Altea in pictures

1. Views

Photographs by Axel Voigts. Where people were in frame, the crop was chosen so that nobody remains identifiable; capture time and device data have been stripped from the files.

The domes of the Mare de Déu del Consol at night

From the old town: domes and bell tower in evening light

Impressions

Photographs by Axel Voigts and by others under a free licence, from midday to night. Each picture is credited beneath it.

View from the Castellet del Mascarat across the bay of Altea: the headland of the Serra Gelada, the towers of Benidorm behind it, the low islet of l’Olla in the water — The bay of Altea from the Castellet del Mascarat — the headland of the Serra Gelada, Benidorm beyond, the islet of l’OllaPhoto: Joanbanjo

Pebble beach and seafront promenade under wispy high cloud; on the right white apartment blocks, palm trees and a curving railing with a blue handrail, on the left a calm sea and the Serra Gelada on the horizon. — The promenade looking south — pebble beach, palm trees and the Serra Gelada closing off the bayPhoto: Axel Voigts

A sand-coloured footpath with a wooden railing runs along a pebble beach; grasses, pines and white houses on the left, clear calm sea on the right and the rock of the Penyal d’Ifac in the distance. — The shore path below Cap Negret, its wooden railing above the pebble beach — the Penyal d’Ifac on the horizonPhoto: Axel Voigts

Calm turquoise sea fills the foreground; on the left a row of white buildings with palm trees along the shore, behind them bare mountain ridges and slopes dotted with villas, and cliffs at the right. — Across the calm water — the row of houses along the shore, mountains and villa-dotted slopes behindPhoto: Axel Voigts

From a balcony with a scrolled iron railing the view drops into a steep whitewashed lane with tiled roofs, wall lanterns and potted plants; beyond lies the blue sea under light cloud. — Carrer del Jesuset drops between whitewashed houses towards the seaPhoto: Axel Voigts

Elevated view over white houses with tiled roofs and a stepped old-town lane; beyond, the town stretches to the coast, with turquoise sea on the right and a mountain ridge ending in a sea rock. Wispy clouds, sunshine. — Across the rooftops of the old town, the whole bay as far as the Penyal d’IfacPhoto: Axel Voigts

View from a rocky slope with olive trees and spiky-leaved plants over tiled roofs and apartment blocks down to the harbour; the sea glitters against the light, with the Serra Gelada rising on the right. — From the hillside down to the harbour — the bay against the light, the Serra Gelada beyondPhoto: Axel Voigts

The whole hill from a distance at dusk: hundreds of white houses stacked up the slope, the floodlit church with its dome and tower above them — Altea from a distance at dusk — the hill as everyone knows it, with the floodlit church abovePhoto: MarixaGil

The same bay after sunset: the sky still orange above the ridge, the lit streets below, a tram at the stop and the lights of the harbour — After sunset — the tram pulling in below, the harbour lit up beyondPhoto: PiotrMig

A night shot from the pebble beach: a row of upturned boats in the foreground, a floodlit palm beside them, the bay and the string of lights of Altea behind under a dark blue sky — Below La Olleta after dark — the boats hauled up keel uppermost, the lights of Altea beyondPhoto: Axel Voigts

2. Then and now

Forty-eight comparisons — the same lane, the same square, the same bay, once between 1894 and the 1960s and once today — have a page of their own: Then and now. The montages are by Jaime Guardiola; the photographs come from the collection of Altea Mi Pueblo.

3. From the air: 1956 and today

The one thing that can be shown here on a sound legal footing without taking the pictures oneself: the official aerial surveys. The 1956–57 image comes from the American flight over Spain and is published by the Institut Cartogràfic Valencià under an open licence.

We tried to place the two images side by side here. The mapping service, however, publishes its layer names only through an interface that could not be queried, and the result came out blank. Rather than a control that does not work, here is the way to the original:

The 1956–57 survey in the Generalitat’s viewer ↗

Switch layers at the top left there to compare the old image with the present one. The difference shows most clearly on the slopes — and in how small the old town looks against everything that came afterwards.

Historical photographs of Altea — streets, fishermen, fiestas, families — are collected by the private initiative Altea Mi Pueblo ↗. The municipal archive itself pointed us there when we asked: its own photo collection is small and not digitised. A selection of the comparisons is shown, with permission, on the Then and now page; the rights remain with their respective owners.

4. Contributing your own photographs

If you have good pictures of Altea and would like to see them here, you are welcome to offer them. Contact details are in the legal notice.

Your own work only — pictures found online will not do, even without a credit
No recognisable people and no number plates; otherwise consent is required
Landscape format, long edge at least 1600 pixels
With a credit in the caption if you wish

Nothing is published without express permission, and permission can be withdrawn at any time. See the privacy policy.

Aerial imagery: retrieved October 2026 from the Institut Cartogràfic Valencià, licensed Creative Commons Attribution; dataset “Ortofoto de 1956-1957 de la Comunitat Valenciana” (American flight, series B) on dadesobertes.gva.es. Image rights: LO 1/1982.