Crevillente, Costa Blanca

Spanish Villa and Apartment Holidays

Crevillente has along and interesting history dating from Roman times, and is famous for the production of hand-made carpets and rugs. This is an industrial town, but it is well worth visiting to appreciate the numerous cultures that have influenced the architecture, arts and sciences of this region.

Crevillente lies between the Sierra de Crevillente and the El Hondo Reservoir on the Spanish Costa Blanca. Crevillente has beautiful parks, gardens and tree-lined avenues and the mountainous landscape is varied, colourful, has many walking routes and is rich in flora and fauna.

See also our properties in Hondon de las Nieves in the Hondon Valley.

Crevillente, a small town on the river Segura at the foot of the Sierra Segura, is surrounded by the Hondones and the Vinalopo valley. Crevillente is more than a Spanish holiday town, people live and work here, and there are many old buildings bearing testimony to the numerous historic cultures which have influenced the region. Today it is mainly industrial but the historic old town centre is picturesque with flat roofed Moorish houses.

Throughout history the town was constantly over-run by various factions, from the Romans to the Moors, until the 13th century when James I of Aragon liberated it. Even after this the town was still being over-run until in the early 17th Century the population consisted of just 400 families, mostly Moors - and this number reduced still further until they were finally expelled. However, during the War of Succession in the 18th Century it was taken over again by King Borbon and it enjoyed a more peaceful and stable period.

Crevillente became famous for the manufacture of esparto grass mats, called Spanish Carpets by the French. The export of these mats was brisk until the trade slumped in the 19th Century and the town turned to making hand-woven carpets and tapestries, which today are renowned the world over for their quality and original designs influenced by the Orient. These carpets are made almost exclusively from natural fibres and closely follow designs found in the Middle East and Asia - you'll find Persian and Pakistani-inspired designs in all colours made in wool, silk and acrylic.

The town's Islamic architecture sits comfortably alongside cave houses carved into the mountain - this is one of the few places where you can still find these unusual properties. There are beautiful parks, gardens and tree-lined avenues where you can stroll and enjoy the views. The best of these is the Parque Nuevo on the Elche road, guarded by the neoclassical Casa del Parque - the home of the archaeological museum and municipal art collection together with the old laboratory of locally-born Doctor Francisco Mas Magro, a medic whose studies in the field of haematology made him a Nobel Prize candidate.

Benlliure's museum is the only one dedicated to this local artist of international renown, and most of his work can be found here. Born in Valencia in the mid-19th Century, Benlliure trained in Madrid, Paris and Rome before returning to his roots and making his career in Valencia. Whilst the town remains a shrine to him, several of Benlliure's important commissions are abroad including, most notably, the statue of Alfonso XII on horseback in Madrid's Parque del Retiro. Benlliure is well represented in the museum in an annex of the 18th-century Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Belén (church of our Lady of Bethlehem). Benlliure created intricately-carved Semana Santa figurines, based on the town's own version of the fiesta, which has been declared as an event of International Tourist Interest.

The area has some of the most beautiful views and spectacular natural countryside in the Alicante province, with the Montana de San Cayetano and El Hondo nature reserves nearby. Jaume, a legendary bearded highwayman who was executed in Murcia, lived in the Sierra de Crevillente. The El Hondo Reservoir is an important ecological area being home to many migratory birds that use it as a stop-over on their way to Africa. The area is popular with birdwatchers as flamingos and Imperial Herons are regular visitors.

Crossed by small ravines, rocky and mountainous to the north with flat, dry plains to the south, the landscape is varied and colourful with plenty of walking routes and rich in flora and fauna. Amongst the dramatic and beautiful surroundings is the imposing San Cayetano mountain, standing over 800 metres above sea level and, from its summit, the spectacular panoramic view of El Hondo lagoon, the river Segura and nearly the whole of the Vega Baja is breathtaking. Surrounded by a dried-up river bed with perfect conditions for typical Mediterranean plant-life to flourish, you'll find pine forests, palm trees, buckthorn, Kermes oak and mastic (or pistachio) trees. Rambling is perfect here because there are no sharp slopes, loose rocks or precarious mountain passes and you can spend a whole day enjoying the silence and taking in the unrivalled views.

Crevillente is on the N340 close to the A7 motorway and approximately 25 Kms south of Alicante in the Communidad de Valencia. It is signposted off the AP7 just south of Alicante airport and Elche.