It was the capital of a taifa kingdom ruling over part of the Valencian coast and Ibiza. The Slavic slaves saqaliba managed to free themselves and run the taifa.
The fortress was built by the Moors, and re-built by the French who occupied the city for four years during the War of the Spanish Succession in the early 19th century.
Denia was home to a community of English raisin traders who lived their from 1800 until the Spanish Civil War.
The fort at Denia overlooking the city
Denia's other claim to fame is that the ferry to Ibiza and the other Balearic Islands departs there. It is also at the end of a picturesque metre gauge railway line to Alicante run by FGV.