Outsiders

Benidorm
I've heard the tales of Benidorm, driven past Benidorm, flown over Benidorm, but never actually visited the hallowed ground of this famous Spanish resort. Then the combination of free weekend and an appealing music festival threw up the question. "Shall we spend a couple of days in Benidorm?"

Benidorm

So that's how we found ourselves on the early seven am flight to Alicante en route to the pleasure-loving capital of the Costa Blanca. The Stags and Hens only started singing thirty minutes from landing, on what had been a relatively quiet journey so far. But was this sign a of things to come? What had we let ourselves in for?

Playa de Lavante, Benidorm

We shouldn't have worried. As we exited the plane our relative holidays took completely different paths, and we never cast our eyes on our co-revellers until the flight back home. I should point out by this point their eyes were permanently bloodshot. They'd all aged thirty years over the three nights and every celebratory bone in their bodies was partied out. Their revelry had been extinguished by a deal with the devil and we didn't hear a peep out of them all the way home. OK, maybe an exaggeration but you get the point.

So how can one place throw up such a polar opposite of the Spanish experience? Maybe that's the beauty and secret of Benidorm?

Playa de Ponent, Benidorm

The pre-ordered shuttle bus from Alicante Airport took about an hour to get to Benidorm, and as the imposing skyline of hotels and apartment blocks grew closer my first misconception of Benidorm was pleasantly dismissed. Yes, the city was built up, vertically ascending to house a huge transient population, but it was spotlessly clean. At ground level, hundreds of feet below the cloud-scraping canopies, the roads, pavements, junctions, roundabouts were immaculate. It was one of the tidiest and cleanest places I'd ever visited.

Benidorm

Then I saw the beach, to be specific, Playa de Lavante, which is a two kilometre strip of beautiful sand nestling against the pale blue of the Mediterranean, and it was positively crammed with human beings and sun umbrellas. The image of the busy beach, with folk cooling off in the sea and returning to their spot to sunbathe, juxta positioned against the backdrop of astonishing skyscrapers is one of the most amazing sights I've ever seen, If these people were puffins there would be a wildlife documentary series about these incredible behavioural patterns. Beach life is absolutely foreign to me, yet I found this image breath-taking.

The astonishing beach life of Playa de Lavante, Benidorm

Our very nice seafront hotel, with great view of this fabulous beach scenario was on the perimeter of Benidorm's Old Town. 'El Casco Antiguo' sits behind the Placa del Castell, an outcrop that splits the city's shoreline between the above beach and Playa de Ponent. The Old Town is tangled web of narrow streets awash with great Tapas bars and restaurants and it's where we ate and drank every day and evening.

Playa de Ponent, Benidorm

With only a couple of days on the coast, and a music festival to squeeze in, our exploration of Benidorm and its surrounding areas was always going to be limited. We walked the length of the Playa de Levante which is home to the notorious strip of infamous bars, but the clean, bright, endless promenade was a lovely stroll in the sunshine. There was only a small hint of what frivolity may ensue later as the sun went down.  

Playa de Ponent, Benidorm

The Mirador Balco del Mediterrani, at the centre of the city is a great place to view both sprawling beaches. The Playa de Ponent is the beach on the other side of the city and is much quieter, boasting a fabulous sweeping modern promenade with art installations and lots of viewing points. 

Platya de Ponent hotel, Benidorm

Despite the continuing soaring skyline, Playa de Ponent has a lot less bars and restaurants than its neighbour and it appeared to be mainly Spanish people holidaying and living in this area of Benidorm. It is another splendid walk to a vantage point at the end of the beach, and we enjoyed a mini crawl of tapas bars to break up the journey back to the centre of town.

Benidorm graffiti

We had come to Benidorm for the Low Music Festival which was hosted at the Stadium of Benidorm. The stadium is only a twenty-minute walk from the seafront with plenty of local bars and restaurants to distract you on the way. Surprisingly we found ourselves in a predominantly Spanish crowd with hardly any tourists, which was a shock given the proximity to the biggest party capital of Spain. Looks like only the cool kids got the invite. 

Suede, Low festival, Benidorm

Over two nights we watched the Pixies and Suede play great festival sets. It was energetic, hot and sweaty, and both bands seemed genuinely pleased with the warm reception they got from the Spanish crowd. At sixty euros for the three-night festival I would heartily recommend this one based on value for money, ease of getting there and the good facilities.

Pixies, Low Festival, Benidorm

And that was our Benidorm experience, an overwhelmingly positive one. Did we like it enough to return? Well that completely depends on next year’s festival line-up. See you there!

The calm before the storm. Playa de Lavante, Benidorm