Planes looks like a village that has been arguing with gravity for a thousand years and winning. Its houses climb a hill crowned by the remains of a Moorish castle, and the whole place overlooks a valley of olive and almond terraces that falls toward the Beniarrés reservoir. The Coves Roges, the red caves, lie in the broken limestone country around here, and the first of their shelters carries prehistoric paintings, part of the scattered rock art of the Valencian mountains. The colour in the name is not poetry: the rock itself is stained a warm iron red.
This corner is called the Vall de Perputxent, a small, folded world between the Serra de Benicadell and the Serra d'Almudaina. Settlements are tiny, from Benimarfull with a few hundred inhabitants to Beniarrés and Planes, and they still feel agricultural rather than touristic. Close to Planes, the Barranc de l'Encantà hides a cascade and a deep green pool, and the name, the ravine of the enchanted woman, comes from a local legend about a Moorish girl who appears by the water. On a hot day the pool is the most sensible place in the valley.
The riding is small-scale and very satisfying. Lanes wind between stone terraces and through olive groves, dropping into ravines and climbing out on tight, blind bends where you should always expect a farmer's pickup coming the other way. The reservoir road gives open water views and a slightly faster rhythm, and the climb toward the Benicadell ridge offers big vistas across the Vall d'Albaida. Gravel and dust collect on corners after storms, and goats occasionally take an interest in the tarmac. Late afternoon light turns the red rocks almost orange.
Practically, these villages are too small to count on fuel, so fill up in Muro de Alcoy or Cocentaina before heading in. Planes and Beniarrés have bars where locals will feed you without fuss, usually something with rice, beans or a slab of grilled meat, and the coffee is strong. Carry water if you walk to the shelters: the paths are short but steep and stony. And give yourself a few unhurried minutes at the top of Planes, by the castle, where the whole valley lies below and the only sounds are a church bell and a dog somewhere far away.