☀️ The Benidorm Bulletin

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

Issue 66  |  28 June–5 July 2026

From the Editor

The bonfires of San Juan have burned down to embers, and Benidorm rolls straight into its first proper July weekend with the volume turned up. This is the week the Latin music caravan rolls into town: two nights of reggaeton, salsa and bachata at the Guillermo Amor stadium that will be heard halfway up the Rincón. We have the details below, including who is on and what a ticket will set you back.

It is also, frankly, hot. Spain has tipped into its first serious heatwave of the summer and the forecasters are waving their warning flags, so this issue comes with rather more about shade, water and sensible hours than usual. There is the regular rundown of markets and music, an honest word on how warm the sea has become, and a look ahead to San Fermín next weekend.

And we have a small first to mark. The Bulletin has its very first sponsor, and a good one. More on that just below. Pour something cold and mind the midday sun.

Lead Story

Latin Fest Rolls In: Two Nights That Will Shake the Stadium

The biggest Latin music weekend of the Costa Blanca summer lands in Benidorm this Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 July, Latin Fest Benidorm takes over the Estadio Municipal Guillermo Amor, the big sports complex inland from Levante, for two nights of reggaeton, salsa, bachata and Latin pop. It has quietly become one of the biggest dated events on the town’s summer calendar, and this year’s bill is the strongest yet.

The line-up leans heavily on the names currently dominating the Spanish and Latin American charts. Expect sets from Saiko, Beéle, Omar Courtz, Mora, Kapo and De La Rose, among a longer roster of artists and DJs that runs late into both nights. If reggaeton is not your usual Tuesday, fair enough, but as a spectacle, a warm night and a stadium full of people who know every word is hard to beat.

Tickets start from around €68 and, on past form, the better-value ones go first, so this is not a weekend to leave to the gate. The stadium is a fair walk or a short taxi from the seafront, and with the heat as it is, a taxi each way is money well spent. Doors and set times are worth checking before you go, as the headliners play late.

What this means for you:

• Two nights, Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 July, at the Guillermo Amor stadium; book ahead, as the cheaper tickets sell out.
• Headliners play late and the nights run long, so pace yourself and sort your transport home before you go.
• It is a sizeable, busy event in high heat. Take water, wear something you can dance in, and keep your phone charged.

☀️ What’s On This Week

A big-ticket weekend bookended by the usual markets, and the open-air culture season warming up in the park. Here is where to point yourself.

📅 Wed 1 July — Benidorm Street Market

Avenida de l’Aiguera | Free entry

The big weekly market in its usual Wednesday slot. Leather, linen, fresh fruit and the inevitable football shirts. Go early, before the heat builds and the shade runs out.

📅 Sat 4 & Sun 5 July — Latin Fest Benidorm

Estadio Municipal Guillermo Amor | Ticketed, from ~€68

The weekend’s headline act: two nights of reggaeton, salsa and bachata with a chart-topping line-up. See the Lead Story above. Book ahead.

📅 Sun 5 July — Rastro Sunday Market

Foietes area | Free entry

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

Coming Up: San Fermín spills over from Pamplona next weekend (6–7 July) with red-and-white crowds in the bars, and the maritime Fiestas de la Virgen del Carmen follow mid-month. More in next week’s issue.

🎭 Tonight’s Entertainment

With a stadium festival pulling the crowds at the weekend, the rest of the week is a good time to do Benidorm’s quieter, more characterful evening. Start, as we always tell you to, in the Old Town, up in the narrow streets behind the Balcón del Mediterráneo where the heat finally drops and the Spanish quarter wakes up.

The Old Town Tapas Hop

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

In this heat, the evening is the only civilised time to eat, and the Old Town does it best. Don’t sit down for a full meal; drift from bar to bar along the tapas alley, a small plate and a cold glass at each, the way the locals have always done it. The squares fill with chatter, garlic prawns and grilled sardines drift out of the kitchens, and an hour slips by before you’ve noticed. Go around nine, once the worst of the day’s heat has lifted off the old church steps.

Old Town After Dark: Cabaret & Cocktails

Plaza squares & surrounding lanes | Free entry to most bars

Once you’ve eaten, the quarter keeps going in its own gentler key: atmospheric little pubs, cocktail bars tucked into the lanes, and the drag and cabaret nights the Old Town is quietly famous for. It is 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 the big tribute acts and showbands you’ll want the new town, but for atmosphere on a hot night the Old Town wins every time.

For the Culture Lovers

If a stadium of reggaeton is a step too far, the town’s open-air summer season is underway at the Julio Iglesias Auditorium in Parque de l’Aigüera, the handsome amphitheatre in the heart of town. It hosts the season’s concerts and comedy nights under the stars through July and August, the cooler, calmer end of Benidorm’s summer programme. Worth checking the council’s listings for what’s on the night you fancy.

On the strip: the showbars run as ever, with Morgan Tavern, Sinatra’s and the rest packed by nine. In this heat, pick a room with proper air conditioning and you’ll last the night out far more happily than in a sweatbox with a fan.

☀️ Weather Watch — Early July 2026

Hot, and then hotter. Spain has tipped into its first major heatwave of the summer, and the Costa Blanca is in it. Expect long, cloudless days, very high UV, and nights that barely cool down. The official advice is to stay out of the sun between 11am and 3pm, and for once it is worth taking seriously.

What to pack: Light, loose cottons, a proper wide hat, and a high-factor sun cream you will actually reapply, not just carry. A refillable water bottle is not optional this week. The sea at around 25°C is gloriously warm and the best relief going, but the sun off the water is fierce, so cover up between dips. If you feel dizzy, headachy or stop sweating, get into shade and cool down at once. Heat is the one thing out here that catches people out every single year.

❓ You Asked…

Q: We’ve never done a big Spanish festival like Latin Fest. What do we actually need to know?

Three things will save your night. First, it starts late and finishes later, Spanish style, so don’t turn up at seven expecting the headliner; eat first and pace yourself. Second, it is at the Guillermo Amor stadium, inland from the beach, so plan a taxi both ways rather than a long hot walk home in the small hours. Third, take water and a portable charger. It is a hot, busy, cash-and-card site, and a dead phone with no way to find your group is the classic festival mistake. Beyond that, it’s an open, friendly crowd. Enjoy it.

Q: How worried should we be about this heatwave?

Sensible, not frightened. The danger is dehydration and sunstroke, and both are entirely avoidable. Drink far more water than you think you need, keep out of direct sun in the middle of the day, and do your sightseeing or beach walking early morning or evening. Watch the very young and the older members of your party especially, as they feel it first. If anyone goes pale, clammy or stops sweating in the heat, that is a warning sign: shade, water and cool them down, and don’t be shy about seeking help. Treat the midday hours as the locals do, with a long lunch and a lie-down, and you’ll be fine.

🔥 Hot Topic

The Heat Is On, and the Locals Have Always Known How to Beat It

Every year, as the first big heatwave arrives, the same scene plays out on Levante: red-shouldered visitors marching about at two in the afternoon, water bottle nowhere in sight, wondering why they feel so dreadful. The Spanish, meanwhile, are nowhere to be seen. They are indoors, shutters down, eating lunch slowly, and they will not surface again until the sun has lost its edge.

There is a lesson in that, and it is not a quaint one. The siesta is not laziness; it is centuries of accumulated common sense about how to live in a climate that turns hostile for a few hours each afternoon. The day gets split in two: a productive, sociable morning, a retreat from the worst of the heat, then a long, cool evening that runs late because it is finally bearable. Fight that rhythm and the heat wins. Go with it and the same temperature feels like a holiday rather than an ordeal.

So this is the week to stop trying to be British about the sun. Move your beach time to the morning, surrender the early afternoon to shade and a cold drink, and save the sightseeing and the long dinners for the evening, when Benidorm is at its best anyway. The town has been doing summer for sixty years. It would be a shame to argue with it.

💡 Tip of the Week

Start Your Holiday at the Airport, Not an Hour Later

In this heat, the worst part of any trip is the bit between landing and arriving: the queue at the rank, the wait for a coach that stops six times, the case that gets heavier with every minute on the hot tarmac. It is an hour of your holiday spent sweating in a car park, and it sets the wrong tone before you’ve so much as seen the sea.

A pre-booked private transfer fixes it: a driver waiting with your name, an air-conditioned car, and a door-to-door run while everyone else is still queuing. Our sponsor My Transfers Benidorm do exactly this, and we use them ourselves (see the top of this issue). Whoever you book, the principle holds, book it before you fly, agree the price up front, and start the holiday the moment you walk through arrivals.

🤔 Did You Know?

Benidorm has more high-rise buildings per head of population than almost any city on earth, and that forest of towers is no accident. Back in 1956, the town’s mayor, Pedro Zaragoza, pushed through a radical urban plan that sent Benidorm upwards rather than outwards, with wide boulevards and green space between the blocks. The same man rode a Vespa to Madrid to persuade Franco to permit the bikini on his beaches. He won.

There is a neat irony in this week’s heat, too. All those tall towers, so often mocked, throw long shadows across the streets in the afternoon, which is precisely what you want when the sun is trying to flatten you. The much-derided skyline turns out to be rather good at making its own shade.

Community Noticeboard

⭐ Latin Fest taxis — the Guillermo Amor stadium is inland and the nights run late; agree a pick-up or a rank with your group before you head over on the 4th and 5th.

⭐ Heatwave watch — public fountains and shaded plazas are your friends this week; keep an eye on older neighbours and anyone travelling with little ones.

⭐ Welcome, My Transfers Benidorm — our first sponsor, and one we genuinely rate; mention the Bulletin or Benidorm Old Town if you book.

⭐ 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. Our new sponsor helps keep it that way, which is rather the point of them. 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.