Choose an area by how you live.
Do you want a morning swim and a flat walk to coffee, or a quiet terrace with winter sun and space to work from home.
Decide that first, then use the notes below to build a shortlist that fits your day.
Walkable coast: three clear choices
Arenal
Flat promenade, cafés, SUP and kayak hire, easy swims before work. July and August feel busy most evenings. Parking beside the beach is scarce in high season; a building with underground parking is a real win. Streets behind the front stay calmer, and you still reach the promenade in minutes. Ground floors with big terraces carry a premium because they’re usable all year round.
Port / Duanes del Mar
Harbour feel around La Grava beach, with year-round shops and flatter walking than the Old Town. You can do daily errands on foot and still have a seafront path for evening walks. Avenida dels Furs is the main road in and out; when you view, note how it moves at school time and around dinner. Parking is a real issue here, we tend to avoid it and walk in most visits, even in quieter months.
Montañar
The long rocky shore between the Port and Arenal. Where La Siesta is. Primer Montañar (Benissero) toward the Port has chiringuitos in season and clear water entry points and is really popular although craggy; Segundo Montañar (Sèquia de la Nòria) toward Arenal is quieter at night and great for sea-path walks. It’s stone by design, so swim shoes help (you can get these in the local Chinese bazaars fo next to nothing, but a good investment). You are here for the view, the breeze and the space, not for a sandy beach day.
If you are weighing these three, keep our other article Getting around Jávea in mind. It shows how the coast actually flows on busy evenings and which routes save time when you leave the beach for dinner or head to an airport early.
Villa life: space, light and orientation
A few minutes inland changes the brief entirely.
Montgó / Partida Valls
Bigger plots, quiet lanes and long valley and sometimes sea views. Orientation matters. A south or west terrace feels warmer from December to February; shaded plots feel much cooler. Nights are calm, and you are ten to fifteen minutes by car to the beach most days. If you work from home, this is easy to live with year round.
Tosalet / Cap Martí
Established villa streets with mature trees and gentle gradients. Short drive to the Arenal for shops and school runs. Calmer than the coast without being remote. Many homes have hedging and privacy; check where winter sun lands on the main terrace before you fall for a garden.
Balcón al Mar / La Guardia
Capes with big skies and views. It’s breezier than town, so plan screens, planting and the position of seating areas if you want to use terraces on more days of the year. Driving times to Arenal and the Port are predictable once you learn the rhythm; you trade the walk for views and light.
Torn between “flat by the beach” and “villa with pool.” Use Cost of Living in Jávea (2025) to see how housing, utilities and everyday travel stack up each month for each lifestyle. It’s the clean way to compare romance versus running costs.
Noise, breeze and winter sun
The Arenal promenade-front in July and August is lively after dinner and can get a bit rowdy. The nightclub Achill stays open until ^am ish and get a bit noisy so bear that in mind.
The Port adds fiesta weekends and harbour events. The fiesta evenings can be especially noisy so research those.
Old Town is calm most evenings but busy on market mornings. However, the fiestas here can be extremely noisy. So ask around and see what the locals tell you. Areas like Thiviers which are a little detatched from the historic centre are more insulated from the noisy bulls and fireworks.
Montañar benefits from an evening sea breeze that helps in hot months. Inland, nights are usually quiet year round with only distant road noise.
With villas, stand where you would place a table at 15:00 in January. If that spot is shaded, the house will feel chilly in winter. On the capes eg San Antonio and Balcon al Mar, walk the boundary; a perfect upper terrace can be uncomfortable on breezy days if it has no shelter. Along Montañar, note where the sea path sits relative to bedrooms if you are a light sleeper in summer.
Getting around without surprises
Two coast roads do most of the work. Avenida del Pla links Arenal across to town and gets busy at school times and on summer evenings. Avenida dels Furs feeds the harbour. If a place looks perfect on paper, drive both at the hours you would actually use them. For airport choices and coach-plus-metro runs to Valencia, open Getting around Jávea while you compare areas so you plan around real timings, not the map.
Parking and everyday errands
Near Arenal and La Grava, beach-side spaces go early in summer. One or two streets back is quicker and it’s not too much of a walk even with a few beach chairs and brollies.
The Old Town runs resident zones and paid bays; assume you will rent a space or pick a home with a garage. There are also a few free wasteland parking areas at the base of the town which you’ll easily discover over time.
Villa streets remove the problem with on-plot parking.
Before you choose, time the walk to a small supermarket and a pharmacy, or accept a five to ten minute drive and plan your week.
If you are renting first, Long-Term Renting in Jávea (2025) has the clauses and inventory steps that prevent most arguments later.
Moving into a villa? Check out Set Up Utilities in Jávea (2025) for tariffs, meter reads and a first-week plan.
A ten-minute field test that works
- Visit your two best areas at 08:00 on a weekday and at 20:30 in July.
- Park two streets back from the beach and walk in.
- Check sun on the main terrace at 15:00 in winter.
- Walk to the nearest bakery and pharmacy.
- Drive your likely gym or beach run at the exact hour you would use.
- If a pool matters, find the pump and listen to it. Is it noisy?
- If you are a light sleeper, stand outside the building at 22:30 in July.
Common trade-offs, put simply
- Arenal vs Montañar: both coastal. Arenal wins for cafés and sand. Montañar wins for breeze, views and quieter nights.
- Port vs Old Town: Port wins for flat walks and La Grava. Old Town wins for market, services and calmer evenings.
- Montgó vs Tosalet: Montgó gets bigger plots and strong winter sun if oriented right. Tosalet is closer to Arenal with gentler breezes.
- Balcón al Mar vs town zones: views and exposure versus shorter drives and easier errands.
Use our Javea Guides to explore further.
