Camping in Castellón: Costa del Azahar, Penyagolosa and the Maestrazgo
Castellón is the Valencian province that most surprises those who arrive without great expectations. Its coastline, christened the Costa del Azahar after the scent of the orange blossom that pervades the fields of the interior, combines long, well-equipped beaches with wilder stretches of coast where the Mediterranean breaks against the rocks with hardly any tourist infrastructure. Peñíscola, with its medieval town rising on a rocky promontory that juts out into the sea, is the best-known landmark and one of the most photographed towns in Spain. Its old town of cobbled streets, its Papa Luna castle and its beaches at the foot of the rock form an ensemble of great value that justifies a stop on any coastal route.
North of Peñíscola, Alcalà de Xivert and Alcossebre offer fine-sand beaches with clean waters and a more family-friendly atmosphere. Further south, Oropesa del Mar and Benicàssim have a long tradition of summer holidays and a camping area that fills up in July and August, while in spring and autumn they regain the calm that makes them especially pleasant. Cape Oropesa and the marine reserve of the Columbretes Islands, a volcanic archipelago some fifty kilometres off the coast, complete a coastline of notable ecological value where diving and underwater wildlife watching are of internationally recognised quality.
The Castellón interior is where the province shows its most authentic face. Penyagolosa, the highest point of the Valencian Community at almost two thousand metres, dominates a district of Corsican pine forests, springs and stone villages such as Vistabella del Maestrat. The Sierra de Espadán, declared a natural park, holds the largest cork oak forest on the Iberian Peninsula, with a network of trails among oaks, strawberry trees and cork oaks that is especially striking in autumn. Montanejos, in the interior on the Mijares river, is known for its thermal-water gorge and its natural pool, one of the most popular river-bathing spots in the region.
The Maestrazgo and els Ports, at the far north of the province, form a high Mediterranean mountain district with a limestone architecture of great severity and beauty. Morella, perched on a mountain and surrounded by medieval walls, with its castle visible from kilometres around, heads a list of towns that includes Ares del Maestrat, Culla and Villafranca del Cid, all of them among the prettiest villages in Spain. These territories are the ideal destination for visitors arriving by motorhome or caravan who are looking for tranquillity, mid-mountain hiking and contact with a well-preserved rural culture.
Castellón cuisine has a personality of its own: gazpacho de pastor, coquetes, the black truffle of the Maestrazgo in the winter season, artisan cured meats and sheep's milk cheeses are products found in the markets of the inland villages. On the coast, seafood rice, cigalas and fish from the auction are the protagonists of a cuisine that, like the landscape, combines the seafaring tradition with the solidity of mountain cooking.
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