Bolulla is barely a village, a few hundred people tucked into a valley of the Marina Baixa behind Benidorm, and the ravine that carries its name cuts into the limestone hills just outside it. The mountains here are steep and close together, terraced for centuries with olives, almonds and loquats, and their caves and shelters hold traces of prehistoric painting that place this corner of Alicante within the wider family of Mediterranean rock art. What you see on the ground is a dry, rocky gully scented with pine and wild herbs, with the ruined castle of Bolulla perched on a ridge above, a reminder of the Moorish centuries when these valleys were densely settled.
For riders, the attraction is the road network rather than any single monument. From Callosa d'en Sarrià and Polop the routes climb into the sierras through tight, often narrow bends, and some of the best roads on the whole Costa Blanca start within a few kilometres of here. The climb to Castell de Castells is quiet and technical, and the nearby Coll de Rates, between Tàrbena and Parcent, is well known to cyclists for its steady gradient and the view down to the coast and the Montgó massif. Watch for cyclists in winter, when teams and amateurs from northern Europe train on these roads in large numbers.
Just down the valley lie the Fonts de l'Algar, a series of waterfalls and pools on the river Algar near Callosa that make a refreshing stop on a hot day, although they draw crowds in summer. The area is also the home of the loquat, the níspero, which grows under netting on the terraces around Callosa and carries its own protected designation. In spring the trees are heavy with small orange fruit, and roadside stalls sell them by the box.
Fuel is not something to count on in Bolulla itself. The nearest reliable services are in Callosa d'en Sarrià, Polop and La Nucia, the latter a town of almost eighteen thousand around eight kilometres away. The coast is never far, so a ride can end with a swim, but the interior roads are a different world: narrow, quiet, occasionally gravelly on the inside of bends, and best tackled in the morning or late afternoon when the heat lets up.