The Rio Vinalopó is Alicante’s iconic river. Its source is high up in the interior, in the mountains of the Sierra de Mariola. Almost 100 kilometres later, it drains into the Mediterranean near Santa Pola, just down the coast from Alicante city itself.

Over the centuries, its waters have shaped the entire province – its history, its communications and its agriculture.

But it starts life as a crystal-clear brook, emerging from the little limestone cave of Font de la Coveta. Finding it is a great walk through the Sierra Mariola parc natural.

It’s a linear trail – you go there and back the same way – it’s easy and it only takes a couple of hours. Tap here to jump to a map.

Start here!

The walk begins just outside the small town of Banyeres de Mariola, the highest community in Alicante province. Head for the Information Centre of the Parc Natural de la Sierra Mariola (Mas d’Ull de Canals). It’s the only place you can leave your car in the park without risking a fine – the good news is that there’s plenty of free parking.

Head up the access road and turn left at the barrier that stops anyone without a permit driving into the park.

It’s then a gentle stroll along a rough track wide enough to take the occasional car heading to the isolated casas rurales along your route. The mountains rising up from each side of the valley are clothed in green pinewoods and along the well-marked trail you’ll pass olive groves, wild rosemary and fennel. It’s very peaceful.

First sight of the river!

The best bit comes about two-thirds of the way along the trail, where you come across the ruined textile mill of Blanes.

This is where you first get to see (and hear) the waters of the Vinalopó. From this point on until the source itself, the trail follows the course of the river (though ‘river’ is a bit of an exaggeration. At this stage, the Vinalopó is not much more than a stream with ambitions).

The trail forks sharp left at the corner of the old factory, taking you down a flight of steps with a wooden handrail and you cross the river on stepping stones – see photos below.

For the rest of the route, it’s a single track path that winds gently through the woods, following the course of the river, until you reach La Font de la Coveta. The official source (though there are other nearby candidates for the title!).

Font de la Coveta is a little limestone cave with a babbling brook emerging from it. The waters are breathtakingly clear, with little fish darting in and out of the weeds (check the video below). It’s a lovely spot.

Fascinating fact!

So why did this insignificant little stream become quite so important in this part of the world?

Well, water was a prized asset in such a dry landscape. It still is. From the time the Muslims ruled Spain, irrigation from the waters of the Vinalopó was vital for agriculture.

The Pantano de Elche (Elche Dam) further downstream has been holding back the waters of the Vinalopó for irrigation ever since the 1600s. And three of the wine regions of Alicante are still named after the river – the Alt, Medio and Bajo Vinalopó.

The settlements we see today – and the medieval castles that were built to defend them – were there because of the river. And the communications links follow the river valley too. Even the super-modern AVE rail line to Madrid!

These days though, the Rio Vinalopó isn’t really a major league river. The dry – and getting drier – climate of Alicante province and the amount of water extracted for irrigation see to that.

It takes some seriously heavy rainfall to transform the Vinalopó into a proper river – and that doesn’t happen too much in such a dry part of the world. Especially after two years of drought (as of early 2025).

Return to base!

Once you’ve chilled out in the peace and quiet of the Font de la Coveta – and we had the place to ourselves when we were there in autumn – you just head back the same way you came. The round trip is about 7km and should take you around two hours there and back.

We stayed here:

Apartamentos Rurales la Alquería del Pilar, on the outskirts of Banyeres, a six minute drive from the start of the walk. There’s also a hostel at the Information Centre itself, though we’ve not stayed here ourselves – Albergue Ull de Canals. It’s on Booking.com too.

I couldn’t find any public transport that’ll take you to the start of the walk, but it is about a 50 minute walk from Banyeres.

Route to the source of the Vinalopó

Follow this wikiloc trail:

For more, check out these posts:

• The castles of the Vinalopó – follow this trail
• El Pantano de Elche: the centuries-old Elche Dam on the Vinalopó river
• The Moorish caves of Bocairent – a few km away from Banyeres on the edge of the Sierra de Mariola

© Guy Pelham