What to see in El Campello

El Campello is a coastal municipality just 13 kilometres northeast of Alicante, with which it forms an almost continuous strip of development along the shore. It was part of Alicante's municipal territory until 1901, when it became independent, though human occupation here goes back much further: at La Illeta dels Banyets, a small peninsula that today is almost an island, archaeologists have documented remains ranging from a Bronze Age settlement to an Iberian trading post and a Roman villa, with human presence dating back to around 3000 BC.

History

Like much of this coast, El Campello lived for centuries under the threat of Barbary piracy. The watchtower, built between 1554 and 1557 on a headland next to the Illeta, was part of the chain of lookout towers that once lined the Valencian coast and today stands restored as one of the town's landmarks. Fishing was the main economic activity for generations, and the town still runs an active fish auction that can be watched from outside, giving a sense of how coastal life worked before tourism took over.

What to see

The town's newest landmark is the Paseo del Mar, a raised wooden walkway that runs out over the water next to the harbour and has become a favourite spot for an evening stroll. Muchavista beach, fine-sand and more than three kilometres long, is the municipality's largest and borders the beaches of Alicante to the north. El Campello is easy to get around on foot or by bike thanks to a continuous seafront promenade linking the town centre, the harbour and the Illeta, and the tram-train line that has run through the municipality for over a century makes it simple to explore the wider area without a car.

The festival of the Virgen del Carmen, patron saint of sailors, is celebrated in mid-July, while Moros y Cristianos parades and historical re-enactments fill the second half of October. The mix of archaeological heritage, town beaches and working fishing-port atmosphere makes El Campello an easy short trip from the provincial capital. The municipality now has more than 31,000 residents and, together with Alicante, Sant Vicent del Raspeig and Sant Joan, forms a conurbation of over half a million people. The Torre de Reixes, a second cylindrical watchtower on the coast, rounds out the historic surveillance network along the shore, though it still shows visible structural damage, a growth curve mirrored across much of the Alicante coastline over the same period.