Village
Mutxamel is a municipality in the comarca of L'Alacantí, in the north of the Alicante metropolitan area, 10 km from its capital, with which it forms a conurbation of more than 500,000 inhabitants. Its name, documented since 1569 as Muchamel, has been linked to the Arabic mugmâ (market) and the Romance el (meeting point); the Valencian form Mutxamel has been official since 1990. Water held in the Tibi reservoir flowed down the Monnegre and was distributed across its huerta by weirs and irrigation channels whose turns, auctioned off by the hour, set the value of the irrigated land. It preserves the Peñacerrada Gardens and Palace, almost two hectares declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) as a Historic Garden in 2008, and the Bec de l'Àguila natural area. It has 28,621 inhabitants (INE 2025).
Activity
The Moors and Christians festivities of Mutxamel, in the province of Alicante, have been held for more than 150 years in honour of the municipality's patroness, the Virgen de Loreto, in memory of the 1597 miracle in which the Virgen broke the weir and saved the population from a flood. The first documented reference dates from 1843, although the name Festes de Moros i Cristians was not adopted until 1874; among its traditions the Embajada de los Contrabandistas, performed since 1903, and the Embajada de los Moros, with handwritten texts from 1905, stand out. The festival, declared Interés Turístico Autonómico (a regional tourist-interest designation in Spain) in 2020, is held from 7 to 12 September, with the participation of eleven comparsas, six from the Christian side and five from the Moorish side.
Monument
An 18th-century hermitage in the Calvari area, with a Greek-cross plan covered by an octagonal dome, one of the landmarks on Mutxamel's hermitage route.
Monument
A 16th-century hermitage built over what had been the residence of Minim friars, part of the historical and religious route that crosses the market gardens of Mutxamel.
Monument
A historic complex of almost two hectares with gardens in the French, English and Italian styles and a traditional kitchen garden, declared a Bien de Interés Cultural as a Historic Garden in 2008.
Monument
A museum space in Mutxamel devoted to the traditional irrigation system of the market gardens of l'Alacantí, of Islamic origin and fed by the waters of the River Monnegre.
Monument
A 17th-century Franciscan convent in Mutxamel, one of the main religious buildings in the comarca of L'Alacantí.
Monument
A manor house located on the plaza de San Roque in Mutxamel (L'Alacantí, Alicante), which belonged to the Ferraz Alcalá Galiano family, marquises of Amposta. Its most characteristic feature is the ashlar-built tower, raised to warn the population of Barbary pirate incursions. The property also retains extensive gardens and displays a noble coat of arms above the entrance door.
Monument
A 13th-century irrigation system in Mutxamel (L'Alacantí, Alicante), an example of medieval hydraulic engineering of Arab influence. It is a diversion and retention weir built before the Tibi reservoir, from which the entire network of irrigation channels that waters Mutxamel's market gardens (huerta) branches out. After the Christian conquest, the new settlers kept the water-sharing system inherited from the Arabs, and much of the Arabic terminology related to irrigation is still preserved in local speech.
Nature
A peak 475 metres in altitude that crowns the Llofriu sierra, at whose vertex the municipal boundaries of San Vicente del Raspeig, Mutxamel and the Monnegre area meet, in the province of Alicante. Mutxamel town council protected this summit as a flora micro-reserve in 1999 and as a municipal nature site in 2022, and the whole sierra also enjoys the higher protection of the Natura 2000 Network as the Monnegre SPA. Its name, in Valencian, translates as 'eagle's beak' and shares its root with several French peaks called Bec de l'Aigle. Llofriu separates the Sabinar valley from the rural district of Monnegre; at its foothills rise the Cocons and Boter ravines, which join at La Torreta de Mutxamel to form the rambla del Juncaret, which flows out onto the Albufereta beach.
Curiosity
Between 1889 and 1969 a tram connected Mutxamel with the city of Alicante.
Historical milestone
Ever since the Tibi dam, one of the oldest in Europe, was completed in 1594, its water flowed down the Monnegre and was distributed across the huerta of Mutxamel by means of weirs and irrigation channels. Turns were auctioned off by the hour, and their price directly set the value of the irrigated land.
Food and drink
The huerta irrigated with the water of the Monnegre gives artichoke, broad beans, tomato and onion that supply the markets of the capital. The sowing calendar has for centuries been adjusted to irrigation turns that are scarce and strictly shared out by the hour.