Benidorm

Benidorm is approximately 40 kms north of Alicante on Spain's Costa Blanca. It is  the most popular resort on the Spanish mainland and attracts thousands of visitors every year from across Europe.

Benidorm Marina

Built from what was once a small fishing community, Benidorm now resembles a mini Manhattan with towering skyscrapers and flashing neon.  Many people return  year after year, striking up friendships with the  bar and restaurant owners.  The main attractions for people visiting Benidorm are the beaches, the nightlife and the shops.  Added to this there are now two large theme parks Terra Mitica and Terra Natura which are proving extremely popular with tourists. There are also two fantastic new golf courses belonging to the fabulous Real de Faulla Hotel complex.  Other well known attractions include the Aqualandia water park, Mundomar which is fun for younger children and the extremely popular night time venue Benidorm Palace.  There seems to be a conscious effort to improve Benidorm's image.  A lot of the tackier bars have been forced to close through a more stringent policy of noise control etc and many bars run by the ex pat community are finding it increasingly difficult to stay in business.  Many people believe that this is a deliberate ploy to force the English bars to close.  This seems grossly unfair when it was the English bars which originally attracted visitors from the UK and started Benidorm on its way to becoming what it is today. 

Benidorm is divided into two sections separated by  a headland.  North of the headland is the popular Levante area.  This part of Benidorm is popular with holidaymakers from across Europe.  The Levante promenade is lined with bars and restaurants and behind the Levante running parallel is Benidorm's main shopping area the Avenida Europa,  Here you will find an array of up market and not so up market shops bars and restaurants.  In recent years a huge influx of Chinese owned tourist shops has taken over what were traditional Spanish gift shops.  The Chinese shops sell almost everything from gimmicky souvenirs to clothes. The only problem is that they all seem to sell the same things!  Running behind Avenida Europa are most of the narrower streets where you can find a lot of bars and restaurants, many of them British but also a host of other nationalities.  

South of the Levante area is Benidorm old town.  It seems surprising how few British tourists  manage to find their way to this area.  If you'd like to discover a bit of the real Spain, you must make the effort to see this part of Benidorm.  Wander down on a hot summer evening and you'll find a different world.  The narrow streets are full of people savouring the atmosphere.  There are tapas bars serving an amazing variety of small dishes.  Try a couple, you don't have to speak Spanish, just point to what you'd like to try.  Most things are obvious but there are some dishes which you might not like the look of so stick with what you know. Perhaps the most popular tapas bar is the Caya Aragonesa,  This is usually standing room only.  When the Spanish use the serviettes they just throw them on the floor.  This goes against the grain for most English people but you'll soon find yourself doing the same.

Caya Aragonesa In Benidorm Old Town

If you continue walking through the old town, you eventually come to Parc Elche which is where you'll find the Paloma Blanca's or white doves.  Walk through this section and in about 200yds you'll arrive at the new Poniente promenade.

The rebuilding of the Poniente promenade has just been completed.  A massive cash injection from the E.U has seen the promenade transformed from a narrow pedestrian area flanked by a busy three lane road to a beautifully designed undulating walkway  with large planted areas set into the many coloured tiled sections.   For more photos of the new Poniente promenade, click here.

The beaches are kept clean by an army of workers working day and night to maintain their pristine condition.  Along the Levante promenade, you can see a variety of sand sculptures many based on religious themes but occasionally humorous.  Last year we had the Simpsons as well as a number of Disney themes including dragons and unicorns. 

If you fancy a fairly long walk, try walking the full length of the Poniente promenade and then continue on along the Cala de Benidorm section (the bit where the new prom ends)  If you've got the stamina you'll reach some steps which will take you to the small resort of La Cala de Finestrat just over the cliff.  If you don't feel like walking back, you can catch the bus from La Cala to Benidorm which costs 1.30 euros each.  The bus take about 15 mins and you catch it next to the Chinese restaurant in La Cala.  Both buses 12 and 41 will take you back to Benidorm.

If you are thinking of a holiday in Benidorm we've got sections on apartments and hotels.  Package holidays are still popular but many people nowadays are choosing to arrange their own flights and accommodation.  This can work out extremely cheap if you do a bit of research.  On our hotels and apartments pages we are gradually building up a complete list of everything available and eventually hope to list all the apartments and hotels Benidorm.  This will be quite a large project.  We have only just started these sections so please keep checking back as we will be adding properties every week.  If you are planning on arranging your own flight and accommodation use the hotels combined search facility which we have provided on the hotels and apartments.  Hotels Combined is a free to use independent hotel and apartment price comparison search engine which uses the worlds largest online database to find prices on most of Benidorm's huge range of apartments and hotels.  In a few seconds, it displays the prices being charged by most of the main online booking agencies.  If you use this facility, you'll be amazed at the different prices being charged for the same accommodation.  You can save a lot of money doing this.

We've also provided Benidorm webcam and weather information and we'll tell you what the cheapest way is of getting to and from the airport.  Living most of the year in La Cala de Finestrat gives us lots of opportunity to explore places up and down the coast and we have provided you with information and photos for most of the main places within about a 30 mile radius of Benidorm. We are redesigning the Apartrent website at the moment so apologies for any problems during the changeover.  We hope you like the new design.