Hotels in Moraira

Moraira

Moraira is a coastal town in the municipality of Teulada, in the Marina Alta comarca of the province of Alicante. Cave paintings at the Cova de la Cendra and on Cap d'Or show that the area was inhabited in the Bronze Age. Its heart grew up as a small fishing settlement after the coastal castle was built in the 18th century. The Castle of Moraira, finished in 1742 to defend the coast against pirates and corsairs, has a semicircular façade facing south. It was rebuilt in the 1980s and now holds exhibitions on watchtowers, the sea and piracy. The 16th-century watchtower on the top of Cap d'Or, built on the orders of Philip II, is reached by a walking route of about an hour that starts at El Portet beach. From there the views take in Moraira bay, the Sierra de Aitana, the Peñón de Ifach and on clear days the coast of Ibiza. Moscatel grapes still give the area its sweet mistela wine, though tourism overtook farming in the 1960s and 1970s. The Church of Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados dates from 1875 to 1878, and the patron saint's festivities from 15 July last two weeks with fireworks, bous a la mar and processions. Visitors come mainly from the province of Alicante, with many from the United Kingdom, France and Germany, drawn by beaches such as El Portet and the Mediterranean landscape.