Benidorm: Walk Away from the Wild Side
by Gary Child
In our latest guest blog post, Gary Child, who has a great site offering Free educational resources for the Primary classroom, takes us to the other side of a much-maligned holiday location:
“So, are you going away for Easter?”
“Yes, Benidorm for five nights for a rest”
“Costa del Blackpool – for a rest!?”
“Have you ever been to Benidorm?”
“Err… no but I’ve heard all about it and seen it on the TV…”
And so the myth is propagated in the minds of so many that equates Benidorm with a modern day Sodom, full of lager-crazed youths on a 15-day bender; stags and hens sleeping all day, drinking and fornicating all night.
I have no doubt that if you went looking for it that you could certainly find evidence that such activity takes place. But you would have to look for it. It certainly isn’t in your face on every street corner.
There is an area on the Playa Levante side of Benidorm known as ‘The Square’ where you would be most likely to encounter the mild debauchery that seems to have become synonymous with the resort in the minds of the twittering classes.
But there is another Benidorm; a very Spanish resort, that is a great place to holiday.
Where is it? The dividing line between the Spanish side of Benidorm and the ‘Brits abroad’ side is quite easy to find.
As a rough guide, walk to the south end of the prom on Playa Levante until you find Calle de Martinez Alejos and stand with your back to the sea looking up the street. Everything to your left is broadly Spanish, and to the right is the border with Guiri-land.
Some Benidorm Myths..
1.All the hotels are populated by families from hell.
We ‘do’ Benidorm once a year for a 4-5 day break. We know where everything is and we can hit the ground relaxing, rather than running.
This visit we chose to stay in the Hotel Marconi which is situated on the front line at the southern end of Parc D’ Elx, a strip of green that runs parallel to the beach for about 400 yards to the south of the harbour.
The hotel doesn’t appear in any of the package holiday guides but you can book online. It has three stars and we have chosen to upgrade to a room that has a good sized balcony facing the beach. The hotel is not full, most of the guests being couples, mainly Spanish. It is quiet.
The staff’s English is worse than my Spanish and so I get lots of daily micro-intercambios, the most satisfying of which has been the negotiation of the fitting of a new clip to hold the shower head.
Food’s fine, view is great, nice room and (now) a shower that works. Great.
So far so good.
2. The only food you can get in Benidorm fast food or ‘Full Engish’
McDonalds, Burger King and KFC are well represented on the Playa Levante, as are long thin bars run by ‘Fred and Mavis from Castleford’ offering real home cooked pies, pasties and ‘proper sausage’.
Let me give you a couple of options…
On Calle San Pedro overlooking Parc D’ Elx is Casa Antonio. Lunch is wonderful. As soon as you sit down and order you are brought a generous portion of alioli and toasted baguette, a course in itself.
Menu del Día today was Mediterranean salad (little gem lettuce, onion, tomato and anchovies), with lamb chops to follow served with a small portion of sautéed vegetables and a baked potato. For afters there was a wide selection but I had toffee cheesecake.
Included in the price was a bottle of very presentable rosado between the two of us.
Not ‘Spanish’ enough…?
Okay, round the corner on Carrer del Maravall is La Marinera, recommended to us by a Spanish guy with whom I struck up a conversation on the beach some years ago. The Menu is four courses and more rustic but equally delicious.
Salad, Potaje, Entrecote de Ternera y Postre was my choice; pan y vino también.
There is the uniquely Spanish tension between the front of house staff (dad I reckon) and the kitchen (daughter). The place is lively, the furniture is old style Spanish, and in the corner the omnipresent TV with the sound off.
Aqui no se habla ingles.
Both of these fine places ask a mere €10 for the privilege of dining with them. We both ate a three or four course meal including wine for the price of a single bottle of average house wine bought in a British restaurant…
The two places mentioned are not alone, there are many other places just like them in Benidorm.
3. All the entertainment is disco, karaoke or Neil Diamond wannabes.
Having spent 15 years making a very good living in clubland in the UK, the last thing I need is to go watch some poor soul flogging a dead horse act in front of a crowd of rowdy Geordies hell bent on drinking Spain dry.
There is, however, a small barrio centred round Calle de Santo Domingo in the Old Town where you will find scarcely a single Brit. The narrow streets buzz with well-dressed people standing, sitting, eating, drinking, chatting; not a pair of shorts or baseball cap to be seen.
It can be quite intimidating as an outsider. Everyone knows what to order and how to order except you; and it’s busy, very busy.
You can chose from dozens of places to dine. Specialist restaurants offer mariscos by the kilo, there are stand up bars and sit down restaurants, the raciones and tapas are the real thing - make a point of visiting Aurrera and La Cava Aragonesa.
There is no better feeling than completing ‘la marcha’, having ordered food and drinks in half a dozen or so bars – and having had to do so in Spanish!
The Valencian climate, I was told today by a local restaurant owner, has been named as the best in the world. Well he would say that. But they don’t have Winter here by British standards, just late Spring and Summer.
There are, he also told me, more centagenarians per head of population in this wonderful region than anywhere else in the world. So something must be right here. I reckon there’s something to be said for his theory.
If you’ve never been, Benidorm is worth a try; its accessible and represents great value for money. I resisted coming here for years for all the reasons listed above. I was wrong.
If the cheap lager and chips culture is not for you there is an easy answer:
- Don’t book a package, travel independently; book flights, hotels and transfers yourself.
- Don’t travel in July or August – April, May, September and October are great
- Don’t stray north of the old town and…
- Don’t be scared to get stuck in and use your Spanish.
What? You don’t speak any Spanish? Well now’s the time for Ben and Marina’s “Inspired Beginners” podcast at notesinspanish.com…
The locations of the places mentioned above:
Posted: April 3rd, 2008 under Spain Travel.
Comments: 26
Comments
Comment from frank
Time: April 3, 2008, 9:04 am
Gary couldn’t do a better job of trying to sell the place, even if he worked for Benidorm Tourist Board. 
I’m glad he loves it, and so do many millions of others, (including lots of Spanish) but just one visit was enough to confirm my worst fears. It ain’t for me! To me, it’s even worse than the likes of Torremolinos, Fuengirola etc. But I’m glad it’s there, there is a need for such places, they serve up just what a lot of tourist like, it satisfies a need. Sobre gustos, colores. I’m sure if we were dumped there, we’d make the most of the place, but it’s never a place I would go to again by choice. Last night I went to a Spanish “tertulia” we have here once a month, and I asked one of the members had he been lately to his apartment in Benidorm. He nearly blew a gasket! Benidorm? We definitely don’t have a place there, ours is in Villajoyosa! For some reason, he was insistent we didn’t think their apartment was in Benidorm.
Comment from Gary
Time: April 3, 2008, 9:41 am
There are parts of any major city that, if you were dumped in the middle, you would never go back to. Benidorm is 5 miles long and has a resident population of over half a million. Its a big place. I dont like Torremolinos particularly nor Fuengirola because the things you dont like about the Costas are all there, and little else. Benidorm gets 4million visitors a year and two thirds of them are from the Spanish mainland. Playa Poniente is a quiet seaside resort populated by and large by the Spanish.
True, it has had a bad press, its an easy target. True it was thrown up with little regard to planning.
The only thing I would wish to point out is that there is a quiet holiday in a very Spanish resort to be had if one takes ones blinkers off.
Over the last 5 years I have stayed at the Brasil, The Canfali, The Selomar and The Marconi and would happily revisit any of them again.
I dont go to Benidorm to imerse myself in culture. Nor Barcelona, nor Madrid for that matter. I’m a council house brat from the arse end of Leeds. I’m not one for traipsing around in search of architecture, art, literature, etc when I’m on holiday.
I love what the twittering toffs cal ‘real spain’ ‘authentic spain’ but I dont feel the need to butcher a pig in the street.
Just being there is enough for me. I enjoy a drink and a meal in good company, a coffee and a newspaper that lasts all morning, the little things that you get in spain that you dont get at home. I am easily pleased.
Comment from Urgellenk
Time: April 3, 2008, 11:36 am
Funny that being labeled as a major destination for British tourists might be considered as a turn off for many British tourists!
I do not think that most Spaniards would see Benidorm as a particularly britishized area. For many, it is still the place where the INSERSO hordes have their subsidized out-of-season annual holidays. That is, sex avid widows and widowers dancing tango and pasodoble from
dusk till down.
True it is still very good value for money, but Benidorm will have to reinvent itself, as Spain is no longer be the cheap booze paradise it used to be and I wonder for how long it will be able to attracts the crowds that have been visiting so far. I believe there is room for growth on the glamorous side and that it can easily coexist with the more traditional budget-minded tourists. Add a few sleek high rise hotels to that fabulous skyline, a couple of Michelin-starred restaurants and a new story might be written.
Comment from Edith
Time: April 3, 2008, 11:55 am
Great article! It’s nice to know that some places in Benidorm are still authentically Spanish.
Comment from Edith
Time: April 3, 2008, 11:57 am
@ Urgellenk
What is INSERSO?
Comment from Parubin
Time: April 3, 2008, 11:58 am
Gary,
I don´t really know Benidorm, just passed through it a couple of times. When a I was a kid we used to vacation for Easter Hols in Alicante (Alicante City) with my parents. I recall going to the beach in Benidorm once, but we headed more towards Torrevieja, Santa Pola, Villajoyosa, Altea, Calpe…
I keep fond memories of the time, but these memories are fading out behind the mist of my early childhood (I must have been 10 y.o. or less at the time) and your article made me want to revisit the area 20 years later.
I absolutely agree with you that it makes no sense to book a package when visiting Spain (why doing so?? I don´t get it). Travel independly and go the places that really are of your interest and not to where the tour operator gets the bonus.
Two questions :
1) What part of the city is located the “Gran Hotel Bali”? Do you know it? Would you recommend it?
http://www.granhotelbali.com/
2) There are places like those you mention (very ‘Spanish’ atmosphere) in most of the cities towns even in the costas, in the archipelagos or even more in north or central Spain. I understand that you travel quite often to Spain (and have probably been to most of the country) but still there is a sort of fascination for you in Benidorm, a city that you revisit regularly. Don´t you feel the urge to go to some other town or city (appart from Barcelona or Madrid, which I understand you know quite well too) where you could find the same rest as in Benidorm?. In other words, what is it in Bedidorm that’s not in, say, Palma de Mallorca, Marbella, Las Palmas…?.
Thank you for your article. I will definately put Benidorm in my (even growing) to-visit list.
Comment from Urgellenk
Time: April 3, 2008, 12:07 pm
Sorry, it should read IMSERSO (Instituto de Mayores y Servicios Sociales). It is a public body which provides social services for disabled people and senior citizens. Their subsidized holidays for retired people became very popular in the 80s and Benidorm soon became one of their preferred destinations.
Comment from Pepino
Time: April 3, 2008, 12:17 pm
Very nice report that´s opened my eyes to a place I previously would never consider for a moment.
And very true what you say about being dropped into any place, and getting a very different view depending exactly where you are. You surely recognise that coming from Leeds, and I certainly do coming from Manchester. (Where the “pretty scale” has to start at MINUS 100, but thankfully knows no upper limit)
Comment from Gary
Time: April 3, 2008, 1:40 pm
@ parubin
Gran Hotel Bali is about as far south as you can get in Benidorm without Being in Finnestrat. It is massive, the biggest building in the town. The foyer is very imposing. It is 4 star. We passed it on the airport transfer last week.
From the area on the map in the article you keep going to the left.
heres a link
I personally wouldnt stay there - we like the small family run hotels on the Playa Poniente Side that are walkable from the old town. Its a couple of miles or so to walk home if you stay at the HGB. Its a fair hike to the beach too.
Comment from Gary
Time: April 3, 2008, 2:10 pm
@ Parubin
Question 2 - Why Benidorm?
No reason really, at least not to do with the resorts per se.
Recently I have been to Calella and Benalmadena, they are small and okay but the percentage of tourist tat is high and their whole raison d’etre is the tourist buck. Benidorm is almost as big as Leeds with its resident population, It is a real place in its own right.
The availability of flights is high - I love Nerja but there’s only one or two flights a week. Also the transfer infrastructure is good - we use Viajes Alameda.
Competition keeps prices reasonable re hotels, drinks, restaurants.
I enjoy a wry smile at the expense of all those fifty bob millionaires that pay through the nose for an ‘authentic’ experience of Spain.
Initially we went there because the kids begged us to fifteen years ago. I had resisted for ages. The beauty of Benidorm was that our kids were happy there at 10, 12, 14, 16 years old - there was always something age appropriate for them to do - a function of the scale of the place.
When they were older and dozing by the pool was all they wanted to do I donned my gorro and went off to explore on the ‘other side of the border’. What I found delighted me so Mrs C and I would sneak off for a meal there occasionally.
Now, I suppose familiarity brings us back. Gill and I have a hectic lifestyle and pass like ships in the night. With Benidorm we know exactly what we get on a 4 - 5 day break. From leaving the house at 0400 to catch the flight we were looking forward to lunch at Antonios followed by a nap. The trips we make are not expeditions of discovery, we aim to do nothing for 4/5 days and in Benidorm we can achieve that very easily as we know it so well.
On this trip I never ventured onto the Levante Beach, indeed if you draw a circle round the markers on the map you have the limit of where we ventured. We are now thoroughtly relaxed and unwound and ready to face everyday life. And 4/5 days is enough, I couldn’t do a fortnight - I’d be looking for a job after the first week!
I am planning on visiting Sevilla and Granada and would love to return to Mojacar, but its a matter of lining up our availability with opportunity, theres more opportunity to visit the costa del sol from where we live.
Comment from ValenciaSon
Time: April 3, 2008, 3:32 pm
A great read, Gary! I haven’t been in that area since 1976 so I’m sure a lot has changed since then. I seem to vaguely remember eating freshly caught, fried sardines which were long and delicious, from a stand on a dock. I may have this place confused with Calpe. I guess I’m long overdue for a visit.
Comment from MrMark
Time: April 3, 2008, 4:35 pm
Many years since I went to Benidorm, but I have to admit I enjoyed the place. Obviously you don’t go there to look at museums, old cathedrals or aqueducts; but what it does, it does well. You have a warm climate, value for money venues, and plenty of activities if you’re not into lying on the beach (I loved the go-karting track there; hope it’s still around). As Gary says, it’s a good place to frequent Spanish bars if you get tired of the British-run ones. Would I go again ? - Possibly not, but I can’t criticise those who do go there.
Comment from MrMark
Time: April 3, 2008, 4:38 pm
Incidentally, does Benidorm still have that tourist railway line that connects with Alicante via the coastal route? Now that is a (or was) a beautiful journey.
Comment from Gary
Time: April 3, 2008, 5:33 pm
@ MrMark
The line is still there but I don’t think they run the old rickety carriages
@ VS for about €60 each you can fly return to alicante from Madrid…
http://www.edreams.com
Comment from Gary
Time: April 3, 2008, 5:33 pm
@ MrMark
The line is still there but I don’t think they run the old rickety carriages
@ VS for about €60 each you can fly return to alicante from Madrid…
http://www.edreams.com
Comment from frank
Time: April 3, 2008, 5:52 pm
“I’m a council house brat from the arse end of Leeds.”
Very similar, my father died when I was seven, we had to move into a council house, and my mother was left to bring up four of us, on a lot less handouts than you get today, so I was hardly born with a silver spoon in my gob! But I still don’t like Benidorm. My sister went, and loved it though.
Comment from frank
Time: April 3, 2008, 7:07 pm
“Would I go again ? - Possibly not, but I can’t criticise those who do go there.”
That’s my feelings, I have not criticised anyone for going, as I said, it fills a need, and I can understand why people like it, but I would not return. At the other end of the scale, I can understand why people like Marbella, but again, that would not be my choice. Somewhere in between will suit me. Last year we were in Spain for about two and a half months in total, and will be again this year, so there are plenty of other places that appeal to me. It’s just as well we don’t all like the same places, imagine them them trying to pack even more into Benidorm or the Alhambra.
Comment from Gary
Time: April 3, 2008, 7:21 pm
@ hotel room photos
sorry the only photos I have are the ones in the article which are now copyright Notes in Spanish. I gave up taking holiday snaps when the kids were grown up - you just get the same shots but the people get bigger!!
Comment from Gary
Time: April 3, 2008, 7:22 pm
oops meant copyright Notes From Spain…
Comment from Ben
Time: April 3, 2008, 7:57 pm
Gary, the copyright is still yours! Licensed to Notes from Spain only 
Comment from Gary
Time: April 3, 2008, 8:15 pm
licence fee 1 caña .. 
Comment from Ben
Time: April 3, 2008, 8:44 pm
In Benidorm?
Comment from Gary
Time: April 4, 2008, 1:07 am
Si, en Carriages….. NOT!!!!!
Comment from Suze
Time: April 4, 2008, 8:46 pm
We visited Benidorm in the spring while on a climbing holiday in the neighbourhood and we were pleasantly surpised. I am not sure what it is like during the hight of summer, but we found a huge very clean beautifull beach and a quaint kinda fadyness to the place. Old couples enjoying an afternoon dance and a good place to enjoy the sunset.
Just 10 km inland and you’ll find a great area for hikes and climbing !!!
Comment from Cyril
Time: April 8, 2008, 1:15 pm
Benidorm has indeed parts which are flooded by British tourists. However these parts are centralized in some parts of the city centre. If you are not keen on meeting British people only, you can choose to stay in a hotel just outside of the city centre where the real Spanish culture isn´t erased by the mass. Here it is easy to avoid the ´Guiri-culture´ and have a tast of the real Spanish life. This still exist as Benidorm is still a Spanish city!
If you want to be 100% sure not to encounter with shorts and slippers with white socks then book a visit in the early spring or late fall. The wheather is still much nicer then the British wheather!
Where exactly did you go Suze??
Comment from Rob
Time: May 10, 2008, 4:49 pm
Hi i ma going to benidorm on June this year can you tell me where i would get a game of 5 a side football.
I will be staying at the Levante club apartments
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