If you’re looking for a thrilling hike near Alicante, the Pantano de Relleu from Relleu village with a detour to the jaw-dropping Pasarela de Relleu is the perfect adventure!
We did the hike at the end of 2024 when the wooden pathway pinned a vertiginous 60 meters above the gorge floor still wasn’t finished.
According to the staff, it should be finished as a loop trail by the 2025-2026 season and I can’t wait to go back for the full experience.
At this point, however, there’s a rousing 370-meter path where you can take in incredible gorge views.
In this post, I’ll go through everything you need to know to hike the 10-kilometer loop trail from Relleu village, over Pantano de Relleu, and the sensational footpath, Pasarela de Relleu in Alicante province in Spain.
If you think it’s too long of an adventure, you can do only the Pasarelas de Relleu hike, which is under an hour in total. I’ve also described this route below the entire trail if that sounds more like you. Trust me, this is one of the best hikes in Valencia.
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Hi, I’m Linn Haglund, the face behind Brainy Backpackers. I’ve been based in Spain for the last 10+ years, and travel locally and abroad whenever I have a chance. I’m passionate about responsible travel, slow and off the beaten path travel, and outdoor activities, especially hiking. I’m currently slow traveling in my van Persistence (Persi among friends) with my fiancée Mohammed and rescue puppy Atlas. I’m excited to help you explore this planet responsibly!
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Hiking specs
🏠Trailhead: Town Hall, Relleu, Alicante Spain
👣Type of trail: Loop
🥾Distance: 9.5 km
⏰Hiking Time: 2.5-3.5 hours
⛰️Difficulty: Moderate, but if you have vertigo it’s going to be a big challenge!
🍃Hiking season: mid-September-mid-June
💲Entry price: 3.50 Euros (paid at the booth at the entry of the wooden walkway, they take cash and card)
⌚Opening hours of the walkway: Monday to Sunday 10:00-17:30 (last entry 17:00)
🐶Hiking with dogs: You can hike most of the route with dogs, but not the wooden pathway. Good news is that you can leave your dog leashed at the ticket booth while you walk the walkway and pick it up when you come back. I wish I had known this before I went! Small dogs can go in a backpack if you’re comfortable with that.
Pre-book your entry to Pasarela de Relleu
For safety measures, they only let in 20 people on the walkways every 15 minutes. In the high season, it’s necessary to book your entry time slot in advance to ensure that you get in.
When I was there, on a Friday at the end of November, there were only a handful of other people there and we could get in straight away without booking in advance.
I asked the lady in the ticket office what high season meant and she said it’s mainly the weekends and bank holidays from mid-November and throughout spring.
So if you go mid-week like we did and don’t accidentally go on a Spanish bank holiday, you should be fine purchasing tickets directly at the booth. You can pay by cash or card.
But if you want to be sure, here’s the booking information:
- Book online through this link
- Book by phone during opening hours: +34 613 033 336 // +34 865 759 650
Opening hours: Monday to Sunday from 10:00 to 17:30 (last entry 17:00)
How to get to Relleu and the trailhead
The easiest way to get to Relleu is by car. There is plenty of parking at the bottom of the village where you arrive and not far from where the trail officially starts (Town Hall.)
If you’re traveling around Spain by campervan, I recommend driving through the village and up to the castle ruins.
There, you’ll find a fantastic dirt parking area with free and clean toilets (there was even toilet paper, but no soap when we were there), picnic tables, and spectacular views.
There are buses (L20) from Villayojosa with Avanza, but it seems like there are only a couple of buses a day, so you might have to stay the night in Relleu if the times don’t work out. The village is really cute and worth a few hours walking around.
The trailhead is by the Town Hall and continues along Calle la Victoria. We started by the parking below the village where the bus stop is too. Whether you walk up to the Town Hall or cross the road for a 1-minute shortcut is up to you.
We walked across the road from the bus stop and took left at the end. The road basically takes you in a loop back to the main street (where the bus comes from and where you’ll be driving when you arrive.)
Once you reach the main road, cross it, and take the left turn a few meters further down the road.
I highly recommend downloading the app, Wikiloc, to follow this trail I recorded so you won’t get lost.
Hiking Pantano de Relleu and Pasarela de Relleu
Hiking Pantano de Relleu and Pasarela de Relleu from Relleu village is not fantastically signposted in the beginning, so I’ll mention it again, I highly recommend downloading the app Wikiloc and follow the trail I recorded to not get lost.
Hopefully, the signposting will improve as the hike is getting more and more popular.
As I mentioned above, in the “how to get there”-section, the trail of Pantano de Relleu officially starts by Relleu Town Hall.
It continues down Calle La Victoria around a left turn, but when it loops left a second time (direction up toward the Town Hall again,) continue straight on a smaller road until you reach the main road.
There, you cross the street and take a left a few meters down the road. This is a
Alternative starting point: We started by the bus stop and parking spots below the village, which means you can walk up to the Town Hall in a couple of minutes or save yourself a small loop by crossing the street from the bus stop and take the road a few meters down across the street to the end and then go left at Calle la Victoria as seen in the picture in the “how to get there” section.
Walk down this path until you get to the end of the road. Just before the house at the end, there’s a small trail taking you to the right and down into the valley with beautiful views.
The path continues for a while with mighty mountains across the plains on your left side. After a while, you reach a road (Camino Amadorio), just continue straight there. This is the first place I saw a sign indicating the hike.
After a large left turn, the road forks with a dirt road on the right fork where you’re going. After a while, this dirt trail forks and you’ll take a small path on the left fork.
When we went there, there was a barrier on the main dirt track, so it was easy to understand that we couldn’t continue straight.
Follow this trail past the ruins of an ancient oven that was used to burn limestone to make mortar for building houses back in Roman times.
A bit further, you’ll reach a significant fork with a trail to the left and one to the right.
This intersection is well signposted toward Pasarela de Relleu to the right fork. This trail loops around the lake that’s on your left once you move forward.
Note that this is the intersection you’ll walk back to after walking the Pasarela de Relleu and on the way back, you’ll take the U-turn to follow the left fork (which will be to your right on your return.) It’s also well signposted to Relleu.
Note that the lake is dry most of the time, so don’t expect to see an actual lake. There were plenty of visible hiking trails crossing the lake that you’ll see when you get further up.
This trail takes you a few more minutes around the lake and winds uphill a bit until you reach the wooden ticket booth of Pasarela de Relleu.
At the ticket booth, you’ll get a hair net and a helmet that are mandatory to wear during the entire hike. If you hike with dogs, you can leave them leashed by the ticket booth while you do the walk.
The wooden path is narrow and in my opinion, the gaps between the planks are a bit big, I got caught up with my heel in the gaps more than once and almost lost balance, so be careful when you walk.
I recommend putting on long sleeves before you get on the wooden path if you’re hiking in a t-shirt because it does get cold in the shade of the ravine. I didn’t dare to open my backpack once I was out there for fear of dropping something out of it.
After walking the wooden path, which at the time writing is a there-and-back walk (it should become a round hike by the winter season 2025/2026,) throw your hair net in the rubbish bin provided and deliver the helmet in the ticket booth.
Walk back to the intersection you came to on the way up, and make a U-turn to the right, following the signs to Relleu. When you reach a wide path, take a left and follow it until you reach the main paved road.
This is where the path starts if you only hike Pasarela de Relleu and not the entire Pantano de Relleu from the village.
Take right there (past the parking that you see in the picture further down.) You’ll have to walk on the road for a while, but in my experience, there were hardly any cars driving past, so it felt safe.
A bit further up, we took the right uphill road which seemed like a less trafficked option, and followed it until we could see the village slightly on our left and there was a sign telling us to take a small trail that led straight to it.
We went for a walk in the village on our return, and I stopped the recording of the Wikiloc route by the village church, as I think it’s worth seeing.
CHECK OUT OUR ADVENTURE HIKING PANTANO DE RELLEU AND PASARELA DE RELLEU
Hiking ONLY Pasarela de Relleu
If you don’t feel like hiking the entire loop trail from the village as we did, it’s possible to park about a 15-20-minute walk from the Pasarela de Relleu.
That would be following the bit we did from the pasarela de Relleu to the concrete road both ways.
There’s a dirt parking lot just a few meters up the road from the hiking signs and entrance to the trail, making it easy to find. There weren’t many cars there when we passed it, but I guess it might fill up quickly on busy days.
Further down the trail, there’s a well-marked right turn and in the next intersection, you need to turn left and continue the last bit up around the Pantano de Relleu (which is likely dry) until you reach the ticket boot.
This is an easy route on a dirt track the first half of the way and a slightly uphill trail the last bit to the ticket booth and the wooden footpath.
If you don’t use a navigation app like Wikiloc or Alltrails, this is the easiest way not to get lost as it’s well signposted the entire route.
Reflections on Pantano de Relleu and Pasarela de Relleu Alicante
Summing up, this is one of the most exhilarating hikes I’ve done in a while, and I highly recommend it. But, as I mentioned a few times earlier in this post, this is NOT a hike for anyone with vertigo.
The pasarela (path through the gorge) is made of wooden planks with pretty large gaps between them. More than once, my heel got stuck inside the gaps and I almost lost balance which is not ideal if your balance nerve is already playing games.
Nonetheless, I’d give this hike a 10 out of 10 and hopefully even more so when it’s ready next year – crossing fingers!
I’ll be back for sure, will you dare to go?