Cocentaina lies in the green hollow of the Comtat, a valley in the Alicante hills, with its palace and castle watching the Serpis river from the edge of town. Above and to the east rise limestone crags, among them the Penyó de les Carrasques, named for the carrasca, the holm oak that clings to dry slopes here. A rock shelter in the cliff, Abric II, preserves prehistoric paintings, part of the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin listed by UNESCO in 1998. As elsewhere in this tradition, the figures are small and fragile, and access can be restricted.
It is a landscape of ravines and terraces, where generations have cut stone walls into the hillsides for olives, almonds and cherries. Walking in this region, you find that every ridge has a ruin, a spring or a shelter. The smell of the place is wild thyme, pine and warm limestone. Benilloba, the nearest village, is tiny, with a few hundred inhabitants, and reaching the shelter often means walking a rough track, so wear proper boots and carry water.
Cocentaina has fuel and is known for its Fira de Tots Sants, a big fair held every year in November, and for its Moorish and Christian heritage. The city of Alcoy, a short ride up the valley, is an industrial town with fine Modernista buildings and a spectacular festival of Moors and Christians each April. Food is robust: olleta, a bean and vegetable stew, and sweet pastries with almonds, along with the local chocolate.
On a bike, this is a rewarding area. The roads wind through the valleys and over passes toward the Costa Blanca, with open corners, gentle gradients and dramatic views of the mountain ridges, and traffic is light outside the holidays. Summer heat is intense, so go early, and in the evening the light on the crags is a deep gold. Spring wildflowers and autumn colours make those seasons the best, and winter nights can be bitterly cold on the high ground.