Water route — Azud de Tuéjar

History and nature come together on this beautiful route in the Valencia mountains, around the old water channels of Tuéjar.

Want to enjoy a weekend in the van doing a route that will surprise you? Then let's head to Chelva!

If you don't want to go too far to make the most of the weekend with your Vanyou, this is a perfect plan. Suitable for all audiences.

We'll try to show you this part of the Los Serranos region, talk about visiting the village and, above all, encourage you to discover the famous Water Route.

The full route is about 14 km and follows the PRV-92 short-distance trail. Medium difficulty and around 4 hours duration.

Chelva is just 70 km from Valencia. Take the CV-35 and stay on it — you'll reach your new destination in just 1 hour.

To locate yourself: Chelva is a municipality in the interior of the Valencia province, in the Los Serranos region, also known as Alto Turia.

We recommend doing the route on Saturday so you can spend all the time you need without rushing and make the most of the day.

The route has several variants: you can do it as a loop, covering the maximum, or do part of it out-and-back. We leave it to your choice based on your possibilities. We did the 14 km loop. Obviously, if you can do this route you'll see practically everything. If you travel with children and want to enjoy the surroundings with them, we'll tell you how.

The circular route runs through the village streets, so if you don't take this option, we recommend visiting the village of Chelva — it's worth it.

The town of Chelva was declared a Cultural Heritage Site with the Historic Ensemble category. This rural marvel keeps traces of the cultures that inhabited it throughout history and is composed of a series of highly complex neighbourhoods with an enigmatic, very winding layout that adapts to the terrain.

Among its historic neighbourhoods you can admire the Arab quarter of Benacacira, the Mudéjar-Morisco quarter or Arrabal, the Christian quarters, the Jewish quarter or Azoque, the Ensanche, the Viscount's Palace, the Santa Cruz hermitage, the Town Council, baroque hermitages and the majestic Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles parish church. You'll also be surprised by the sound of water through its streets and how many fountains it has.

But let's start our route. As we mentioned, the Water Route has more than one variant and we chose the longest. We downloaded the route from Wikiloc, where you'll find different options. Our starting point was the Molino Puerto recreational area. Whether you're doing the full loop or just a walk, it's a perfect place to leave the van. It has parking, it's near the village (you can walk in), and you have the recreational area with tables and a river swimming zone. On the downside, it's a busy spot — though late afternoon everyone disappears. From here we head to the village along the bottom of the Montú ravine. From the car park, take the first right and that path leads you straight into the village.

From here we visit the historic centre. Once the historic centre tour is done, we leave the village along Avenida de Valencia and, just before it becomes the CV-346 road, past a road island, on the left we'll find a path leading to Fuente de la Gitana — in case you want to visit it. We retrace our steps back to the CV-346 and continue to the bullring where you'll see an information sign. From here we head to the Peña Cortada Aqueduct, no doubt the most spectacular part of the route. After admiring the aqueduct and crossing it at the top, we'll reach a section of tunnels carved into the rock. A true marvel!

From here we'll reach the Alcotas ravine viewpoint and begin descending towards Calles along the Alcotas ravine. As we approach the village of Calles, near the Santa Quiteria hermitage, we'll keep descending and have to cross the bridge over the river Tuéjar to reach the village of Calles. It's a beautiful village of paths, aqueducts, streams, natural surroundings and, of course, gastronomy. In fact we stopped to eat a delicious "ollica" stew.

We pick up the route again — there's still a long stretch left.

Further on we'll reach the old Light Factory, which used hydraulic power from the Olinches canal to generate electricity. Finally we return to our starting point at the Molino Puerto recreational area. A few metres away is La Playeta, a singular spot on the Chelva river with waterfalls, falls and pools, making it a traditional swimming area quite busy in summer. Its name comes from the sediment sand accumulated on the shore. The river's narrowing upstream and abundant vegetation form beautiful corners. We finished the route here, but you can continue and go through the Paso de Olinches tunnel (107 m long) to reach the Olinches dam and then the Mozaira bridge.

If you go with children or can't/don't want to do the full route, we definitely recommend you don't miss visiting the historic centre of Chelva and the La Playeta area. You also have the option of taking the van to Calles to visit that area. We recommend not missing the part of the route that passes the aqueduct and tunnels. There's a car park nearby and you can reach it by road in about 15 minutes.

For the second day we suggest visiting Tuéjar. It's very close, less than 8 km from Chelva, and you'll enjoy one of the favourite spots: the Azud de Tuéjar, where the river source forms a beautiful pool.

The Azud de Tuéjar has been converted into a recreational area with a designated swimming zone. Pay attention to the information signs!

Originally this azud collected water from the Tuéjar river and diverted it into the main irrigation channel for the fields. Today there's a natural pool, known as "El Pozo de las Escaleras", with crystal-clear waters that stay year-round at a constant temperature of 18°C. The recreational area has a children's play area, picnic zone and restaurant.

You also have the option of walking from the recreational area 1.2 km (15 minutes) to see the rock paintings of Corrales de Silla and reach the Piedra del Mediodía Viewpoint or Azud Viewpoint.

As always, we kindly ask you to be respectful with the environment you visit — leave no trace and remember to take all the waste you generate with you.

We hope you enjoy this plan, which combines history and nature just a step from Valencia.