Head out of Valencia on a day trip to discover nearby Roman towns, walled cities and ancient citadels where life rarely changes under the Spanish sun.

It’s hard to drag yourself away from Valencia – a city with so much variety and a wealth of things to see and do. But the city is so perfectly located on Spain’s east coast, making it the ideal base from which to set off on a day-long adventure. Journey inland to Madrid, south to Murcia, or north-east up the coast to Barcelona. Even away from these big-hitting Iberian cities, there are a number of other small, but perfectly formed towns begging to be discovered.

If you’re looking for the ideal day trip from Valencia or activities to partake in near the city, a short drive from Valencia will allow you to unlock medieval charm, unforgettable views, and memorable meals – and you can do all this and still be back in Valencia in time for an evening of tapas and café con leche.

Altea

Keep hugging the coast as you leave Valencia, heading south, and you’ll arrive in Altea just before you get to the popular resort of Alicante. There’s a glut of coastal towns in this area that will tempt you with their good looks, but Altea is without a doubt the prettiest of them all.

There’s a new and an old town to discover. The former town is very much a vacation resort, but one that has remained low-rise and far from over-commercialized. The latter, however, is a different prospect altogether. Its white-washed buildings are a real lure among fine squares and atmospheric alleyways.

On the Plaza de la Iglesia, enter the church which luxuriates in the parish name of Iglesia Parroquial de la Virgen del Consuelo. Sitting alongside the remains of a 17th-century church, the building standing today was built in the late 19th and early 20th-centuries. The dome’s beautiful ceramic tiles are a highlight, while nearby you’ll find Renaissance remains which help tell the story of this old town.

The church and the square are surrounded by a wealth of excellent restaurants and cafes, so take your pick and pull up a chair – there won’t be anything like the crowds you’d find at nearby Benidorm, so your meal here is likely to be an entirely relaxing affair. Hotel San Miguel offers a great paella – the perfect Spanish dinner to enjoy as the sun sets on this coastal delight.

Peniscola

When it comes to a decidedly Spanish charm, few places will do it as well as Pensicola. When you combine that with the perfect position at the seaside, it’s hard to find anywhere that is quite as relaxing and beautiful as Pensicola.

There’s a vertiginous element to the town at times, with rolling hills and steep slopes aplenty. The castle carved into the rock above it all tops off the look, giving the town a rather regal atmosphere, and giving visitors the perfect opportunity to snap some pictures. The views from the top of the castle are sensational. The castle itself was built at the close of the 13th-century and is a Templar masterpiece that housed Pope Benedict in the 15th-century. More recently, it has done duty on film and TV, with Anthony Mann recording scenes for the 1961 movie El Cid, while it also doubled for Meereen in the hit HBO show Game of Thrones.

The town is especially glorious at night, the light of the castle bathing the streets far below in a gentle romantic glow. Down near the water, you’ll find lovely restaurants looking out onto the twinkling bay, with Spanish specialties and fresh seafood clamoring for your attention. Taberna del Mar runs the gamut from wonderful Iberica hams to over 26 varieties of seafood and fish. It’s no frills, but it’s incredibly tasty. Sebastian en Perla Blanca also has its fans, with exceptional set menus and perfectly cooked entrecote steaks.

Morella

It’s possible to embark on an entire tour of Spain taking in only walled towns. This is a country that had seen so much war and conquest that for centuries, your town was likely to fall to the enemy without an edifice to protect it. But as many as there are across the country, few are as pretty or well-preserved as Morella, a fortress town with a one-and-a-half-mile rampart wall sending a message to the world.

Wander the wall to learn all about the history of the town and discover just who the residents of the past were looking to repel. Look beyond the fortress and castle, however, and you’ll also find one of the prettiest towns in all of Spain, a warren of tight streets and angular alleyways that sits under a powder blue sky. It scorches in summer and feels the chill in winter thanks to its altitude, which is perhaps why textile-making has always been so popular here. Arrive in December and you’ll probably want to buy a traditional, woolen Morella blanket to wrap around your shoulders.

Tour the 14th-century aqueduct and town hall, the castle and the convent, and perhaps pick up some truffle-flavored goats’ cheese as a souvenir of your time in this ruggedly beautiful city.

Sagunto

The Romans once ruled from this hilltop fortress town, only a short drive north of Valencia. The castle is in ruins today, but it still gives visitors a great idea of how life was lived here more than 2,000 years ago, while the views of the coast from the top are truly stunning.

In Roman times, this was Saguntum, captured by Hannibal during the second Punic War. Walk the cobbled streets and you’ll be following in the footsteps of Iberian history, ambling through century after century in a city later taken by medieval military leader El Cid, 13th-century ruler James of Aragon, and more. There are dozens of restaurants to choose from here, with a focus on the Valencian classics, as well as paella galore, but Sopa Frita is more ambitious than most. This good-looking eatery likes to deconstruct the classics and does a great solomillo.

Xativa

The area around Valencia seems to specialize in hilly towns whose days of military glory are long behind them – all the more reason to visit. Xativa is one of the most beautiful. Arab rulers brought paper manufacturing to the area in the 12th-century, making it a haven for scholars.

Further back in time, the Romans made linen here, while more recently it’s been the birthplace of two popes. But centuries of history came shuddering to a halt in the early 18th-century when Felipe V of Spain burned it to the ground. He hasn’t been forgiven, since his portrait still hangs upside down (which is a mark of disrespect for his actions) in one of the Xativa’s museums.

You can tour the castle, the gorgeous gardens, the baroque and Gothic churches, get lost in the warren of streets, and bake in the summer sun. Join the wave of locals for tapas at dinner, or eat in local restaurants that appear to have been unchanged by the passage of centuries.

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