Gandia signposts routes to highlight Costa Blanca natural heritage

GANDIA has been busy signposting tourist walking, running and riding routes through the municipality to highlight the area’s rich natural heritage.
The council said the initiative to improve and mark out paths and tracks has been made possible thanks to a €47,000 investment from the Valencia tourist board.
The local authority reported it has already carried out the first phase of works, signposting and getting shipshape seven routes, including two new ones which start at the Marxuquera hermitage.
It has also connected up and integrated the different possible itineraries through the creation of a network of walks, routes and country lanes going the municipality.
Newly installed informative panels feature QR codes which link with the visitgandia.com website, therefore giving easily obtainable, direct access to the full information on a route in Spanish, English and French.
The panels indicate the difficulty of the routes, based on three levels, how much of climb is involved and what points of interest to look out for along the way.
The council said some are ideal for families while other are more suited to sportier types.
It is also possible to consult and download the route tracks in geo-positioning formats on the Wikiloc platform, on which a Gandia council official channel has been created.
The council hopes the project will encourage both residents and visitors to Gandia to explore the municipality’s natural attractions.
In fact, Tourism and Beaches councillor Vicent Mascarell said the idea for the plan stemmed from the high demand from visitors to the municipal tourist offices for activities related to the environment, commenting, “we increasingly have a tourist more committed to natural surroundings.”
Land Management councillor Alicia Izquierdo made the point however that the local authority does not just see the routes as alternative activities for visitors, but also wants residents of the area to get to know their own municipality better.
Or as Mascarell put it, the route network is “not exclusively for tourists, but also for internal consumption.”