What is on in October on the Costa Blanca

Summer here does not end when the last tourist leaves, which this year they are not doing anyway. October is the month on this coast when the villages take their turn: four days of Moors and Christians in Benidorm starting Thursday, a Moorish landing on the beach at El Campello at seven in the morning, nine days of programme in Dénia around 9 October, and in Calp a fiesta turning fifty that has just been declared national heritage. Below are the dates we have been able to confirm, with times and places, and an honest note where a programme had not yet been published.

Benidorm opens the month: 1 to 4 October

Benidorm holds its Moors and Christians from Thursday 1 to Sunday 4 October. It is one of the city’s oldest fiestas and is officially declared a Fiesta of Local Tourist Interest.

It opens on Thursday evening with the Parlamento de la Invasión Mora, at 20:00 in Plaza SS MM los Reyes de España. A wooden castle is built there for the occasion. The Christian troops gather at their camp, the Moorish forces arrive after a staged landing, and then comes the exchange of words that opens the fiesta.

The centrepiece after that is the Gran Entrada, the procession in which the filaes march through the main streets in full costume. The fiesta closes with a floral offering to San Jaime, the town’s patron saint.

The full timetable had not been published when this article was written. For the exact hours of the entrada, check the council website.

Practical: Benidorm is about an hour from the Marina Alta on the AP-7, and on fiesta days the centre is solid. Park on the edge and walk the last stretch, or take the tram from Altea or Calp.

Jávea: three weekends of craft on the promenade

If you would rather not drive all month, Jávea has plenty of its own. The council diary is full and most of it is free.

The Feria de Artesanía de Autor sets up on the Paseo Marítimo Joaquín Sorolla on three weekends: 3 and 4 October, 17 and 18 October, and 24 and 25 October. It is craft by the makers themselves, not resale, and the promenade in October is comfortable in a way August never is.

On Sunday 25 October there is also the Mercado de Antigüedades y Artículos Vintage at the Riurau d’Arnauda. A riurau is a covered gallery where raisins used to be dried, and the building alone justifies the trip.

If you would rather stay indoors: the GudzGallery runs the exhibition Tiempo Cálido from 1 October to 14 November.

And for anyone setting something up here: 1 October brings the ninth Jornada Xàbia Emprén, with workshops at the Casa de Cultura and a session at the Portal del Clot. For freelancers and new business owners wanting to widen their network in the village, it is a more practical afternoon than it sounds.

Dénia celebrates nine days straight

Dénia builds its whole first half of October around the ninth, and that produces a programme running from 3 to 11 October. This is the most detailed one we could confirm for the month.

Saturday 3 October: the Dénia Stock market on Carrer Marqués de Campo, from 10:00 to 21:00. Local shops put their stock on the street at sharp prices.

Thursday 8 October: five hours of live music at La Glorieta, from 19:00 to midnight. Then, from 00:30, the correfoc runs from Plaza María Hervás to Plaza del Consell. A correfoc is a fire run with devils and fireworks that you walk through. Cotton on, nothing synthetic, and a cap.

Friday 9 October, the main day: 10:30 commemoration in Plaza María Hervás. From 11:00 children’s activities and bouncy castles on Marqués de Campo, in two blocks from 11:30 to 14:00 and from 16:00 to 19:00. At 14:00 a paella for a thousand people. From 19:00 to 20:30 the band Histeriia plays at La Glorieta, and at 21:00 there is a mascletà in Plaza Jaume I.

Saturday 10 October: a puppet theatre workshop at the Juan Chabás library at 12:00, and in the afternoon the Diva Dénia Music Pride festival.

Sunday 11 October: from 09:30 to 11:00 matches of pilota valenciana on Carrer del Pare Pere, and from 11:00 to 19:00 the first Aplec de Gegants i Bèsties de Foc: a gathering of giant figures and fire beasts from across the region.

Why everything is shut on 9 October

9 October is the Dia de la Comunitat Valenciana, the regional public holiday. That is not a folkloric detail but an ordinary day off: schools shut, town halls shut, many shops shut and most offices too.

The day marks Jaume I entering the city of Valencia in 1238. It is celebrated across the region, in one town with a mascletà and in another with little more than a flag on the town hall.

For residents there are two practical consequences. First: do not plan anything with an official body for that day, and expect the days either side to be busier. Second: 9 October falls on a Friday this year, which makes a long weekend. Count on traffic and full restaurants from Thursday evening through Sunday.

There is a tradition that goes with it and that you will see in the bakery: the mocadorà, a handkerchief with marzipan figures knotted inside that men give to their partner. Exactly when it started is not settled among historians, but from Dénia to Alicante every patisserie has them in the window that week.

El Campello: the landing at seven in the morning

If you pick one fiesta this year that you have never been to, this is a good candidate. El Campello holds its Moors and Christians from 11 to 15 October, on fixed dates around Santa Teresa on the fifteenth.

The programme is the same year after year:

Sunday 11 October, 23:30: the pregon in Plaza de la Iglesia. That is the opening speech with which the fiesta officially begins.

Monday 12 October, 07:00: the Desembarco on Carrerlamar beach. Boats crewed by filaes come ashore at first light, followed by the ambaixada at the Torre de la Illeta. It lasts around two and a half hours and it is the sort of thing you set an alarm for. At 11:00 comes the Entrada de Bandas and at 19:00 the Entrada Cristiana-Mora, the big parade.

Tuesday 13 October: the Alardo, the harquebus battle, at 08:00, and the Embajada Cristiana at 12:00.

Wednesday 14 October, 20:00: La Retreta, the comic parade in which the filaes take the mickey out of themselves.

Thursday 15 October: the floral offering to Santa Teresa at 12:00 and the procession at 20:00, closing with fireworks.

El Campello sits just north of Alicante, about an hour from Jávea. The tram from Alicante stops in the village, which on a fiesta day beats the car.

Ondara: running for charity on 18 October

On Sunday 18 October Ondara holds its ninth Cursa Solidària, the run against cancer. It is not a race about times: every year families, children and people walking the whole course take part.

For anyone living in the Marina Alta this is the most easily reached event of the month. Ondara sits between Dénia and Pedreguer, ten minutes from both.

We wrote a separate piece about it with the details on registration and the route. If you are thinking of taking part, that is the place to start.

It also fits a wider pattern: October is when the running season starts here. The heat has gone, the evenings are still light enough and the Marina Alta calendar fills with short distances in the villages. Anyone who could do nothing in summer starts now.

Calp: fifty years of Moors and Christians

In 2026 Calp marks the fiftieth anniversary of its Moors and Christians. The first parade was in 1976. And in September something else arrived: the Ministry of Industry and Tourism declared the fiesta a Fiesta de Interés Turístico Nacional.

The fiesta turns on 22 October, the day of the Santíssim Crist de la Suor, Calp’s patron. The procession goes out on the afternoon of that day.

Here we have to be honest: the full 2026 programme had not been officially published at the time of writing. Dates circulate on tourism sites, but the organisers had not confirmed them, and with an anniversary year and a new national status the programme may look different from usual. Check the Calp fiestas website before you go.

What will be in it regardless: the Entrada de Bandas, the raising of the standards, the Desembarco in which sailing boats crewed by filaes re-enact the attack on the coast, the Moorish and Christian entradas, El Miracle, the mass and the procession.

Calp is half an hour from Jávea and twenty minutes from Moraira. For anyone living here this is the nearest big Moors and Christians of the year.

Dénia’s funfair and what else comes back

At the end of October the Fira de Tots Sants returns to the Torrecremada esplanade in Dénia. That is the funfair that runs into the first days of November, with rides for children and adults, shooting galleries, tombolas and food stalls.

The same honest note here: the 2026 dates had not been published at the time of writing. What circulates online comes from earlier years, and those dates move. In previous editions the fair started in mid-October and ran to 2 November, with a few discount afternoons and a quiet session without music for children who find it difficult. Expect something similar, but wait for the council programme.

What else is in the month varies by village: the weekly markets carry on as normal, and in some places they move to another square while the fair is up. If you go to the Monday market in Dénia, check at the end of October where it is standing.

And then there is the category that needs no date: October is the best walking month of the year here. The heat has gone, the sea is still warm enough to swim in, and the paths on the Montgó and the Cap de Sant Antoni are empty in a way they never are in August.

Just missed, and when it comes round again

A few fiestas that often turn up in October lists actually fall outside it. Worth knowing before you plan a day out.

Altea holds its Moors and Christians within its patron saint festivities from 25 to 29 September. Anyone reading this on the day of publication is just in time for the last days, and otherwise next year.

Santa Pola holds its Moors and Christians from 31 August to 8 September. Those are over.

Orihuela holds its own in July, in the Fiestas de la Reconquista. October is not the month there either.

The pattern behind it is simple: most fiestas hang on the local patron saint’s day, and that differs by village. That is why the Costa Blanca is full of Moors and Christians from April to November without two villages landing on the same day. Anyone wanting to see one this autumn has Benidorm, El Campello and Calp.

Practical: how to go to a fiesta

A few things that make the difference between a good evening and forty-five minutes hunting for a parking space.

Come early or come late. An entrada lasts hours and rarely starts on time. The first hour is quietest along the route, the last hour is the best. In between, everybody is there.

Park on the edge. Every village closes its centre. Leave the car on the outside and walk; that is almost always faster than trying to get as close as possible.

A mascletà is not fireworks to watch but to feel. It is a sequence of bangs in broad daylight, built up to a thump you notice in your chest. Do not stand near the firing ground with small children or a dog, and bring earplugs if you are sensitive.

At a correfoc, wear cotton. Long sleeves, a cap or hood and closed shoes. Synthetic fabric melts under sparks. This is not excessive caution, it is written into every council announcement.

Book if you want to eat. On a fiesta day the village restaurants are full of families who booked a table months ago. Ring ahead or eat outside the peak.

And always check the council’s own programme. Dates on tourism sites are often last year’s. That applies to the dates in this article too, where we have said the programme was not out yet.

Frequently asked questions

Which Moors and Christians are on in October 2026? Benidorm from 1 to 4 October, El Campello from 11 to 15 October, and Calp around 22 October.

When is the landing on the beach at El Campello? On 12 October at 07:00 on Carrerlamar beach.

What is on for 9 October? It is the Dia de la Comunitat Valenciana, a regional holiday. In Dénia that day includes a paella for a thousand people at 14:00 and a mascletà at 21:00.

Is 9 October a public holiday? Yes, across the Comunitat Valenciana. Schools and town halls are closed.

When is the Ondara Cursa Solidària? On 18 October.

What is on in Jávea itself? The craft market on the promenade on 3 and 4, 17 and 18 and 24 and 25 October, the vintage market at the Riurau d’Arnauda on 25 October, and the Tiempo Cálido exhibition until 14 November.

When is the Dénia funfair? The Fira de Tots Sants returns to the Torrecremada at the end of October, but the 2026 dates had not been published at the time of writing.

Why is Calp celebrating extra hard this year? The fiesta is fifty years old and in September it was declared a Fiesta de Interés Turístico Nacional.

Have I missed the Altea fiestas? They run from 25 to 29 September, so just. Santa Pola was early September and Orihuela is in July.

Does it cost anything? The parades, the mascletàs and the markets are free and in the street. Some towns do charge for grandstand seats along an entrada.

Read also: late October here turns on Halloween and Tots Sants. Our Halloween guide has the Terra Mítica Horror Nights with dates and age limit, and why the council programmes appear so late.

About the authorMilo Schuijt

Milo Schuijt is an entrepreneur and DJ on the Costa Blanca. He writes about the places where he lives, works and plays: from beach bars to the housing market.