Local walkers call it the cathedral of hiking, and once you have seen the Barranc de l'Infern you understand why. This deep limestone gorge, between the Vall de Laguar and the Vall d'Ebo in the mountains behind Dénia, is crossed by an old Moorish mule path that descends and climbs again by thousands of stone steps, carved and built into the rock walls over centuries. The route, a classic day walk, is spectacular and exhausting, with the gorge narrowing at its deepest point to a passage between towering walls. The gorge also holds prehistoric rock art in its shelters, and the sites grouped as Conjunt 2 are among them, part of the wider family of Mediterranean rock art protected by UNESCO.
The valleys around the gorge are a world apart from the busy coast just a few kilometres away. The Vall de Laguar is a cluster of small villages, Campell, Fleix and Benimaurell, perched on terraced slopes, with cherry orchards that bloom white in spring and almond and olive trees. The Vall d'Ebo, to the west, is a high, quiet valley, with a cave, the Cova del Rull, full of stalactites and stalagmites, that is open to visitors.
The roads into these valleys are narrow, steep and winding, with tight hairpins, sheer drops and fine views over the mountains and the coast. The road from Pego up to the Vall d'Ebo is especially dramatic, climbing in a series of bends from the coastal plain into the hills, with the marshes and rice fields of the Marjal de Pego-Oliva spread out below. Surfaces are generally good, but gravel, fallen rocks and walkers on the road are common hazards, and cyclists are numerous in winter. Traffic is light, apart from weekends.
The villages have limited services, with small shops, bars and a few restaurants, so fill up in Pego, about seven kilometres away, a town of over eleven thousand people, or in the larger towns on the coast. The local food includes rice dishes, such as arroz al horno, and coca, a kind of flatbread with toppings, and the cherries of the Vall de Laguar are famous in season. Summers are hot, so the early morning is the best time for riding and walking, and winters are mild, making this a good destination for off-season rides.