Biar’s fortress with Sierra de Marolia within the background. Credit score: nationalgeographic.com
The small however charming city of Biar, with 3,500 inhabitants, was essentially the most Googled city within the province of Alicante throughout 2024.
The province of Alicante is without doubt one of the 5 most visited provinces in Spain, which makes tourism a basic pillar supporting the native economic system. Whereas cities like Alicante, Benidorm and Denia take pleasure in broad identify recognition, a research by Sensación Rural and o10 Media, with the intention of spotlighting rural tourism, not too long ago topped the town of Biar as essentially the most viral city within the space.
Biar tops the checklist with upwards of 4,000 searches of the overall 182,000 linked to rural tourism. The city could be very wealthy in cultural heritage and exquisite pure landscapes, with its essential attraction being its colossal fortress, constructed within the twelfth century and declared a Website of Cultural Curiosity by Spanish authorities.
Positioned within the Alto Vinalopó, Biar is usually overshadowed by extra tourist-favourite cities corresponding to Altea, Guadalest and Calpe. It isn’t the primary time that this hidden gem receives recognition from outdoors organisations: earlier this yr, ‘Viajar’ journal selected the municipality as the one most underrated town in the Alicante area.
The publication justifies their choice by citing the city’s thousand-year-long historical past stuffed with custom and cultural relevance, because it turned a related location within the occasions of the Reconquista and the wars between Moors and Christians.
The fortress, with its breathtaking panoramic views, just isn’t the one factor Biar has to supply guests. Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, an astonishing church constructed within the fifteenth century, represents an fascinating mix between the Renaissance and the Gothic durations.
Whereas Biar was declared the final word hidden gem of the province, it was not the one city highlighted by this research. Xixona ranks second within the rating, with virtually 3,000 searches, adopted by Banyeres de Mariola and la Vall de Gallinera. These selections replicate the variety in Alicante’s cultural and tourism providing, the place historical past, custom, and rural appeal mix. It additionally exhibits guests’ rising curiosity in a extra different and rural sort of tourism.
