It doesn’t rain often here on the Costa Blanca. But when it does, it’s usually a real downpour. It rarely lasts for long though. So for centuries, the key thing has been to capture some of that precious rainfall before it disappears downhill to the Mediterranean.
Which means dams. Villajoyosa has a modern concrete dam, a few kilometres out of town near Orxeta. But there’s also a much older dam, built more than 350 years ago, further up in the mountains near the village of Relleu.
And it’s a great little walk with a dramatic gorge at the end of it. Even better, a walkway (una pasarela) has been built right inside the gorge itself. It’s a brilliant idea!
The pasarela clings to the rock face, and features a spectacular glass-floored viewing platform at the half-way point. It’s a bit like a pint-sized version of the Caminito del Rey near Málaga in southern Spain, and the views are wonderful. Directions and maps at the end of this post.
Now even longer!
They’ve just opened an extension of the walkway even further into the gorge (as of December 2023), almost doubling its length to around 400 metres. There’s also an ambition to build a bridge across the ravine and create a circular route back to the dam. Work could start later this year – see this article (in Spanish) here.
Organising your visit
Opening hours for the Relleu Dam walkway are Monday-Sunday 1000-1700 (last entry 1630 – times may change, depending on the season). Admission is by ticket in 15 minute slots to control numbers because the walkway is narrow and overcrowding is definitely a bad idea. You can reserve a slot – book by phone (+34 613033336) or online here.
You can just turn up on the day without booking and pay at the little wooden ticket office at the start of the walkway; cash or card, prices here. But if it’s busy, you’ll have to hang around if the available slots are all booked out. They’ll sell you a drink while you wait though!
You’ll need to check in for your timeslot here, and get a safety helmet just in case something unpleasantly hard falls from above while you’re in the gorge.
Safety rules (supervise kids, wear the right footwear, check weather first etc) here. Details of free car parks in Relleu village here.
TIP: the walkway gets a lot busier at weekends, so go during the week if you can – or go early in the day.
Fascinating fact!
OK, so here’s a little history to go with the wonderful views. When it was built, el Pantano (el Pantà in Valenciano) de Relleu was not only an engineering marvel – it was officially a miracle! I mean a proper miracle!
Rewind to the 17th century. The countryside around Villajoyosa down on the coast was suffering from serious drought, so much so that the area was becoming depopulated. Crops were failing through lack of water for irrigation and there wasn’t enough food to support the population.
So the townsfolk petitioned the king to allow the construction of a dam at Relleu, to solve the water shortage.
One day (8 May, 1653 to be precise), the image of the Virgen de Santa Marta in Villajoyosa church was seen to shed real tears. Only a few days later did people realise that this was the precise date that King Felipe IV signed the order to construct the dam. So Santa Marta was crying tears of happiness!
There’s a Fiesta de las Lágrimas (tears) de Santa Marta every May in Villajoyosa to celebrate the miracle – check out my post here.
The landowners around Relleu weren’t quite so happy. They didn’t appreciate their land being flooded to suit folk down on the coast. But construction went ahead anyway. No-one’s quite sure when it opened, but it was certainly doing its job by the early 1700s.
Silting up
These days, the dam wall is only 2-3 metres above the lake bed behind it. That’s because over three centuries, the lake has silted up with debris washed down from the surrounding mountains.
As the lake bed got ever higher, so the engineers kept raising the level of the dam wall to compensate, so it now stands 44 metres (145 ft) above the gorge below.
It’s easy to forget that this must have been a pretty amazing engineering achievement back in the 18th century. Yes, plenty of dams had been built before, but not in such a difficult location and with such basic construction techniques. The Relleu dam was one of the first modern dams in Spain.
The silting up of the lake meant the dam went out of use in the last century, when the big concrete Amadorio pantano was built downstream in 1957, much closer to Villajoyosa.
Since then, the Relleu dam has been slowly decaying, but the walkway has given it a new lease of life as a tourist attraction.
For a birds-eye view into the gorge from the top of the dam, check out my video here. You’re not allowed to climb up onto the dam these days – but a few years back, before the walkway opened, nobody cared!
The dam is also a cool spot for barranquismo – canyoning in English – which means donning a wetsuit and crash hat, abseiling into the gorge and finding your way out. Video here.
How to get to the Relleu Dam walkway
Drive up to Relleu from La Vila Joiosa on the CV-770 and then CV-775. As you reach the village, don’t go through the centre, but bear left at the village entrance, following the ‘circumval.lació’ sign. Then turn left where you see the sign ‘Vinyes, Margelets, Ripalmes’. Maps below.
Follow the road (Cam Amadorio) downhill for 3 kilometres and you’ll see a tourist information board marking the start of the walk.
TIP: there’s very limited off-road dirt parking nearby, and on busy days it gets full quickly. The alternative car parks are in Relleu village, an extra 45 mins walk away, so make sure you factor that into your schedule if you have your timeslot booked at the walkway.
If you’re using public transport, come to Villajoyosa on the tram that runs along the coast from Alicante to Dénia. Then take the 20 bus to Relleu – timetable here.
Choose your route
There are are two paths to the dam once you arrive at the info board on the Cam Amadorio. First, the quick and flat route, which takes about 10-15 minutes to the dam.
You’re essentially walking along the dried-up lake bed behind the dam. Which is great when there is no water there – that’s most of the time, though spring 2022 was an exception!
Or there’s a higher level path which avoids getting your feet wet when the lake has filled up, but takes about twice as long.
Start walking from the info board (photo above). After a couple of hundred metres, the path divides, about 25 metres past the first electricity pylon.
Take the left fork down the stony footpath for the quicker route. Within a few hundred metres, this takes you onto the dried-up lake bed, which in turn leads you to the dam. There’s a short scramble up to the ticket office at the end.
Turn right at the fork for the higher level path and just follow your nose. The track is wide enough for vehicles at least half of the way there and well signposted.
I’ve put two maps below. The first is a basic Google map, which shows you the route from Villajoyosa, down on the coast, to the start of the walk. There’s just a hand-drawn path to the dam itself.Turn right for the higher level path and just follow your nose. It’s wide enough for vehicles at least half of the way there.
The second is a Wikiloc trail which shows the path to the dam in more detail. Walking towards the dam, I followed the short route via the dried-up lake bed. For the return, I followed the higher-level (but longer) path, which you’ll need to use when there is water in the lake.
More beautiful dam walks
Try exploring these dams within an easy drive of Relleu – the scenery is spectacular and the lakes are beautiful.
- The massive Tibi dam – four centuries old and still working!
- The spectacular Elche Dam
- Walking up to the Amadorio dam Villajoyosa
- The dam and turquoise lake of Guadalest
Or try these other great walks around Villajoyosa:
- Climbing el Peñon d’Ifach, the Rock of Gibraltar look-alike
- Torre de Les Caletes – Benidorm’s green walk.
- Playa de Torres to Benidorm via Torre de L’Aguiló
- The Faro (lighthouse) of L’Albir
© Guy Pelham