cova Negra on the PRV-78** (1 h 45 · Families who walk; flat and waymarked · Independent · free): The Cova Negra is the other Xàtiva, the one from tens of thousands of years ago. It is in the widest meander of the Albaida river, north of the city, where the river leaves the Estret de les Aigües after crossing the Serra Grossa. Neanderthals lived here during the Palaeolithic, and the site is key to understanding Mousterian culture. You reach it on foot from the old town along a flat path beside the irrigation channel, and the walk is worth as much as the cave.
What the Albaida meander holds
The cave is a Site of Cultural Interest. Human remains, paintings and objects ranging from pottery to fire-making tools have been found in it. The best-known piece, a Neanderthal parietal bone, is not here: its exact replica is in the Almodí Museum, so it is worth stopping at the museum before or after the walk to put a face to what you see in the countryside. The tourist office does not say that the inside of the cave can be visited; expect to see it from outside.
The surroundings are the Cova Negra Municipal Natural Site, protected since 2006, of about 57 hectares along the valley. Riverside and mountain vegetation meet here: poplars and elms by the water and scrub on the slopes. Through the site run walking and mountain-bike routes that link the Casa de la Llum, the Xopà d'Alboi and the Arcadetes of the Albaida river, and the Aventador wall is climbed.
Along the channel, without slopes
The walking route is the PRV-78 trail. It starts at the 25-spout fountain, beside the Cocentaina gate, east of the old town, and follows the channel that supplied water to the city. It is waymarked and flat. It takes between an hour and a half and two hours to the cave, according to the tourist office; the return is by the same path, so reserve half a day.
It is a good plan for days when the castle asks for too much climbing, or for the next morning if you sleep in Xàtiva. With children who walk, it works: there is no ascent and the end has a reward, a large cave above the river.
By car, a quarter of an hour away
If you prefer to shorten it, there are two access points by car:

By the CV-610, towards Genovés: before the second roundabout, turn right towards the district of Alboi and then left, very sharply, towards the Alboi poplar grove. The car park is on the right bank of the Albaida and holds at least 40 cars.
By the N-340, towards Bellús: near the Bixquert hermitage the Camí del Pont Sec leaves, leading to a small car park on the left bank, where the path starts.

From the centre it is about 8 km and a good quarter of an hour.
With a guide: the Petxina, Bellús water and the Casa de la Luz
Love Xàtiva Tours does the route as a private tour for your group. The short one, of 5 km, stops at the Cova de la Petxina, the Bellús water spring, the Casa de la Luz and the Cova Negra; it runs Monday to Friday mornings and costs €145 including VAT. The long one, of 12 km, with a mountain guide and a local one, adds the castle and the snow well of the Costa del Castell, for €200. You meet at the petrol station by the bullring and transport to the site is at your own expense. Neither is suitable for pushchairs or wheelchairs.
- **Guided Visit to Xàtiva Castle with Love Xàtiva Tours** (1 h 15 · For everyone; stretches with up to 33% gradient · €10 · ages 8 to 15, €6 · castle entry separate): Xàtiva Castle can be explored on your own with an audio guide, but it is big and its stones tell a lot: two castles, a parade ground between them and centuries of sieges. With Love Xàtiva Tours you see it in an hour and a quarter with a guide who puts in order what is in front of you.
What the guide covers
The route goes through the parade ground, the Socorro gate, the chapels of Sant Jordi and Santa María, the area of the cannons and the round tower, the Arab gardens and the prison. It is about 660 metres each way and as much back inside the complex, between 252 and 300 metres above sea level, with stretches of up to 33% gradient. The company considers it partly suitable for people with reduced mobility; pushchairs and wheelchairs have limited passage on much of the route.
Days, price and what you pay separately
It runs on Saturdays at 10:45 in Spanish, and on Fridays there is an English session; other times and private groups, to be confirmed. It costs €10 for adults and €6 for ages 8 to 15, VAT included. It runs with a minimum of eight registered: you sign up by WhatsApp on 601 36 75 15 and booking and payment open when the group is complete.
The castle entry is not included. The tourist office publishes it at €6 with the municipal museums, and Love Xàtiva Tours indicates a discounted price if you buy it together with its tour: ask when you book. The ride up is not included either: on foot along the Castell road, on the shuttle on Sundays and public holidays from October to May or on the summer tourist train. The meeting point is the castle reception, ten minutes before.
How to fit it into the day
The castle opens at 10:00, so at 10:45 it is still cool. The visit ends around midday: you have time to go down to the old town and visit the Fine Arts Museum, open until 14:30, before lunch. The Collegiate Church closes on Saturdays at 13:00; if you want to see it, leave it for Sunday. If it rains, the company allows you to postpone the outing to another week.
- **Guided Walk along the Walls of Xàtiva and the Bellveret** (4 km · Groups that walk; slopes of up to 30% · €145 for the private tour): Xàtiva's walls run down from the castle on both sides of the mountain and used to embrace the medieval city. Almost everyone sees them from afar, from the Castell road. This guided walk by Love Xàtiva Tours covers them up close, along the slope, and is a good complement if you have already seen the castle and the Borja route.
From east to west
The walk starts at the Jardí del Bes, opposite the bullring, next to the steps that go down to the garden from the Alameda. It climbs to the east walls, reaches the Bellveret, the viewpoint with the whole city at your feet and the entrance to the old Aljama, continues to the Torre del Sol and comes down along the west walls. It is 4 km, between 103 and 230 metres above sea level: 127 metres of ascent, with ramps of up to 30%.
A tour for your group
It is a private tour: the price, €145 including VAT, is for the group, whether two or ten. It runs Monday to Friday between 10:30 and 13:00; at weekends and on public holidays you must ask. Request it by WhatsApp on 601 36 75 15 or on its website. It is not suitable for people with reduced mobility, pushchairs or wheelchairs.
What to bring and when
Shoes that grip, water and a cap: the slope has little shade and the climbs are serious. From October to May is comfortable; in summer, first thing. It ends near the old town, so it fits before lunch on plaza del Mercat, at El Cullerot.
- **Visit and Tasting at Celler del Roure, in Moixent** (2 h · Adults; children enter free · €15 · children free): The south of La Costera is vine country: the regional tourist office highlights the wines of Moixent and La Font de la Figuera within the D.O. València. Celler del Roure is one of the wineries that open their doors, in the Les Alcusses district, beside the CV-652, the road from Moixent towards Fontanars dels Alforins. From Xàtiva it is about 43 km and a little under 50 minutes by car.
The visit, glass in hand
It is an arranged visit of about two hours that ends in a tasting: three of the house wines, Cullerot, Safrà and Les Alcusses, with rosquilletas to go with them and a free glass. It costs €15 per person. Children do not pay, but you must say how many are coming in the order notes. There is room for 25 people per session, and the winery asks you to arrive a quarter of an hour early.
Booking and changes
It only opens on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, and always by reservation on its website, where you choose the day and time. If you cannot go, give 48 hours' notice to cancel or change the date, subject to availability. Telephones: 96 229 50 20 and 635 524 504.
Who drives
The visit ends with three glasses and the return to Xàtiva is almost 50 minutes by car: decide beforehand who drives, or book somewhere to sleep nearby. If you are spending the day in Xàtiva, it fits on Saturday afternoon, after the castle in the morning. From Bocairent the distance is similar, so it also works for a getaway that combines the two villages.
- **Swimming at the Gorgo de la Escalera in Anna** (3 h · Ages 4 and up pay; steep stairs, no lifeguard · €2 from age 4): 18 km from Xàtiva, in Anna, the water has cut its way through a canyon. The Gorgo de la Escalera owes its name to the 136 steps that lead down to it; before they were built it was called the Gorgo del Salto, after the waterfall of about 20 metres that drops from the weir. According to the town council, it is declared an Inland Beach of the Comunitat Valenciana. By car it is about 22 minutes from the centre of Xàtiva.
A canyon with a paper history
It was carved by the Anna river, a tributary of the Sellent. A weir holds back the water for industrial use, and its drop forms El Salto. In the late 18th century the water drove one of the four paper mills that the botanist Cavanilles noted in Anna; in the early 20th, the Volta company installed a power station in the old mill, using the irrigation channel its owners had built. The gorgo is one of the three stops on the 3 Waterfalls route, with the Gorgo Gaspar and the Vikings Waterfall.
Entry, capacity and rules
The council publishes a general entry fee of €2 from age 4, paid at the entrance, preferably by card, or online in advance. A maximum of 350 people go down the stairway at a time. The Comunitat's tourism website warns that in summer you may have to pay and recommends arriving early; outside that season, confirm at the Tourist Info whether it is charged.
You swim at your own risk: there is no lifeguard. Fire, throwing cigarette butts, camping and fishing are prohibited. Dogs may not be off the lead or swim. If you want to do water canyoning, the council asks you to hire a licensed active-tourism company.
How to combine it with Xàtiva
In July and August, when the castle is punishing, the gorgo is the afternoon: old town and museums in the morning, lunch and a swim in Anna. Bring water shoes, water and something to eat; the descent and, above all, the climb back up the 136 steps are noticeable. Anna's Tourist Info, on calle Mayor, is open Tuesday to Saturday from 9:00 to 14:00, on Friday also from 15:00 to 17:00, and Sundays and public holidays from 9:00 to 13:00; telephone, 616 551 877.

## Dónde comer
- **El Cullerot** (Restaurant, Xàtiva, €€). Qué pedir: the Xàtiva baked rice, with the house esgarraet or the croquetón to start, and arnadí or moixavena for dessert.
- **Hotel Mont-Sant Restaurant** (Restaurant, Xàtiva, €€€). Qué pedir: the €45 Montsant menu if you are all at the table with time to spare, or from the menu the croquetón, the oxtail ravioli and a baked rice ordered beforehand

## By car: Three quarters of an hour from Valencia
By car you arrive in about 48 minutes from Valencia on the A-7. Leave the car in the lower, modern part and walk up to the old town, with its narrow streets.
Presupuesto orientativo: 60–110 € por persona y día.
### Dónde dormir if you're driving
- **Hotel Mont-Sant** (Small hotel): From Andalusi palace to a 1994 hotel
Mont-Sant occupies an estate on the slope of Xàtiva castle with a long history. In Islamic times it was a complex of buildings and gardens from which the city was governed; the Cordoban Ibn Hazm took refuge there and wrote The Ring of the Dove. After James I's conquest it was a royal residence, and the great cistern remains from that period. In the fourteenth century James II founded a Cistercian convent, which was extended in the sixteenth. After the confiscation of church property it was sold, in 1855 the church and cloister were demolished, and with the walls that remained a country house was built, from which the present gardens come. It opened as a hotel in 1994, after a restoration that preserved the old. The Generalitat's tourism register classifies it as a four-star hotel, open all year.
Six ways to sleep on the estate
The hotel does not give a number of rooms on its website, but it does list the types, all with a 180 by 200 bed:

Monasterio: for two people.
Monasterio with views: up to three, with a terrace with views.
Aljibe: up to three, in the quietest part.
Cabaña: up to three, with a terrace.
Muralla: up to three, with a private pool.
Junior suite: up to four, with a private pool.

For a family of four, the only published option is the junior suite. The website does not publish prices, check-in and check-out times or whether breakfast is included: ask on 962 275 081, on 658 962 659 (also by WhatsApp, according to the official listing) or at reservas@mont-sant.com.
Garden, cistern and library
Besides the rooms, the estate has a garden pool, a viewpoint over the city with the bell tower of La Seu among the trees, the old cistern converted into a room, the nativity room, a library and meeting rooms. There is wifi and a laundry service. At reception they speak Spanish, Valencian, English and French. The estate hosts private and corporate events, so on some days there will be activity in the gardens: ask if you are looking for calm.
With a dog
The hotel advertises itself as pet friendly, without publishing conditions or a supplement: say so when booking and ask in which rooms the dog may stay. The castle ridge and the climb from the hotel provide walks at the door.
Eating and climbing to the castle
The hotel restaurant opens every day, from 13:30 to 15:00 and 20:30 to 22:00, also for non-guests, with a €45 tasting menu and à la carte. From the door, the road continues to the castle, which opens Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00; the hermitage of Sant Feliu is next to the estate. To the centre, the Collegiate Church and the Borgia streets, you walk down.
- **La Maga Rooms** (Small hotel, desde 48 € / night): A restored house on Calle de les Ànimes
La Maga Rooms is at the top of Xàtiva's old town, at number 56 Calle de les Ànimes (Calle Almas), already on the castle slope. The Generalitat's tourism register lists it as a guesthouse (pensión), with six rooms and twelve beds, open all year. The building, white outside, with slit windows under the tiled eaves, was completely restored and inside mixes the old with simple design. The host is Estela, and the house takes its name from the Maga of Cortázar's Rayuela: the website tells it with quotations from the book.
Standard, junior suite and suite
The website publishes three room types, all for two people:

Standard: 25 m², onto Calle Almas, from €48 a night.
Junior suite: 40 m², onto Calle Almas, from €70.
Suite: 50 m², with views of the castle, from €90.

Some have a freestanding bath inside the room and others are on two levels with a wooden staircase. If you want to see the castle from your room, the suite is the one that has it. The website does not publish check-in and check-out times or whether breakfast is included: ask when booking.
To book you pay 30% of the total; the rest is charged in the seven days before arrival. If you cancel before those seven days, you lose that 30%. Stays paid for with gift boxes cannot be cancelled once the voucher has been redeemed. Book on their website, on 695 796 587 or at info@lamagarooms.com.
Driving up, walking down the steps
Arriving by car takes some know-how, and the hotel publishes step-by-step directions from the N-340: always uphill, towards the castle. The first thing is to try to park beside a tower, at the end of a cobbled street. If there is no space, keep climbing three bends to a traffic light; from there don't go back by the road: take the steps beside it and then the slope on the left, which leaves you at the door. With a big suitcase, that last stretch is noticeable. On foot from the centre, it is all uphill.
Dogs, cats and the ridge
The house admits pets, dogs and cats, and has its own: Rufo, Gato and Lilu. The castle ridge starts at the door for walking the dog. Ask about the conditions when booking, because the website does not detail them.
From here, the castle is uphill and the guided walk along the walls covers the east and west walls that climb this slope. For lunch, go down to Plaza del Mercat, where El Cullerot serves the Xàtiva baked rice.
- **Casa Rosetta Boutique** (Small hotel, desde 50 € / night): Exposed stone on Calle San Agustín
Casa Rosetta Boutique is an old house in the centre of Xàtiva, at Calle San Agustín 19, converted into five rooms. The restoration left the stone of the walls and the carved wooden staircase with its wrought-iron banister exposed, and from above you can see the rooftops and domes of the centre. It is for over-18s only: the house is aimed at couples or friends who want a quiet break, with no children around.
The rooms and how you get in
Each room is different, and the equipment depends on how it is set up, but the house lists these amenities: free wifi, smart television, air conditioning, heating, safe, coffee and tea set and bathroom. Access is self-service: there is no reception to arrive at, so ask for the entry instructions before the trip. You can check in from 15:00 and must vacate the room before 11:00.
The prices it publishes run from €50 to €160 a night, depending on the room and the date. Book from the search engine on their website, by phone on 633 043 740 or by email at casarosettaboutique@gmail.com. The website says nothing about animals or parking: ask if you are coming with a dog or by car.
Breakfast, in the bakery downstairs
Breakfast is not included in the price. On the ground floor of the same building is La Miga Artesanal, an independent café of local produce and artisan baking, with a terrace on the street: you go down the stairs and have breakfast without leaving the building. A continental breakfast costs about €7 per person, depending on what you choose.
Xàtiva on foot from the door
The house is in the centre, and almost everything worth visiting in Xàtiva is within walking distance. The railway station, where the Cercanías from Valencia stops, is about 300 metres as the crow flies. The Collegiate Church and Plaza del Mercat are a few streets away, and from there the Borgia route continues. For baked rice, El Cullerot is opposite La Seu. The castle is another matter: it is at the top of the ridge and the walk up is long and steep; on Sundays and public holidays from October to May there is a shuttle from Plaza de l'Espanyoleto.
For a weekend without a car that is enough: you arrive by train, drop your suitcase and do the rest on foot or on the shuttle.
### Servicios
- **Castle Shuttle and Tourist Train**: Bus from Plaza de l'Espanyoleto on Sundays and public holidays from October to May, €1.15 · tourist train in summer

## Car-free: By Cercanías, without worrying about parking
Xàtiva is one of the few day trips from Valencia best done by train: the C-2 Cercanías leaves you ten minutes' walk from the old town and the Almodí. For the castle, a shuttle on Sundays from October to May or the tourist train in summer; otherwise, on foot.
Presupuesto orientativo: 50–100 € por persona y día.
### Dónde dormir without a car
- **La Maga Rooms** (Small hotel, desde 48 € / night): A restored house on Calle de les Ànimes
La Maga Rooms is at the top of Xàtiva's old town, at number 56 Calle de les Ànimes (Calle Almas), already on the castle slope. The Generalitat's tourism register lists it as a guesthouse (pensión), with six rooms and twelve beds, open all year. The building, white outside, with slit windows under the tiled eaves, was completely restored and inside mixes the old with simple design. The host is Estela, and the house takes its name from the Maga of Cortázar's Rayuela: the website tells it with quotations from the book.
Standard, junior suite and suite
The website publishes three room types, all for two people:

Standard: 25 m², onto Calle Almas, from €48 a night.
Junior suite: 40 m², onto Calle Almas, from €70.
Suite: 50 m², with views of the castle, from €90.

Some have a freestanding bath inside the room and others are on two levels with a wooden staircase. If you want to see the castle from your room, the suite is the one that has it. The website does not publish check-in and check-out times or whether breakfast is included: ask when booking.
To book you pay 30% of the total; the rest is charged in the seven days before arrival. If you cancel before those seven days, you lose that 30%. Stays paid for with gift boxes cannot be cancelled once the voucher has been redeemed. Book on their website, on 695 796 587 or at info@lamagarooms.com.
Driving up, walking down the steps
Arriving by car takes some know-how, and the hotel publishes step-by-step directions from the N-340: always uphill, towards the castle. The first thing is to try to park beside a tower, at the end of a cobbled street. If there is no space, keep climbing three bends to a traffic light; from there don't go back by the road: take the steps beside it and then the slope on the left, which leaves you at the door. With a big suitcase, that last stretch is noticeable. On foot from the centre, it is all uphill.
Dogs, cats and the ridge
The house admits pets, dogs and cats, and has its own: Rufo, Gato and Lilu. The castle ridge starts at the door for walking the dog. Ask about the conditions when booking, because the website does not detail them.
From here, the castle is uphill and the guided walk along the walls covers the east and west walls that climb this slope. For lunch, go down to Plaza del Mercat, where El Cullerot serves the Xàtiva baked rice.
- **Casa Rosetta Boutique** (Small hotel, desde 50 € / night): Exposed stone on Calle San Agustín
Casa Rosetta Boutique is an old house in the centre of Xàtiva, at Calle San Agustín 19, converted into five rooms. The restoration left the stone of the walls and the carved wooden staircase with its wrought-iron banister exposed, and from above you can see the rooftops and domes of the centre. It is for over-18s only: the house is aimed at couples or friends who want a quiet break, with no children around.
The rooms and how you get in
Each room is different, and the equipment depends on how it is set up, but the house lists these amenities: free wifi, smart television, air conditioning, heating, safe, coffee and tea set and bathroom. Access is self-service: there is no reception to arrive at, so ask for the entry instructions before the trip. You can check in from 15:00 and must vacate the room before 11:00.
The prices it publishes run from €50 to €160 a night, depending on the room and the date. Book from the search engine on their website, by phone on 633 043 740 or by email at casarosettaboutique@gmail.com. The website says nothing about animals or parking: ask if you are coming with a dog or by car.
Breakfast, in the bakery downstairs
Breakfast is not included in the price. On the ground floor of the same building is La Miga Artesanal, an independent café of local produce and artisan baking, with a terrace on the street: you go down the stairs and have breakfast without leaving the building. A continental breakfast costs about €7 per person, depending on what you choose.
Xàtiva on foot from the door
The house is in the centre, and almost everything worth visiting in Xàtiva is within walking distance. The railway station, where the Cercanías from Valencia stops, is about 300 metres as the crow flies. The Collegiate Church and Plaza del Mercat are a few streets away, and from there the Borgia route continues. For baked rice, El Cullerot is opposite La Seu. The castle is another matter: it is at the top of the ridge and the walk up is long and steep; on Sundays and public holidays from October to May there is a shuttle from Plaza de l'Espanyoleto.
For a weekend without a car that is enough: you arrive by train, drop your suitcase and do the rest on foot or on the shuttle.
### Servicios
- **Cercanías C-2 Valencia – Xàtiva**: Renfe Cercanías from València Nord · about 50 min to 1 h 10 · a train roughly every 20 minutes
- **Castle Shuttle and Tourist Train**: Bus from Plaza de l'Espanyoleto on Sundays and public holidays from October to May, €1.15 · tourist train in summer

## As a family: A huge castle to explore

Xàtiva castle is big, with walls, cisterns, a cell and towers to peer out of: it holds children's attention. Free up to age 7. The walk up is the hardest part.

### What works best
The castle, with audio guides and two enclosures to explore

The Sunday shuttle, from October to May, to avoid the walk up

The Almodí, indoors and with the same ticket as the castle

The La Seu bell tower, 180 steps for the older ones

The flat route to Cova Negra, beside an irrigation channel, for those who walk

In summer, the Gorgo de la Escalera de Anna: €2 from age 4, no lifeguard

### Sleeping
Hotel Mont-Sant, with a garden and pool

Casa Rosetta does not admit children

### Eating
El Cullerot, rice dishes to share and croquetones

### Bear in mind
Children need a castle ticket even if it is free

In summer, go up first thing: the road has no shade

Almost everything closes on Mondays

### Qué hacer as a family
- Xàtiva Castle
- Collegiate Church of Santa María (La Seu)
- Borgia Route Through the Old Town
- Almodí Museum
- Walk from Xàtiva to the Cova Negra on the PRV-78
- Guided Visit to Xàtiva Castle with Love Xàtiva Tours
- Swimming at the Gorgo de la Escalera in Anna

## Consejos

### Buy the castle ticket online
The tourist website recommends it, and it also covers the Almodí.

### On Sunday, the Seu first
Its museum and bell tower are open only from 11:30 to 13:00.

### Go by train
The station is ten minutes from the old town and you do not have to look for parking on narrow streets.

### Take water to the castle
The road up has no shade and there is a lot of walking inside.

## Preguntas frecuentes

### How long does it take to get from Valencia to Xàtiva?
About 48 minutes by car along the A-7 and between 50 minutes and 1 h 10 on the Cercanías C-2.

### How much does the castle cost?
€6, €4 reduced and free up to age 7. It includes the municipal museums.

### Can you get up to the castle without walking?
On Sundays and public holidays from October to May, on the shuttle from the Plaza de l'Espanyoleto, for €1.15. In summer, on the tourist train.

### What closes on Mondays?
The castle, the Seu and the museums. Better not to go on a Monday.

### Where can you eat oven-baked rice?
At El Cullerot, opposite the Seu, among others. It costs €16 per person.

### Is it a good plan with children?
Yes: the castle is big and can be explored; children under 7 get in free, although they still need a ticket.