The remains found in the Cova Negra prove that Xàtiva was already inhabited thousands of years ago. Later the Arabs moved in before it was conquered by Jaime I of Aragón and brought into the Kingdom of Valencia.

Starting out from the Alameda, we begin our visit in the streets of the old part of the town. We soon come to the Plaza de la Trinidad, containing the eighteenth-century Palacio d'Alarcó. Then, next to the Calle del Abad Pla we can admire Xàtiva’s collegiate church “La Seu”. Nearby stands another building of great interest, the Hospital Real, dating from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Two churches are a must: the Iglesia de San Félix and the Iglesia  de Sant Pere. The first is one of the oldest in the whole region of Valencia. It is built from ashlar blocks and boasts an outstanding portal supported on six Roman columns. The second was built in the fourteenth century; it has three great arches and an interesting Gothic-Mudejar coffered ceiling.

Along the Calle de la Corretgería, passing by the Casa de la Enseñanza we come to the Plaza de Sant Jordi and the Plaza del Trinquet, from where the road runs up to the castle, built high up on Monte Vernissa. Iberian and Roman in origin it has a great historical value. It consists of two parts: the Castillo Mayor and the Castillo Menor, both linked by double walls. Of special interest is the Puerta del Socorro, the Capilla de la Reina María, containing the tomb of Conde Urgell, the State Prison of the Crown of Aragon and the Sala del duque de Calabria.

One of the most interesting local museums is the Museo de L'Almodi, housed in an early sixteenth-century building with a Gothic main front. It exhibits archaeological collections from the Iberian, Roman and Arab eras and has a famous portrait of Philip V hung upside down. In the environs of Xàtiva is the Gothic Ermita de Santa Ana.