Case study · Tabarca Island, Alicante
Tabarca — an island
that tells its own story.
How Alicante City Council made the Urban Trails Network of Nueva Tabarca accessible with NaviLens: gates, bastions, squares, church, lighthouse and viewpoints narrated in 42 languages.
Tabarca
Island · Alicante, Mediterranean
Trail
Urban Trails Network · Nueva Tabarca
42
Languages with voice readout
Heritage
Cultural & natural · Marine Reserve
The client
Nueva Tabarca
Alicante City Council
Nueva Tabarca is the only inhabited island in the Valencian Community, off the coast of Alicante. Its walled citadel of San Pablo is a declared Site of Cultural Interest and its waters have been a Marine Reserve since 1986.
Alicante City Council wanted every visitor —resident, international tourist or person with low vision— to be able to walk and understand the island on their own, in their own language, with no guide.
§ The challenge
An island with history for everyone.
- 01
A historic island visited by thousands of tourists
Nueva Tabarca, off the coast of Alicante, is a Site of Cultural Interest and a Marine Reserve. Every summer thousands of people visit, many of them international, and they need to understand what they are seeing.
- 02
Heritage that doesn't fit on a panel
Walls, bastions, baroque church, lighthouse, coves and marine species: the historical and natural information was too much for traditional panels —and not very accessible to people with low vision or those who don't read Spanish.
- 03
An accessible trail across the whole island
A network of signposted stops was needed, in several languages, with audio, so anyone could walk the walled citadel of San Pablo at their own pace and on their own.
§ The solution
An accessible
heritage trail.
The Urban Trails Network of Nueva Tabarca includes panels with a NaviLens code at every stop of the "Walled citadel of San Pablo" route.
- San Miguel Gate and Old Pier
- San Rafael Gate and Carloforte Square
- Main Square and Governor's House
- Church of San Pedro and San Pablo
- Princess Bastion, Baillencourt and San Gabriel squares
- Coves viewpoint and Llop Marí Cave
- Lighthouse and San José Tower
- Nueva Tabarca Museum
§ Timeline
From an interpretive route to an accessible island model.
- 2020
Urban Trails Network of Nueva Tabarca
The Municipal Tourism Board, together with Stereografica, Gavalda Rotulación and technical support from Vectalia, renews the urban trail signage with NaviLens codes at every stop of the walled citadel.
- Day to day
Audio and translation on your phone
Any visitor points their phone from several metres away and listens in their own language to the story of each gate, bastion, square and viewpoint.
- Milestone
First digital island in the Mediterranean
Tabarca is presented by Alicante's Tourism Board as the first digital island in the Mediterranean, with NaviLens as a key part of its commitment to sustainability, digitalisation and accessibility.
§ What they said
What the Tourism Board said.
“The Municipal Tourism Board has installed NaviLens technology on Tabarca Island in order to offer historical and heritage information about the island's architectural ensemble, providing a cultural complement to the existing sun-and-beach offer.”
§ Results
An island that anyone can explore.
100%
Of the heritage trail stops signposted with NaviLens
42
Languages for national and international visitors
1
Replicable model for islands and historic ensembles
"Heritage only belongs to everyone when anyone, in any language, can understand what they are looking at."
§ And your destination?
Your destination can also guide in 42 languages.
Tell us about your routes, offices, monuments or galleries. We’ll show you how NaviLens would make your offer accessible —with comparable cases.
