☀️ The Benidorm Bulletin

Your weekly dose of sun, sangria, and what’s on

Issue 65  |  21–28 June 2026

From the Editor

There is one night this week that the calendar has been quietly building towards all year. On Tuesday, as the clock turns midnight on the longest stretch of summer, the beaches will fill, the bonfires will catch, and a good many otherwise sensible people will wade into the Mediterranean in the dark for luck. San Juan has arrived, and Benidorm does it rather well.

Elsewhere this week we look at the record-breaking summer Spain is having, the town’s quiet turn towards managing its own crowds with rather more cleverness than you might expect, and a cautionary tale or two for anyone signing paperwork in the sun. There is the usual rundown of what’s on, where the music is, and how warm the sea has become (the answer: very).

Pour something cold. Here is your week.

Lead Story

The Bonfires Return: San Juan Lights Up the Beaches

The biggest night of Benidorm’s summer falls this Tuesday, and you’ll want to be on the sand for it.

The Hogueras de San Juan, the Bonfires of Saint John, run from Monday 22 to Wednesday 24 June, and they are among the oldest and most loved fiestas on the whole Costa Blanca. Artist-built monument bonfires go up across the town’s districts, the largest of them on Poniente beach, silhouetted against the high-rise skyline in a way that is genuinely a sight worth seeing.

The heart of it is the night of Tuesday 23 June. From late evening, crowds gather on the sand around Poniente, music plays, and at midnight comes the tradition that gives the night its character: a swim in the sea for good fortune in the year ahead. Many wash their faces in the water three times, or jump three waves, depending on which grandmother taught them. You do not need to believe a word of it to enjoy it thoroughly.

A word on the geography. Poniente, the quieter western beach, is where the official bonfires are built and burned. Levante, the busy main beach, does not permit fires under local safety rules, so do not head there expecting flames. Plenty still gather on Levante for the midnight dip regardless. The fiesta closes on Wednesday 24 June with a Mascletà, the thunderous daytime firework display that is felt in the chest as much as heard, on Calle Santander in the early afternoon.

What this means for you:

• Head for Poniente beach for the bonfires on the night of Tuesday 23 June; arrive before 11pm to find a spot.
• The Mascletà on Calle Santander, early afternoon Wednesday 24 June, is loud by design, so mind young children and nervous dogs.
• The beaches will be packed and bars busy until very late. Sort your taxi or walking route home before you go down.

☀️ What’s On This Week

Fiesta week aside, the town keeps its usual rhythm of markets, music and long evenings. Here is where to point yourself.

📅 Mon 22 – Wed 24 June — Hogueras de San Juan

Poniente beach & town districts | Free

Three days of bonfires, music and seaside ritual, building to the midnight swim on the 23rd and the Mascletà on the 24th. The week’s main event, and free to all.

📅 Wed 24 June — Benidorm Street Market

Avenida de l’Aiguera | Free entry

The big weekly market returns to its usual Wednesday slot. Leather, linen, fruit and the inevitable football shirts. Go early before the heat builds.

📅 Sun 28 June — Rastro Sunday Market

Foietes area | Free entry

The Sunday flea market for bric-a-brac and a proper rummage. Bring cash and a sense of humour about the haggling.

Coming Up: July opens with the warm-up to the town’s summer concert season and the first of the season’s open-air tribute nights. More in next week’s issue.

🎭 Tonight’s Entertainment

Start where we always tell you to start: the Old Town. The newer strip has its showbars, and we’ll come to those, but the most characterful evening in Benidorm begins in the narrow streets behind the Balcón del Mediterráneo, where the heat drops, the lights come on and the Spanish quarter slowly wakes up.

The Old Town Tapas Hop

Calle Santo Domingo, Plaza de la Constitución, Calle Tomás Ortuño | Pay as you go

This is the evening to do properly. Don’t sit down for a full meal; drift instead from bar to bar along the tapas alley, a small plate and a glass at each, the way the locals have always done it. The squares fill with chatter, the smell of garlic prawns and grilled sardines drifts out of the kitchens, and an hour slips by before you’ve noticed. Go early, around eight, while the warm light is still on the old church steps and before the tables fill.

Old Town After Dark: Cabaret & Cocktails

Plaza squares & surrounding lanes | Free entry to most bars

Once you’ve eaten, the Old Town keeps going in its own gentler key: atmospheric little pubs, cocktail bars tucked into the lanes, and the drag and cabaret nights the quarter is quietly famous for. It’s a softer, more sociable scene than the seafront, the kind of night that ends in a plaza with a last drink rather than a foam party. Honest word: for big live bands and tribute acts you’ll need the new town, but for atmosphere the Old Town wins every time.

Over on the Strip

If you do want the full Benidorm showbar experience, three reliable rooms this week. Morgan Tavern (Calle Gerona), the pirate ship the telly made famous, runs a daft, warm-hearted barrage of acts from northern stand-up to rock and roll, and is packed by nine. Sinatra’s (Levante) gives you five live acts a night, a fresh one on the hour from 9pm, with a heavy tribute lineup and drink deals to match. And Talk of the Coast (Avenida del Mediterráneo) is the pick for tributes and proper comedy in a bigger, smarter room, with recent bills from a Michael Jackson set to a well-drilled ABBA night.

If you want a laugh: Kafee Klee, going since 1994, is still the old guard of Benidorm cabaret and drag, while the UK Comedy Club up at the Hotel Presidente runs touring stand-ups in a cooler, roomier setting when the strip gets too much.

☀️ Weather Watch — Late June 2026

Properly summer now. Long, dry, bright days with the heat climbing steadily towards month’s end. The 29th is, on the averages, the warmest day of the whole month.

What to pack: Light cottons, a hat and sunglasses you don’t mind losing, and a high-factor sun cream you will actually reapply. The sea is warm enough for a midnight swim on the 23rd without a sharp intake of breath, but take something to throw on after, as the small hours by the water carry a faint cool edge. Reusable water bottle, always.

❓ You Asked…

Q: Is the midnight San Juan swim actually safe, or just a nice idea?

It’s a lovely tradition and the sea is warm, but use a little sense. Go in where there are plenty of others rather than wandering off to a dark, empty stretch, keep within your depth, and give it a miss entirely if you’ve had a skinful. There are no lifeguards on duty at midnight. Stay on the gently shelving sand of the main beaches, mind your footing on the way in, and you’ll be fine.

Q: We’re buying into a holiday-let scheme out here. Anything to watch for?

Caution is warranted. A father-and-son pair trading as Benidorm estate agents were jailed this month for defrauding an elderly man of around €100,000. The lesson is an old one: never sign property or investment paperwork on the strength of a charming conversation. Use an independent, registered Spanish lawyer of your own choosing, never one recommended by the seller, and never hand over money before they have checked the deeds. If you’re being hurried, that is the moment to slow right down.

🔥 Hot Topic

A Record Summer, and a Town Learning to Cope With It

Spain is having an extraordinary year. With unrest unsettling other corners of the holiday map, millions who might have gone elsewhere are coming here instead, and Benidorm is taking its full share of around 900,000 British visitors a year. On the face of it, that is a triumph. The tills are ringing and the hotels are full.

What’s more interesting is how the town is responding. Rather than simply absorbing ever more bodies, Benidorm is now using real-time data and crowd monitoring to spread visitors more evenly, smooth the seasonal peaks, and keep some balance between resident and tourist. It has even put live parking availability on roadside signs, a small thing that quietly removes one of the genuine daily irritations of a packed resort.

I rather admire it. Benidorm has spent decades being sneered at as the brash end of the package holiday, yet here it is doing the unglamorous, sensible work of managing success that prettier destinations are still arguing about. A full town that still functions is a harder trick than an empty one that photographs well. On this evidence, Benidorm intends to keep functioning.

💡 Tip of the Week

How to Do San Juan Without Losing Your Evening

The beach fills early and the bars fill faster. Eat before you go down, take a bottle of water and a light layer, and agree a meeting point with your group before the crowd swallows your phone signal. The sand will be busy enough that “I’ll text you” is wishful thinking.

Wear something on your feet for the walk to the water; bonfire nights leave the odd bit of debris on the sand. And if you’re driving anywhere on the 24th, check where the Mascletà is closing roads around Calle Santander before you set off, or you’ll spend the afternoon admiring a diversion sign.

🤔 Did You Know?

San Juan marks the summer solstice, and the bonfires are far older than the saint whose name they now carry. The fires were lit to mark the longest day and to give the sun a symbolic boost as it began its slow retreat towards winter. Burning the old to welcome the new is the whole idea; in some towns, people still write down what they want rid of and feed it to the flames.

Which means that every June, a resort best known for full English breakfasts and karaoke quietly performs a fire ritual older than Christianity, Rome and most of recorded history. Benidorm contains multitudes, whatever the postcards suggest.

Community Noticeboard

⭐ San Juan beach clean — volunteers usually gather the morning after the bonfires to tidy Poniente; ask at the beach kiosks if you’d like to lend a hand on Wed 24 June.

⭐ New parking signs — the town’s live roadside parking displays are now switched on; handy if you’re driving in over the busy fiesta days.

⭐ Got something to share? — events, lost property, a recommendation worth passing on. Drop us a line and we’ll put the good ones here.

The Site and This Newsletter Are Completely Free

Everything we do, the website and this Bulletin both, is free and always will be. If you’ve enjoyed this issue, the kindest thing you can do is forward it to someone with Benidorm on their mind. Word of mouth is how we grow.

Come and join the conversation over on our Facebook community too, where the photos, gossip and recommendations never stop. And if you’d ever like to buy us a tapas to keep the lights on, the thought is always warmly received.

That’s your week: bonfires on the beach, a record summer the town is handling with more grace than it gets credit for, and a sea finally warm enough to swim in at midnight. Next week we ease into July and the start of the open-air concert season.

Thanks for reading. Pass it on to anyone with Benidorm on their mind.

Until next time — keep the sun on your face and the sangria cold. ☀️

— The Benidorm Bulletin Team