Benidorm Old Town

“Benidorm, again?” People say it in the same tone every time, and I have given up defending it. I come two or three times a year and have done for years. The Old Town is the reason.

This is the part of Benidorm that never makes the television programmes. Narrow streets behind the Balcón, bars where the menu is in Valencian before it is in English, and a fiesta calendar the town runs for itself rather than for us. It is ten minutes from the Blue Flag beaches and the theme parks, and it might as well be a different country.

What is here is a personal record of it. Hotels I have stayed in, meals I have paid for, what things actually cost and whether they were worth it. Where somewhere has gone downhill I say so, and where I have got something wrong, readers tell me and I fix it. Nobody pays for a mention and there are no affiliate links anywhere on the site.

If you are planning a trip, start with getting here from Alicante airport and the difference between the Old Town and the New. If you would rather have it in instalments, the Bulletin goes out every Sunday and it is free.