Lying between Benidorm and Denia, Calpe is reached by the N-332 road or the A-7 motorway. The Peñón de Ifach is a limestone promontory over 300 metres high that thrusts itself over one kilometre into the sea, dividing the coastline into two great bays, one on each side.

We start the route by crossing Calpe towards the port. Shortly before reaching it we find a tarmacked path on the left leading off to the Peñón. Turning into this path we immediately find an earth carpark where we leave the car. Two tracks lead off from the car park, one paved and one an upward sloping dirt track. We take the latter and climb gently up towards the Aula de Naturaleza (Information Centre) of the Parque Natural del Peñón de Ifach, enjoying beautiful views over the bay as we gain height.

After the visitors centre we take a track that climbs up a slope to the Peñón. Before doing so we might nip down another track leading from the left of the centre to a lookout point called Miradores de Levante, with sweeping views over the Playa de la Fossa. The route towards the peñón soon reaches the botanical lookout point Cavanilles with an old aljibe nearby. The route then continues to gain height among pines bent almost horizontal by the wind. We then reach a tunnel that ploughs through one side of the Peñón. The route then follows the northern slope, practically level now, until reaching a fork 10 minutes after the tunnel. Here we take the righthand turning. After a climb of about 20 minutes we reach the geodetic point of the Peñón, coming to the end of our route. From here, on a clear day, we can see many of the mountain chains surrounding this part of the east coast (Sierra de Oltá, Sierra de Bernia and Sierra de Montgó, among others), as well as the silhouette of the lovely far-off island of Ibiza.

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