Ten days in Benidorm in a July heatwave: the airport taxi racket, an honest look at Madeira Centro, tapas at La Tapita and Pintxos Aurrera, and why we will be going in September next time.
Churreria Rico, Benidorm
Some places just never quite call to you. Rico Café is one of those, for me. I have walked past it more times than I can count over the years, glanced in, and kept moving. Ask me to say what is wrong with it and I genuinely cannot. The staff seem fine. The location is …
La Tapita, Benidorm: The Tapas Bar That Started It All
Some places you discover by accident. Others you simply arrive at and feel, immediately, that you have been coming here all your life. La Tapita falls into the second category – and for those of us who have been making the trip to Benidorm for more than twenty years, it quite literally does. La Tapita …
Three Scoops, Three Verdicts: Benidorm’s Ice Cream Parlours Compared
There is a particular cruelty to bad ice cream in hot weather. You have earned it. The walk along the seafront, the sun doing its worst, the long deliberation over which flavour. Then the thing arrives tasting of nothing in particular, half-melted before you reach the nearest bench. It is one of the minor disappointments …
Cafe Leroy, Benidorm Old Town — Does It Pass the Sausage Test?
If you’ve spent any time hunting down a decent full English in Benidorm, you’ll know the struggle. Plenty of places promise the goods but deliver something lukewarm, rubbery, and distinctly un-British. So when a little spot in the Old Town starts getting serious word-of-mouth buzz, it’s worth investigating — sausage first. Cafe Leroy sits in the …
Back in Benidorm: 16–26 March — Old Haunts, New Memories
It felt like coming home. Ten days in Benidorm across the 16th to the 26th of March, and not a single regret — well, almost. More on that later. The Weather (Yes, We Got Lucky) You might have seen the headlines — Benidorm has had a rough ride with the weather this spring. Flooding, storms, …
Santagloria Coffee & Bakery
There’s something wonderfully comforting about returning to a place you’ve enjoyed before and finding it’s every bit as good as you remembered. For us, that place is Santagloria Coffee & Bakery is a café brand I’ve come to love across Spain. Their outlets are dotted throughout the country, but the two tucked away in Benidorm’s …
August–September Trip
Introduction (28 August – 5 September) I never expected to be going back to Benidorm in 2025, but after getting the all-clear from the doctor, we decided to go for it. The only rules were to walk about on the plane every hour and avoid alcohol. The wife was straight on it, comparing packages versus …
Halfway House
I don’t normally go abroad to eat English food, there’s many reasons why not I think the main one is I love trying new things. Number 2 on my list has to be English food needs to be cooked by English people with English produce. That said there are times when I do fancy bit …
NOVA Cocktail Bar
We are not really ‘cocktail people’ I personally don’t mind the odd Mojito but my wife is a total abstainer but our son and his partner had come to Benidorm to meet us for a long weekend, we called him and in was in NOVA so it’s seemed like a good excuse to finally try …