The three best places to see the beautiful blooming of almond trees in the Alicante region are in the Jalon Valley, the Guadelest Valley and the Relleu area.
Traditionally, la Routa Almendros en flor in Alcalalí in the Jalon Valley has been the best place to see the almond tree bloom.
In 2023, however, the almond tree bloom was poor. One of the reasons was that the winter had been cold and dry.
Another and more important reason is that many of the trees have been attacked by the bacteria Xylella Fastidiosa. This is a serious infectious disease that is difficult to combat.
If possible, an attempt will be made to eradicate the infection. To achieve that, one must remove all trees that can be infected. It is also necessary to wait several years before you can start again with new trees.
Several of the farmers in the area have therefore removed their almond trees, and some have started with other production instead. Therefore, there are not so many flowering trees left.
Many of the trees that were in flower also showed signs that they were sick as only some of the branches bore flowers.
However, this is a pleasant and beautiful area to walk in, although there probably won't be any impressive almond tree blossoms there in the coming years.
The area around the mountain village of Relleu also has several almond tree plantations. The valley that goes up on the east side of the village is usually a nice place to see almond tree blossoms. However, this year (2023) flowering was unusually late here.
On the other side towards Sella, flowering had progressed further, but the flowers last briefly, it is not always that all the trees in an area start flowering at the same time.
In 2023, the most beautiful almond tree bloom could be seen in the Guadelest Valley just by the descent to the medieval village of Guadelest. Here the trees were healthy and lush.
You can photograph the trees in these pictures on the upper side of the road at the Mirador de la Morera on the CV-70 a couple of kilometers before the descent to Guadalest.
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Excursion of the week: almond tree blossoming in the Alicante region
Locate:
Relleu: Plot Cementeri Relleu Municipal in Google Maps. Park by the cemetery. Go up the steep concrete road at the bend just below and continue up the valley. There are large plantations of almond trees here.
Jalondalen: Plot Carrer del Ravalet Alcalalí in Google Maps. Park at the ecopark. Follow the signs and markings for the Ruta Almendros en Flor (almond tree route in bloom). The road crosses the river Gorgos and continues into the almond plantations on the other side.
Guadalest: Plot the Mirador de la Morera in Google Maps. It is located on the CV-70 just before the descent to Guadalest. Areas of beautiful trees are right across the road.