Gandía

Gandia (Spanish: Gandía) is a city in Valencia Province, Spain. Gandia is a thriving centre of commerce, and as such does not rely solely on tourism. The beach and the town are some 4 km apart which succeeds in separating the summer tourism from day-to-day living.

Understand
Gandia is the capital of the county of La Safor, between the mountains and the beaches of the Mediterranean. It is 65 km south of Valencia and 116 km north of Alicante and is one of the largest coastal towns and a rather well kept secret. Traditionally Gandia's tourism is Spanish-based, with a major part of it coming from Madrid. It seems though that the cat may be out of the bag with more and more foreign tourism coming to the area. With the foreign tourism boom, there has also been a rise in the number of people coming to live here. Imagine, in the middle of August being able to visit the bank in Gandia without fighting through hoards of people waving foreign currency and smelling of suntan lotion, to then be able to visit the beach and be right in the thick of it all. The same advantages also exist in the winter time. Unlike many coastal towns which become deserted as the colder months approach, Gandia stays populated and open.

Oranges are a considerable source of income, but also onions, tomatoes, peppers and many other natural crops in La Conca de la Safor, handled and packed in the many local stores, contribute to the obvious wealth of the area, together with the industries that make the most varied of goods, the shops that sell them and the tourism, which has an important hotel infrastructure distributed along the coastline.

All these products used to be exported via Gandia harbour, inaugurated in 1893 after an English company built the narrow-gauge railway from Alcoi to Gandia, where the company boats unloaded the coal that heated the factory boilers. The harbour was for many years the main point of export of Valencian oranges and, though it has not the traffic that it used to have in the 1960s, Gandia harbour still has a fishing fleet of some importance, while land transport has replaced transportation by sea. This has generated the appearance of many transport companies owning long-distance truck fleets that travel the roads and motorways of Europe and carry the name of Gandia everywhere in the world where it deserves to be known.



By plane
Two major airports are close enough: Valencia and Alicante, at a distance of 70 km (the former) and 110 km (the later).

By car
Major roads get you to the center of the city. The main A7 motorway is directly adjacent to Gandía.

By boat
The marina at Gandia has 120 moorings up to 30 m. No visitor moorings are available (typical of Mediterranean marinas) but turn up or book and you should get in.



By bus
La Marina Gandiense operates seven bus routes within Gandía and connecting the city to the surrounding pueblos. L2 and L6 connect the train station directly to the city beaches. A single journey costs €1.50-1.80, depending on the route, and is payable directly to the bus driver on entry.

Beaches
Gandia has 7 km of beaches, which are known for their especially fine sand. The beach season runs from June until the end of September.



Festivals
Like its much larger neighbour Valencia, Gandia greets the arrival of springtime with a spectacular pyrotechnic festival known as Falles. Various events and entertainments take place over the period of a few days, culminating in the Feast of Saint Joseph on 19 March. All the hard work put into the creation of giant figures of wood and paper go up in smoke in the great bonfires that take place in the evening as part of the Gandia Falles celebrations.

Eat
Fideuà, a paella-like dish with thick, short noodles and seafood, is originally from Gandía. A variation of this is fideuà negra, prepared in the same manner but with the addition of squid ink.