The area around Vinaròs is rich with day trip options, both along the coast and inland into the Maestrazgo mountains.
Peñíscola, 25 kilometres south along the coast, is one of the most dramatically situated towns in Valencia — a fortified medieval settlement on a rocky headland above a long sandy beach, with a Templar castle (later occupied by the schismatic Pope Benedict XIII) at its summit. It is heavily visited in summer but beautiful out of season.
Morella, 60 kilometres west into the mountains of the Maestrazgo, is a spectacular walled medieval city perched on a hill above a wide valley, with intact medieval walls, a Gothic castle, and a handsome collegiate church. It is one of the best-preserved medieval towns in Spain and worth a full day. The drive through the mountain landscape is scenic.
San Mateu, halfway between Vinaròs and Morella, is a smaller medieval town that was once the capital of the Maestrazgo of Montesa — the military order that governed the region after the Reconquista. Its Gothic church and medieval centre are worth a stop en route to Morella.