Illa de Tabarca

From pirate refuge to marine reserve

Before it was called Tabarca, this small island off the coast of Alicante was known as Isla Plana and served for centuries as a base for Barbary corsairs raiding the Levantine coast; names like Cachidiablo and the Barbarossa brothers are tied to its history. Everything changed in the 18th century, when King Carlos III ordered the island fortified and resettled with roughly three hundred Genoese families freed from slavery on the Tunisian island of Tabarka, which gave the island its new name. Many current residents still carry Italian-rooted surnames inherited from those first settlers.

The walls ringing the village, declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (a protected heritage designation), are the most visible trace of that defensive period. Inside the walled enclosure stand the Casa del Gobernador, the Iglesia de San Pedro, and the gates of San Miguel, San Rafael and San Gabriel, which lead into the town. In 1986 the waters around the island became Spain's first declared marine reserve, a shift that turned Tabarca from a declining fishing village into a leading diving and snorkelling destination in the Comunitat Valenciana.

Visiting the only inhabited island

Tabarca is the only inhabited island in the Comunitat Valenciana, with a small permanent population that shares the place with visitors arriving by boat from Alicante and other points along the coast. Outside the walled village, the rest of the island is largely flat and can be walked in a short time, passing coves with clear water protected by the marine reserve along the way. It's one of the more common full-day plans from the provincial capital, covered in the guide to day trips from Alicante, and its beaches also appear among those recommended in the guide to the best beaches near Alicante.