If you're here for a fortnight holiday and you don't want to spend every day on the beach, pluck up the courage to hire a car for a couple of days.  There are some great little villages nearby which are well worth a visit.  Finestrat is only about 10kms from La Cala.  To get there just drive  up to the main road and straight across at the traffic lights, then continue on up to the first roundabout where you take the first exit . Then second exit at the  next roundabout (the big one near Carrefour) Drive straight on up the hill and continue straight at the next roundabout (2nd exit)  Follow the road as it winds around and takes you up and down a few hills and after about 7kms  you'll reach the roundabout on the outskirts of Finestrat. Go straight across this roundabout and up the hill past some houses which are perched on the edge of a cliff and up to the junction.  Turn right at the junction and find a place to park.  Have a wander around the town and up to the church.  There's a nice ex pat bar called Molli 2 on the main road where you can stop and have a coffee. When you've "done" Finestrat you could always turn around and instead of turning left and going  back down the hill out of the town and returning to La Cala, go straight straight ahead and follow the road through the hills to the main T junction at the end.  Turn right and you can go to Relleu  just follow the sign on the left after about a mile. As well as Relleu, if you go past the Relleu turn off you come to a very small village called Sella.  Park up in Sella and you'll find a couple of small bars, one with a chain mail curtain over the front door. Have a drink in here, if you walk through to the back, you'll find a terrace with tables and chairs where you can look out over a small valley.  This little bar has a special Sunday lunch menu which is really well known in the area.  You are presented with lots of typical dishes of the area one after the other.  If you fancy this, book it because apparently it gets very busy.  Other places to try within a reasonable driving distance are Villajoyosa, about 5kms away (I'm not going to give you directions to all these places because I haven't got the space, so you'll have to buy a map of the area)  A trip taking in  Altea, Moraira, Calpe and the Jalon Valley would make a great day out.  If you don't mind going a bit further afield, Denia and Javea up the coast are worth spending a few hours in.   Alicante in the opposite direction is a really nice city with plenty to see.  If you go down the N332 instead of the motorway, you could drop in at El Campello on the way.  There are other places worth a mention, Guadalest is a fascinating place, it used to be quite a stomach churning mountain drive but about four years ago, a new road was opened between La Nucia and Guadalest and it now only takes half an hour from La Cala.  The quickest way to La Nucia is to drive up to the Terra Mitica road and drive right along the dual carriageway. Don't take the turning into the Terra Mitica theme park, just follow the road.  The first roundabout you come to has a fine water mist and on the right there is a large hotel complex which looks like a small Spanish village.  Keep going straight on and you'll come to another large roundabout with sails.  Carry on straight and at the end of the road is the final roundabout, take the second exit here and continue up the dual carriageway until you come to a roundabout which has a sign to Alcoy and Guadalest.  Take this exit and just follow the road.  The dual carriageway to La Nucia has about ten roundabouts so you'll have to lookout for the one with the Alcoy/ Guadalest sign.  I took some pictures in Guadalest a couple of months ago (March 2009) to give you an idea what it's like.

Go For A Walk

A walk to Benidorm will take you down the new Poniente promenade which will  be finished later this year (2009)  To get there, walk around the bay in La Cala and up the steps after you pass the old Amancio restaurant (which is due for demolition) When you get to the top, turn left (very steep for about 15 yards) and follow the road past a large apartment block on the left. Another road joins it just after this. Keep straight on and you come to a T junction, walk straight ahead and you'll find some steps down on the left.  This will take you to the promenade of La Cala de Benidorm.  Just follow the promenade and you'll end up on the new Poniente promenade, carry on walking and you'll arrive at Park Elche which is the beginning of Benidorm's old town.  From here you can continue through the old town and onto the Levante promenade.  The walk to Park Elche will take you about 45mins. 

Tram Ride

On the way up to the Terra Mitica theme park, there's a small station where you can catch a tram to El Campello and Alicante in one direction and Altea and Denia on the other.  The walk up to Terra Mitica station will take you approx half an hour. Alternatively, there's a small station at the back of the Marina Centre.

Marina Centre

La Cala de Finestrat is within fairly easy walking distance (about 20mins) of the La Marina shopping centre which contains some top name shops like Zara and Mango, plus a six screen cinema complex and  bowling alley, as well as bars restaurants and a small kiddies play area.  The centre is open until late at night when it comes alive.  If you don't fancy the walk, for 1.20 euros you can catch the number 12 bus which stops outside the opticians as it comes down the hill into La Cala.  Don't confuse it with the number 12 going out of La Cala which stops on the opposite side of the road near the small Chinese restaurant.

Golf

Recently, a number of new golf courses have opened in the area, including two which are part of the Real de Faula hotel development near Terra Mitica.  There is also an excellent 9 hole course (described as pitch and putt) on the new road into Benidorm.   This is open to anybody but you have to hire shoes, clubs etc so it will end up costing around 30 euros.  To get there by car from La Cala, drive up to the main road and turn right at the lights. Turn right at the next lights go past Mercadona and take the first road on the left which passes the Bali hotel.  Turn left at the junction and go straight ahead through the lights and follow the road until you come to the roundabout.  Go straight on at the roundabout (i.e. second exit) this is a new dual carriageway which goes into Benidorm.  The golf is situated down a road on the left, you'll see the signs saying pitch an putt. 

Fishing

You can fish off the rocks if you walk past the old Amancio restaurant.  For bait buy some small squid from Mercadona. You can use bread but you won't catch much.  A lot of people float fish about 10ft out but hardly ever catch anything.  Ledgering is better but only use light tackle.  You can buy a cheap telescopic rod from the Chinese shops for about 10 euros which comes complete with reel. Don't expect to catch much, the more experienced anglers tend to go at night. 

I tried this a couple of years ago having spent most of the day preparing riggs and bait.  I couldn't really see what I was doing and on my first cast somehow managed to hook my tackle bag complete with all the bait weights etc and launched it about 20 yards out.  I tend to go for a beer instead now.

You can go fishing by boat from the small harbour in Benidorm.  These are fishing excursions not private hire and they guarantee you'll catch something.

Outside The Bay

Outside the bay area there are lots of new bars lining the boulevard which cater for most tastes. The most popular of these bars is El Pirao which is situated on the first corner on the right as you walk up the boulevard.  This bar is extremely busy in the evenings and has a great Spanish atmosphere. If you feel like a bit of a hike, at the top of the boulevard  there is quite a chic bar/nightclub with a large fenced off garden area and an outside bar.  The best beer (in my opinion) is the draught Galician served at the Romanian owned bar just around the first corner as you walk up the boulevard.  Turn right and walk down to the next corner. There used to be huge copper barrels in the window but these have now gone.  Every drink is accompanied by a tapas, great value.  In the other direction, walking from the bay to the main road at the top you pass a small Chinese restaurant which never seem very busy and a bit further around  the corner on the opposite side of the road a large new English owned restaurant called Deja Vue 2, formerly Bizzie Izzy's the food here is supposed to be good but I haven't tried it yet.  There are a few more bars and snack bars before you arrive at another Irish pub called Shenanigans (I think this has now closed) again showing football on a large screen.  Keep walking up and you come to "Good Vibrations" on the right hand side. With a bit of imagination, this place has huge potential as a restaurant.  It has a large courtyard which could be developed into something special using vine trellises  candles soft music and up market food but at the moment it belongs to the same category as many of the other bars i.e plastic tables and chairs, draught english beer etc.