Have you heard of the ‘quiet’ side of Benidorm?
Jim Gallagher recently found a ‘Benidorm for everyone’, enjoying active days, chilled-out nights and lounging in five-star luxury
There have been numerous anti-tourist demonstrations in Spain in the last couple of years but one place you will not find them is Benidorm.
The ever-popular sunspot relies almost entirely on visitors and is as welcoming today as it has ever been.
There are no industries to speak of and most of the Costa Blanca town’s 70,000 population are involved in the tourist trade.
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Last year Benidorm welcomed nearly three million visitors who booked 15.7 million overnight stays making it mainline Spain’s third biggest tourist destination after Madrid and Barcelona.
At the peak of summer the town’s population swells to 400,000 but there is room for everyone thanks to forward thinking town planners decades ago.
Back in the 1950s and 1960s this one-time small tuna fishing village made the conscious decision to build up rather than out and it became a high-rise resort.
Building height restrictions in force in other parts of Spain were abolished in 1961 and the result today is Benidorm’s famous dramatic high skyline. Not for nothing is Benidorm known as the New York of the Mediterranean.
The Gran Hotel Bali at 186-metres was the tallest skyscraper in Spain for five years and the city has the country’s tallest residential block, the famous 47-floor, 187-metre-high Intempo building shaped like a giant M. New hotels, some with rooftop infinity pools, are still going up.
Benidorm, often thought of as a party town, was the very first resort many Irish holidaymakers went to when foreign travel began to take hold in the 70s and 80s.
For regulars, it is still very much a party destination with countless bars and restaurants along the 2km Levante beach, packed day and night.
But for those seeking quieter times, the less crowded and more sedate 3km Playa de Poniente is where many Spanish tourists go and is lined with some excellent seafood restaurants.
Dividing the two is the lovely Old Town with its cobbled streets and tiny laneways packed with al fresco dining. No trip to Benidorm would be complete without at least one meal in the bustling Tapas Alley.
“There is a Benidorm for everyone,” says local tourist official Sergio Frau. “It is a place for every type of tourist to come together and enjoy life.”
Stroll along the impressive promenade at sunset and you will find people of all ages and nationalities mixing together, many dressed in all their finery.
The town is unique in the way it treats people with accessibility problems. There are three sections of beach, manned by staff, where wheelchair users and people with disabilities can get into the sea with the use of ramps, amphibious chairs and adapted changing rooms.
And you are unlikely to find a town with more mobility scooters which are often hired by able-bodied people just to cover the five kilometres of beach. The promenade and pedestrian town centre are all flat with no curbs.
For many holidaymakers the golden sands are enough but there are also attractions inland for those wanting a little variety.
One morning we did a fun jeep tour with Marco Polo Expeditions which took us to the top of Mount Cortina for a spectacular view of the town.
On another we headed on e-bikes into the Sierra Helada Natural Park which sits over the north end of Levante Beach. (TAO Bike hire has an Irish connection – some of their technicians were trained at the Bicycle Engineering Academy in Limerick.)
From the clifftops you discover two tiny coves far below – Tio Ximo and Almadrava – with just a few sunbathers on each, ideal spots for those who like to get away from the crowds, although access involves a scramble downhill. There are stunning views of Benidorm’s skyscrapers from the natural park.
We also visited the Bodegas Enrique Mendoza for a tour of their winery where we sampled seven of their reds, whites and rosés with plates of tapas.
For holidaymakers who do not like to sit still Benidorm has 134km of bike lanes, golf courses and hiking trails leading up into the surrounding mountains.
Our home from home for our three-night stay was the spectacular five-star Asia Gardens Hotel & Thai Spa, a green oasis in the dry foothills with seven outdoor pools, waterfalls and lush tropical gardens with 3,000 different plant species.
Wayne Rooney, Bruce Springsteen, Penelope Cruz, Bruce Willis, Joan Collins and Novak Djokovic are just some of the stars who have enjoyed the facilities here which include nine restaurants, tennis, padel and volleyball courts, a fitness centre and kids and teen clubs.
The Asia Gardens, a member of Leading Hotels of the World, has been voted Spain’s Leading Hotel three times in the World Travel Awards and picked up numerous other accolades.
After I put photos on social media one friend said it looked like something out of hit TV show The White Lotus, the last series of which was filmed on Phuket and Ko Samui islands, Thailand.
The luxury hotel with its exotic gardens and spa is perfect for couples and families who want a quiet break in a beautiful setting. But in low season some of the restaurants and bars are closed and it might be too quiet for hardened partygoers. It’s a few kilometres from the busy Benidorm beaches but feels like a different world.
All 312 rooms have balconies and none overlook each other. In the low season you can get a stunning room for as little as €280 with breakfast.
We dined in the stylish poolside Lombocci restaurant one evening, a perfect setting for romantic couples.
There are lots of dining options to try out in Benidorm itself. One of my favourites was Ulia Restaurant overlooking Poniente Beach where we had a delicious lunch of salad, calamari and paella.
In the evening we hit the Old Town and sat outside La Taperia in the bustling Tapas Alley where we tried local delicacies like huevos rotos, or “broken eggs” with Serrano ham and fried potatoes, padron peppers and strips of steak cooked ourselves on a hot plate.
Another great spot in the Old Town is the D-Vora Restaurant where you can sit on a beautiful balcony with fabulous views of the bay while enjoying high-end cuisine.
A trip to at least one rooftop cocktail bar is a must and we chose the Primavera Park Hotel where we watched the sunset glistening off the infinity pool before dining in the trendy Exotico restaurant downstairs.
Benidorm remains as popular as ever with the Irish who are the fourth largest visitor group behind Spanish, British and Portuguese tourists. Irish visitors were up 36 per cent last year, from 32,800 in 2023 to 42,360.
The EU awarded the city, where 70 per cent of all mobility is by foot, European Green Pioneer of Smart Tourism 2025.
It has 96 per cent water efficiency, 10km of pedestrianised streets, good air quality, low noise levels and – because of the skyscrapers – the city’s garbage can be collected in less than four hours.
Its 140 hotels and 20,000 holiday apartments, mostly local owned, look set to welcome Irish visitors for many years to come …with no sign of any demonstrations.
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