Learning the basics of cliff hiking in Costa Blanca of Spain.

What is so special about Cova Tallada?

Everything is written in its name – Cova Tallada – translated from Valenciana language that would be the Carved Cave. This makes Cova Tallada not just another cave – sculpted out of a rock by water waves as it was some kind of bad-tasted contemporary art sculpture – the cave is man-made. This naturally raises a question why would somebody carve a cave not too far but not too close to the settlement nearby – Denia – to which Cova Tallada’s destiny was bounded from the very beginning and still holds to this day.

Despite Cova Tallada origins, its beauty is sought by lots of tourists and adventurers. So many that during the high season access to the cave had to be limited due to safety reasons. You see, from time to time some people tend to fall into Cova Tallada as they get ‘creative’ trying to take a selfie on the hole above the cave.

Hiking to Cova Tollada from Denia

1. Location: Montgo Natural Park – Denia
2. Starting location: Denia
3. Target location: Cova Tollada
4. Coordinates: 38º49’15 ″ N – 0º09’35 ″ ° W
5. Distance (One way): 1km
6. Duration: 30-40min
7. Difficulty: Easy/Moderate Depending on season and experience
8. Permit: Required between June 15 – September 30

The Official rules of Cova Tallada Hike

1. Stay in the cave no longer than 2 hours
2. Bring water in abundance
3. Proper footwear
4. Do not bring bulky and cumbersome objects
5. Do not run or shout

It is forbidden to:

1. Spending the night at the cave
2. Fishing and extracting any kind of species from the sea
3. Feeding the aquatic fauna
4. Pulling out plants
5. Littering

More information: Official website of Natural Parks in Valencia

Safety First

The main thing everybody needs to understand before going to Cova Tallada is that all the warnings of danger are here due to the popularity of the hike. The route is nowhere close to being somehow exceptionally unsafe. All the fuss is just because Cova Tallada is not only popular among hikers but tourists as well thus the whole area gets really crowded. It is not a secret that the number of incidents increases with the number of visitors. The authorities are simply left with no other options once the tragic news get to the papers. Everything combined, my general advice – like during any other hike including steep slopes – the correct pace is always the safe pace. If you stick to this rule you will be all right. Let the idiots alone increase the incident roll.

Is it hard to hike to Cova Tallada?

The route itself is hard to describe, it doesn’t fit into any basic category. Physically – the walk is not difficult because it is very short but technically – the story is a bit different. With good shoes and some experience, many would mark the hike as easy though that totally doesn‘t do the justice to actually easy hikes. The best way to prepare for the hike would be to follow me through this article and decide it yourself because it really depends on your own skills and equipment.

My Recommended Gear

1. Water shoes
2. Good hiking shoes for steep Rock climbing
3. Extra: If you like snorkeling, be sure to take your gear along

Denia – Cova Tallada Yellow Route

The first challenge of the hike is to find the beginning of the route. It should not be a problem if you are reading this article because I have already linked the coordinations on Google Maps.

Formation of Montgo Massif – Precursor to Cova Tallada

Cova Tallada is located at the edge of Montgo Massif, which arose from the depths some 70 million years ago when continent plates of Europe and Africa were making love pretty hard. No surprise, passing through this place is not easy; but without it there would be no places like this beautiful cave.

From here on Cova Tallada is just behind two passages across hill cliffs, which I suggest walking extra-carefully. The basic rule is to let everybody from in front to pass the difficult part first because you never know, which passer-by might be a hot-headed idiot, who will use any given possibility to push you off the cliff.

Pro tip: In case somebody enters a difficult range while you are on it, just stop on the safe side and let them pass on the outside. They chose to put you in a dangerous situation so let them do the walking.

Getting into Cova Tallada

At this point, some of you might be already thinking – ‘I’m taking the second route’ but don’t be so quick to judge. The second option does not include the rock climbing session but instead requires hiking a bit further, descending from a way gentler cliff on unofficial route, fording to an islet nearby, crossing the islet (which is a total pain without water shoes) and swimming to the cave.

Snorkeling to Cova Tallada

Needless to say which route I took. After walking through the razor-sharp surface of the islet, cursing my flip-flops without stopping, I found myself only dozen meters away from Cova Tallada with the only obstacle being the sea.

Cautiously I took my steps forward, getting deeper and deeper, toward the uncharted underworld. The same moment my eyes got below the surface of salty seawater, that world revealed itself to me. Everything changed instantly – like midday to midnight. For a moment, I forgot everything that I left above and swam deeper into this alien planet. Escorted by flocks of fish, I was navigating between giant rocks. They were like huge houses to other lifeforms, who were all carefully observing this unseen explorer tirelessly trying to reach his goal. Avoiding jellyfishes, somehow I reached the shallow waters, where crabs took the race for their lives just before I ascended above them to enter Cova Tallada.

Even though there was no thought process behind the decision, I don’t regret taking the second option. I had no idea about the first one until I swam to the cave just to find the entrance from the surface. I was quite surprised how all of these people got to the cave with all this gear and food, and pets, while I was there barefoot only with a phone and a snorkel in my hands. Don’t take this as an encouragement to skip the water shoes part, this venture cost me five cuts on my toes and it could have been way worse if not for my thick skin.

The Antics of Cova Tallada

Cova Tallada stretches from 15 meters in height to 75 meters in length but I imagine these numbers might not give the correct impression of the cave. An easier way to characterize the Carved Cave would be to compare it to a medium-sized flat, somewhere in the countryside near a sea.

There is a terrace in the main room with a top-notch view. Photo by Alis Monte [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Connecting the Dots

Cova Tallada and its Secrets

The beautiful arches of the interior withstand all the bad weather for a reason. Apparently, the rocks are more robust at this location and the whole cave was carved out by the people from Denia. They used these rocks to build important buildings in the city, including the Castle of Denia. So if you still think this hike is dangerous or hard – imagine the people carrying these rocks the same distance – which is untrue, since it is way easier to do it by the sea. I’ll leave you with that.

Want more of this?

Any given post entry of any given place takes me around 20h to complete. This includes writing, researching, photo editing, creation of graphics and actual post. Nobody pays me to do it, therefore I must do it on my free time. I have many interesting ideas of how to put an interesting information into an easy way to digest it, like maps, infographics and other cool stuff, but what I lack is time. If you appreciate my work and happened to be in a position where it wouldn't hurt you, it would mean a world to me if you could gift me an extra hour on Patreon.

Originally published at https://ctdots.eu on October 29, 2019.

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Author: Alis Monte

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Blog: Connecting the Dots

Want more of this?

Any given post entry of any given place takes me around 20h to complete. This includes writing, researching, photo editing, creation of graphics and actual post. Nobody pays me to do it, therefore I must do it on my free time. I have many interesting ideas of how to put an interesting information into an easy way to digest it, like maps, infographics and other cool stuff, but what I lack is time. If you appreciate my work and happened to be in a position where it wouldn't hurt you, it would mean a world to me if you could gift me an extra hour on Patreon.

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