Where to stay in Benidorm

See

As a purpose-built beach resort, everything is geared toward fun and enjoyment; there is therefore not much to see for those looking for culture. The surrounding towns and villages, which are less than 20 minutes drive by car or 30 minutes by bus are well worth exploring for anyone looking for 'real Spain'. In Benidorm the old town does still retain some of the quaint past, from when the town was a small village. Head for the old town church, where you will find the most interesting part of the town.

• Punta Calfani
• Església de Sant Jaume i Santa Anna
• Parc de l'Aigüera
• Intempo
• Tossal de la Cala
• Museo del Motor

Do

As a large city, Benidorm offers a huge number of different activities for holidaymakers, in town and in the nearby area. Blanket trips are free tours to nearby resorts, towns and markets. Unlike timeshare sales, there is no hard sell and if you do not want to buy anything, that is fine. The downside is that by the time you have sat through two demos and had something to eat, you arrive at a place at 12:30 or later as the shops are shutting and leave two hours later as they are opening again, or you get there when a market is mostly over. There are 4 km of safe, sandy beaches in Benidorm, including two spectacular Blue Flag beaches.

• Platja de Llevant
• Platja de Ponent
• Platja del Mal Pas
• Cala de l'Almadrava
• Cala del Ti Ximo
• Cala de Finestrat
• Aqualandia
• Benidorm Palace
• Mundomar Benidorm
• Terra Mítica
• Terra Natura
• Parc Natural de la Serra Gelada

Eat

There are over a thousand places to eat. The best area for restaurants and tapas bars is in the old town, where you will find of course Spanish cuisine and also English, French, Algerian and Dutch food. It is best to search the old town if you want some real quality local food such as jamón and excellent local wines from the Jalón valley. In the Levante area the food is typical tourist fare with many English café-bars offering home-style food to English visitors. There are also many Chinese restaurants from a fairly large Chinese community who also have shops with items from China. Breakfast is a favourite of many with a large fried breakfast starting at €2.

Drink

There are 800 bars selling alcohol and as such the competition is huge, with happy hours, two-for-one, etc. – whatever your tipple you will find it in Benidorm. Many small bars offer bottled beer at €1 and themed bars are in abundance. You will find British pubs, Dutch bars and Irish bars plus the many Spanish cafetería-bars which offer local Spanish favourites. Football is shown on large TV screens at many of them. A number of bars have live acts and other entertainment including karaoke.

Stay safe

One feature over the last few years on travel forums is pick-pocketing and even some cases of mugging in Benidorm. When someone asked about "Muggers Alley", two different locations were given. Be careful in crowds, notably the Sunday-Wednesday market which has general things which you can buy as cheap elsewhere and the Sunday boot sale market which has older things and collectibles. Valuables should not be left in (empty) cars or apartments. Lock all doors and windows when leaving your apartment. Most rooms will come with a safe. Despite these warnings visitors should remember that at peak times Benidorm hosts up to 200,000 people, therefore the true crime numbers are actually quite small.