A ground-floor door in Duanes de la Mar
The fishermen's houses by Xàbia's port open straight onto the street. What that asks of the cylinder, the bolt and the door itself, and what to change first.
Guides for the doors of Xàbia, written from the jobs
Each guide starts from something particular to Xàbia: a run of burglaries, a summer barrier, a port house, a riurau, a market day. They answer “what do I do?”; when the answer is “ring a locksmith”, they say which service.
Old town and port
-
-
The iron gate in front of an old-town door
Xàbia's old town keeps its iron window grilles, and some houses an iron gate before the wooden door. When the gate key is lost, which lock gets opened, and why the ironwork stays whole.
Villas and urbanisations
-
Locked out behind the Granadella barrier
Every summer the roads down to the Granadella and Portitxol coves get barriers and paid parking. If you are shut out of a house beyond one, here is what changes, and what to say when you ring.
-
Locking a converted riurau
Riuraus were built open to the south so raisins could dry in the sun. Turned into a summer room, a garage or a store, their arches need doors and locks. What works without hiding them.
-
Pulled shut is not locked
In 2025 the Guardia Civil put 84 break-ins in Xàbia down to one quiet trick on doors that were shut but not locked. How it works, and the habits and parts that stop it.
-
Your key holder has moved back to the UK
The neighbour who kept your keys for years has sold up and gone. Why that is the moment to change the cylinders of a Xàbia villa, and how to arrange it from abroad.
Lets and shops
-
Keypad entry for a holiday let
A keypad lock spares a Xàbia host the key handover, but batteries die and codes travel. What to check before fitting one, and why a mechanical cylinder stays behind it.
-
Shop lock work on market Thursday
On Thursday mornings the weekly market fills Plaça de la Constitució and the streets around it. How to plan lock work on an old-town shop round the stalls and round trading.
-
A guest flew home with the villa safe locked
The guest has gone, the safe is shut and nobody knows the code. How a holiday villa safe is opened, what the owner is asked to show, and how to stop it happening again.
Read enough, and the door is still shut?
Ring, and you will be told whether it needs a locksmith at all.