Y Viva Espania may be an old song but I’ve always though Spain is an underrated holiday destination so I decided a cheap ten days in Benidorm was a good way to spend time in early May.
Clearly nobody else thought it was a suitable destination for us. After the first few horrified reactions I just said the Cost Blanca when asked and eventually ended up just saying Spain. Too downmarket and not exciting enough for us we were told. Actually we had a really good time.
Its true we didn’t go to the Spanish dancing evening or any of the many English pubs but we found lots to do. Our hotel was great, it served fresh fish every night and churros with chocolate for breakfast. It was easy to use the efficient and cheap public transport to explore the area and coach trips were easy to buy. You can even get a “blanket trip” where you get a free trip in return for sitting through a sales pitch but I have seen the episode of Benidorm where they do this and I didn’t think JP would survive the experience and certainly not with his humour intact.
The Beaches
The two long beaches that stretch either side of the old town have their own personalities. Poniente is quieter and more Spanish while Levante has more bars and cafes, we noticed several Dutch owned bars. There is even a library where you can read or play chess. At the end of Levante you can take the long uphill walk to the cross or La Cruz, we cheated and paid six euros for a taxi, the view is spectacular.
Both beaches are wide with soft sand and are cleaned every evening to a high standard. Spring is an ideal time to visit, we were lucky we missed the worst rain in seventy years by a day . So we had ten days of mostly sun although it was a bit windy. With such a short transfer time to Alicante airport Benidorm has everything to recommend it.
