The Benidorm Bulletin — Issue 67 | 5–12 July 2026

From the Editor

Right, the height of summer is properly upon us now, and Benidorm is behaving exactly as it should: hot, loud, and thoroughly unbothered by anyone’s idea of moderation. This week we’ve a council crackdown on the ruder end of the souvenir trade, a genuinely useful debate brewing over where you’ll soon be allowed to light up, and our usual tour of where to eat, drink and be entertained without setting foot near a buffet queue.

We’ve also had a good root through the food and nightlife scene this issue, because a fair few of you have asked for more than “there are some nice tapas bars, apparently.” So this week you get names, streets, and the sort of detail you can actually use on the ground.

Settle in. There’s a lot to get through, and the sangria isn’t going to drink itself.

Lead Story

Benidorm Council Cracks Down on Offensive Souvenirs

If your holiday t-shirt joke was already borderline, it may not survive the summer.

Benidorm’s Department of Commerce has launched an inspection campaign targeting shop window displays across the resort, with municipal inspectors specifically checking t-shirts and souvenirs carrying sexist, racist, homophobic or sexually explicit slogans. The campaign follows a run of complaints from residents and visitors alike about the more lurid end of the seafront gift trade, and shops found in breach face having stock removed from display.

It’s a modest move, but not a trivial one. Benidorm’s old-town shopfronts have long traded on a certain irreverence, and nobody wants the place sanitised into blandness. The line the council is drawing, though, is a reasonably sensible one: irreverent is fine, offensive to the point of embarrassment is not. Most shopkeepers we’ve spoken to seem quietly relieved someone’s finally saying it.

For visitors, the practical upshot is small. You’ll still find plenty to raise an eyebrow at along the strip, but the true howlers are being asked to stay in the back room rather than the window.

☀️ What’s On This Week

The festival calendar takes a brief breather this week after a hectic start to July, but there’s a big send-off on the Sunday, and the build-up to the big one has already begun.

Coming Up: The Festes Virgen del Carmen begin on 15 July and run through to the 19th, with a marquee going up at the port for concerts and open-air celebrations in honour of Benidorm’s patron of the sea. It’s one of the more traditional weeks in the summer calendar, so expect more detail in next issue.

🎭 Tonight’s Entertainment

Skip the big brochure venues this week and head for the Old Town, because a proper night out here doesn’t need a stage the size of an aircraft hangar to be worth your while.

Tapas Alley, Old Town (Casco Antiguo)

Calle Santo Domingo and the streets around Plaza de la Constitución  |  No booking needed

This is the real spine of an Old Town evening: start with a plate at Gaztelutxo, a hole-in-the-wall spot with prices that haven’t caught up with its postcode, then work along to La Cava Aragonesa for something more traditional, and finish at La Taperia, which is smarter and pricier but earns it. If you fancy a view with your dinner, D·Vora Gastrobar does rooftop tapas with a proper sea outlook, worth booking ahead for sunset. None of this requires a plan; the alley is short enough that you can simply drift and see what smells good.

West End Showbar

Avenida Dr. Severo Ochoa area  |  Thursday and Sunday nights

Thursdays bring adult cabaret and comedy from Barbie Kruger and Stella Artois, sharp-tongued and not for the easily offended. Sundays are the big one: doors from 5pm for the best part of four and a half hours of cabaret running through several acts. Get there early if you want a decent seat, and pace your drinking. It’s a long night.

Levi’s Showboat

Avenida Dr. Severo Ochoa, No. 7

The old guard of Benidorm cabaret, and still going. Levi’s leans into a very British sense of humour, heavy on magic and gentle mockery rather than the sharper edges you’ll find at West End. Good choice if you’re out with parents or anyone who’d rather laugh than wince.

☀️ Weather Watch — July 2026

Properly hot now, and it isn’t letting up any time soon.

What to pack: Light, breathable fabrics, a hat you’ll actually wear, and more sun cream than feels necessary. The sea’s warm enough now that there’s no excuse for hovering at the shoreline pretending to acclimatise.

❓ You Asked…

Q: Is the Old Town or the new town better for a quieter stay within walking distance of things?

The Old Town wins on this one, generally. You’re close enough to the tapas bars and the beach to walk everywhere, but the residential streets back from the front are noticeably calmer once you’re past the main strip. The new town (around Rincón de Loix) is livelier and louder, which some readers want and others are actively trying to avoid. Know which holiday you’re after before you book.

Q: Which beach is best if we want something quieter than Levante?

Poniente is your best bet within the town itself, generally calmer than Levante and decent for snorkelling near the rocks at either end. If you’re happy to travel a little further, Villajoyosa, a short drive or bus ride up the coast, is a proper change of pace: smaller, unspoilt, and considerably less crowded even in high season.

🔥 Hot Topic

Spain’s Proposed Outdoor Smoking Ban: Overdue or Overreach?

Madrid is drafting new tobacco legislation that would extend smoking and vaping bans into a wider range of outdoor public spaces, part of a broader alignment with EU public-health standards. For a resort built partly on terrace culture, this one’s worth watching.

I’ll say plainly where I land: this is overdue rather than overreach. Anyone who’s tried to enjoy a meal on a packed terrace with smoke drifting across the table knows the current arrangement suits smokers rather more than everyone else. A tightened rule brings Spain into line with where much of Europe already sits, and Benidorm’s terraces will survive it exactly as British high streets survived the indoor ban in 2007, which is to say with a brief adjustment and then business as usual.

The counterargument, and it’s not a foolish one, is that outdoor smoking bans are harder to enforce than indoor ones and risk becoming a rule nobody actually follows, which helps nobody. Locally, Benidorm’s own council has separately floated a beach smoking ban, so this is clearly a live debate on the ground as well as in Madrid. Watch this space; it’ll take a while to bite, but it’s coming.

💡 Tip of the Week

How to Eat Well in the Old Town Without Paying Old Town Prices

The trick to the tapas alley isn’t avoiding it, it’s reading it properly. The streets right on Plaza de la Constitución carry a premium simply for the location, so a plate that costs €4 at Gaztelutxo, tucked slightly off the main run, might be €7 twenty yards away at a place with better outdoor seating and a view of the square. Neither is wrong, you’re just paying for different things.

Our advice: do one “view” stop for the atmosphere, ideally somewhere like D·Vora Gastrobar at sunset, and do the bulk of your eating and drinking at the quieter, cheaper spots either side. You get the postcard moment and the local prices, and your holiday budget stretches a good deal further across the week.

Worth flagging too: if an airport transfer is still on your to-do list, MyTransfers (see below) are worth a message before you fly rather than after you land.

🤔 Did You Know?

Tapas Alley isn’t actually its official name. The street everyone calls it is Calle Santo Domingo, a narrow stretch that locals were using for exactly this purpose long before anyone thought to brand it for visitors. It’s a nice reminder that most of what makes the Old Town worth an evening was there before the marketing caught up with it, and will likely still be there after the marketing’s moved on to whatever’s next.

Community Noticeboard

⭐ Extra police presence in the English Zone — Following a large operation earlier in the summer targeting drug activity in some bars and clubs, don’t be alarmed by a heavier police presence around the English Zone. It’s a good-news story for anyone wanting a quieter night out, not a warning sign.

⭐ Welcome to MyTransfers — Our newsletter partner MyTransfers is offering Bulletin readers a friendly WhatsApp booking line for airport transfers, so drop them a message on +34 638 140 332 if you need a lift sorted before you fly out.

The Site and This Newsletter Are Completely Free

Everything we do, the website, this newsletter, the lot, is free, and always will be. If you’ve found it useful, the best thanks we get is you passing it on to someone else with Benidorm on their mind.

And a proper ask this week: our Facebook Group is where the real conversation happens, readers swapping tips, settling arguments about which beach is best, and generally being far more entertaining than we manage on our own. If you’re in the group already, jump into the comments this week and tell us your own Old Town tapas order, we’re properly curious. If you’re not in the group yet, come and find us. It’s the difference between reading the paper and actually sitting in on the conversation.

Right, that’s your lot for this issue. Souvenir shirts getting tidied up, a proper debate on smoking terraces, and hopefully enough tapas detail to see you through a full week of evenings in the Old Town.

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