Xàtiva: The Castle Town We Keep Going Back To
- Jul 16
- 7 min read
Updated: Jul 26
Out of every small town we cover in Valencia province, Xàtiva is our personal favorite. It's also the one we've been to more times than we could count, we lived in a tiny town 20 minutes from Xativa for 2 years and would come here to do our grocery shopping. We could have shopped in a number of different towns, but we liked to go here. If it sat on the coast instead of inland, the rent here would be unaffordable, it's that pretty. Because it doesn't, it's one of the better value towns in the whole region.
The Castle That Started It All
Xàtiva sits on a ridge above the plain, crowned by one of the most impressive castle complexes in the entire Valencian Community. It's actually two connected castles, the old and the new, stretching across the hilltop. The lower castle dates back to the Iberian and Roman periods; the upper fortress was substantially expanded by the Moors and later the Crown of Aragón. The walk up is steep, but it rewards you with sweeping views across the orange groves and rice paddies below, especially in late afternoon when the light turns the stone amber.
One practical note: the walk up to the castle is not casual, it's steep, and if anyone in your group has mobility concerns, consider a taxi instead. There's a taxi stand right in front of the train station, look for the bus stop with X's painted on the street next to it, that's the spot. A good way to do the day: go straight there when you get off the train, taxi up to the castle, then either taxi or walk back down and spend the rest of your time wandering the old town.
The Old Town
Before heading up to the castle, spend real time in the old town. The Plaça del Mercat is the beating heart of the lower town, a handsome arcaded square that still functions as an actual market square, surrounded by restaurants where locals hang out in the evenings while the children play in the plaza. From there, stroll the Alameda, Xàtiva's tree-lined promenade and one of the most pleasant walks in the region, shaded, elegant, and genuinely charming on a warm morning, this is where locals drink their coffee. The Alameda is not nearly as beautiful in winter when the leaves are gone as the rest of the year.
Xàtiva has earned the nickname "the town of 1,000 fountains," and walking around, it's easy to believe. With over 1,000 fountains, the tilework, the churches, and the collegiate church's genuinely impressive collection of Gothic and Renaissance art, this is a town that rewards slow wandering rather than a checklist. The jardin de besa is a lovely (and free) stop worth making and a good place to take a little break even when it's hot.
The Borgia Popes and the Upside-Down Portrait
Xàtiva was the birthplace of two Borgia popes, Calixtus III and the infamous Alexander VI, and the town hasn't let that history go quietly. Its museum displays a portrait of Felipe V hung upside down, in permanent protest of his burning of the city in 1707 during the War of Spanish Succession. That portrait has hung that way ever since, and it's one of those small, specific details that makes a place stick with you.
The Festivals: Made for Locals, Not for Tourists
Xàtiva's festival calendar isn't built around visitors, and that's exactly what makes it worth catching if your timing lines up.
The Belén Monumental, Xàtiva's Christmas nativity scene, is the largest in Spain by size, over 1,600 square meters, with life-size figures made by fallas artists, real animals, and scenes recreated in detail that's grown every year since the late 1990s. It's genuinely worth seeing. Look closely and you may spot the caganer, a small figure tucked into the scene mid-act of relieving himself. It sounds irreverent for a religious display, and it is, that's the point. The tradition dates back centuries in Catalan folk custom and when we asked the man next to us why that is there he said, "whether you're the King or a regular guy, a long time ago, you still had to shit in the woods." sooo there's that, lol. It is a lesson in humility and equality.
Xàtiva also holds a proper Mercado Medieval, stalls of crafts and food filling the old town's squares and streets, roughly 65-70 vendors, with a wood-fired bread oven and cantinas that give the whole thing a genuinely old-world feel rather than a tourist-market gloss.
Twice a week, there's just the regular market, no theme, no costumes, just the normal way locals buy their produce and goods. It's worth walking through even if you're not buying anything, it's a good read on daily life here.
The best one, though, isn't official at all. One weekend in June, in the Plaça del Mercat, university music groups, past and present members alike, gather to play medieval instruments in full medieval dress. Nobody organized it as a tourist event; it's alumni and current students coming together because they want to. We caught it by chance and it was pure local culture, unscripted and genuinely moving to watch. We've included a video of it in the gallery above. That was our introduction to the rural Valencia area and it was so special it actually moved me to tears, it was just so different and so real, not a show for tourists, just locals celebrating the university graduates and doing what they love.
Getting There
Renfe Media Distancia runs from Valencia's Estació del Nord, frequent service, about 40-55 minutes each way, roughly €5-7 return. The last 20-30 minutes of the journey is genuinely gorgeous. From the train station, just walk up the street that goes straight up (direction, not angle) from the station door and from there you can start to wander. For more of our Valencia day-trip coverage, see our one-hour train day trips guide. It's genuinely one of the easiest castle day trips from the city, and, as we'd argue, one of the ones most worth turning into an overnight instead because the vibes in the Placa de Mercat at night are the best.
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What It's Actually Like to Live Here
Xàtiva feels more like a small city than a village. It has a British school, a hospital, buses, taxis (minus most of August), the train connection to Valencia, and a real agricultural economy, oranges and a long list of other fruits and vegetables grown close enough to buy farm-direct. There's a shop in town selling fresh eggs at genuinely fantastic prices.
There's a small and established expat presence here too, mostly British, which means a pub or two and some good Indian food. There's also a Baptist church where a meaningful share of the congregation speaks English; the service itself is preached and sung in Spanish, hymns included, with a genuinely friendly children's program. If you are considering this area to move, or visit, I highly recommend it.
Living in town, a car is optional, you can get by just fine without one. If you want a finca just outside town instead, they're reasonably priced compared to the coast, but you'll need a car for that version of life. Either way, this is one of the more livable small towns we've found in the province. It is safe for solo females or males and you will see many people walking alone doing their errands, even elderly people, without issue. It's also great for families with children and there are several beautiful parks, a splash pad, different classes and activities including languages schools, a highly regarded music school and more.
Xativa also has different schools, sports, a few decent gyms, large grocery stores and shops like LeRoy Merlin (equivalent of Home Depot), car mechanics and dealerships, a mall with a nice movie theater and playgrounds inside, and even a fencing school. The shopping district with the larger stores is on the outside of town, still walking distance but allowing the "real" town to keep its charm. We used the car mechanic named Salva at Talleres Route 46, next door to Lidl, several times and my husband found him to be very knowledgeable and honest- which is very rare in any country. He does not speak English but we did originally find him being recommended in the Xativa Expats facebook group so he is surely used to dealing with the language barrier. The population outside of summer is around 29,000, during summer it increases, along with the temperatures.
Where to Eat and Drink
There's an Indian restaurant on the Alameda, just up from the park, with genuinely excellent food. Xàtiva also has several good pastry shops worth a stop. But the real local move is simpler: get a drink, order some olives, and have a few Valencian-style tapas, that's what you'll see locals doing throughout the day. One rule worth knowing: paella here is strictly a lunch dish, not a dinner order.
A Day That Doesn't Need a Plan
Xàtiva is one of the rare places where you genuinely don't need to research an itinerary before you go. Hit the castle, then just wander, the fountains (this is sometimes called the town of a thousand fountains for a reason), the murals, the little shops, the churches, the museums are all worth stumbling into rather than mapping out in advance. If you don't like planning every minute of a day, this is exactly the kind of destination that rewards you for not trying.
Who It's For
Xàtiva works well as a solo trip, for a woman or a man traveling alone, as a family day out, or as a couple's day trip. It's relaxed enough to not require much planning and interesting enough to fill a full day comfortably either way.
More Valencia Train Guides
Day Trips Within an Hour · Beach Train Trips · Long Weekend Trips · Cheapest Routes · Hidden Gems · Mountain & Hiking Trips · 10 Overnight Trips on the €60 Pass · The €60 Pass, Explained · Best Site to Search Every Train Route
Written by Sherri: an American who spent years traveling solo, including time living in Peru, before settling into a full-time digital nomad life with her husband and young kids for over four years. She's now been in Europe for 3.5 years, most of it in the Valencia area of Spain. Everything on Travel-Casa is written from firsthand experience or knowledge picked up along the way.
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