Logbook · 10 places

What to see and do in Cañada

What to see and do in Cañada (L'Alt Vinalopó, Alicante): 10 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 2 Nature · 2 Activities · 1 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

When to go to Cañada: festival calendar

January: Play of the Kings of Cañada (January 5-7)

How far each place is from the centre of Cañada

Church of San Cristóbal de Cañada 50 m

Towns near Cañada

What to see in Camp de Mirra, el/Campo de Mirra 2.9 km · 12 places
What to see in Beneixama 4.7 km · 8 places
What to see in Biar 6 km · 14 places
What to see in Villena 6.6 km · 31 places
What to see in Fontanars dels Alforins 12 km · 3 places
What to see in Onil 13 km · 11 places
What to see in Banyeres de Mariola 14 km · 8 places
What to see in Castalla 15 km · 13 places

Spain › Valencian Community › Alicante › L'Alt Vinalopó › Cañada

What to see and do in Cañada

Cañada
Village
Cañada is a municipality of 1,213 inhabitants (2025) in the Alto Vinalopó, in the sub-comarca of the Valle de Biar, Alicante. Its territory, rich in aquifers and quarries, occupies the westernmost part of the valley, between the Sierra de la Solana to the north and that of Sanmayor to the south. The town's origin lies in Benisamayo, a Muslim alquería in the municipality of Biar on the slope of Mount Sanmayor, which passed to the Kingdom of Valencia after the conquest of James I. In the late 18th century, the scattered houses of Portell, la Solana and el Pinaret were organised as a hamlet; it was part of Biar until 1795 and then of Benejama, until in 1843 it split off from Campo de Mirra as its own municipality. Its traditional economy is based on dry farming, with the olive tree as the main crop.
Hydraulic structures of Cañada
Nature
Farming landscape around Cañada dotted with traditional water structures, within the comarca of L'Alt Vinalopó.
Festivities of Cañada
Activity
Among the festivities of Cañada, in L'Alt Vinalopó, the Auto sacramental de los Reyes Magos stands out, a theatrical performance dating back to the late 18th century, between 1785 and 1797, when merchants trading with the Valencian coast of Denia, Gandía and Xàtiva brought to the village the text of La Santa Infancia del Niño Jesús, a 1764 work by Gaspar Fernández y Ávila. It is performed every 6 and 7 January: on the first day, the Coming and Adoration of the Magi; on the second, the Flight into Egypt and the Massacre of the Innocents, with more than 120 amateur actors and actresses who change every year and know by heart a text lasting three and a half hours. It is considered one of the oldest such performances in Spain, kept up even during the Civil War.
La Creueta
Monument
La Creueta is a pine-covered hill, one of the last spurs of the northeast of the Sierra de Sanmayor, in the municipality of Cañada, in L'Alt Vinalopó (Alicante). It reaches 657 metres in height, the highest point in the municipality, and the ruins of an Iberian settlement are preserved on its summit.
Church of San Cristóbal de Cañada
Monument
19th-century parish church of Cañada, a parish seat since 1920.
Mountain range of Sanmayor
Nature
The Sierra de Sanmayor extends south of Cañada, in the comarca of L'Alt Vinalopó, facing the Sierra de la Solana, with a wide valley between them. Its highest point within the municipality of Cañada is La Creueta, at 657 metres, covered in pines and crowned at its summit by the remains of an Iberian settlement.
Muslim origin of Cañada (Benisamayo)
Curiosity
Cañada has its origin in the Muslim settlement of Benisamayo, incorporated into the Kingdom of Valencia after the conquest by James I; it became independent from El Camp de Mirra in 1843.
Play of the Kings of Cañada
Activity
The Auto sacramental de los Reyes Magos (Sacramental Play of the Three Kings) of Cañada is a theatrical performance, both itinerant through the streets and on fixed stages, of the Annunciation, the adoration of the Three Kings before the Christ Child and the massacre of the innocents ordered by Herod, in which more than two hundred residents of the village take part. It is held on 6 and 7 January, and there is evidence of performances as early as 1860-1870, making it the oldest Christmas event in the province of Alicante; it has been kept up without interruption for more than two hundred years, even during the Civil War. More than one hundred and twenty amateur actors re-enact the arrival of the Three Kings at five locations in the village, with colourful costumes and carefully crafted sound staging; the cast is renewed each year, although the script remains the same.
From scattered hamlets to its own municipality
Historical milestone
The scattered houses of El Portell, La Solana and El Pinaret were organised as a district in the middle of the eighteenth century. In 1795 they separated from Biar to depend on Beneixama and, after a period united with Camp de Mirra, they obtained their own town council on 24 April 1843.
Stone fruit of the valley's market gardens
Food and drink
The irrigated land of the district gives plums, cherries and apples that are picked between May and August and sold in the markets of the comarca. They coexist with the olive, the vine and the almond, which occupy most of the dry land.