"Benidorm, Costa Blanca" Benidorm by Synch_X

Map of surrounding area of Benidorm

Temperature: average midday in summer is 26C and in winter 15C

Sunshine: 3400 hour/year

Sea temperature: 26C in summer and 15C in winter

Beaches: three natural beaches (Levante, Poniente and Mal Pas) of white sand,facing south; 174,424 square meters together.

Secluded beaches: Cala Tio Ximo and Cala Almadraba

Accommodations: 144 hotels with 40000 beds plus 20000 beds in tourist apartments, 10 campsites with 7250 places.

Restaurants: 389 restaurants, 266 cafeterias, 482 bars and 156 disco-pubs.

Reaching the resort: 40 min. from Alicante airport, El Altet. Direct bus to most hotels in Benidorm (Shuttledirect). The Mediterranean highway A7, from the Pyrenees to Alicante, connects Benidorm with the rest of Europe and the national highway E901 connects Benidorm with Madrid.

Benidorm's coat-of-arms

Benidorm's history dates back to the third century BC. On 8 May 1325 Benidorm was granted its Town Charter.

From the 14th to the 19th centuries this coast suffered frequent attacks by pirates. Benidorm was protected by a small castle on the promontory but this was badly damaged during the Peninsular War and its ruins had disappeared by the beginning of the 20th century. remains of the watch-towers of Escaleras and Aguilocan still can be seen.

The village was concentrated on the promontory until the middle of the 18th century when it began to expand and spread inland.

The parish church of Saint Jaime was build between 1740 and 1780.

In the 19th century many Benidormenses were employed as captains, first officers, engineers and crew on trans-Atlantic and trans-Mediterranean liners or worked the spanish almadrabas to catch tuna fish in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic .

Making ropes for almadraba was an important industry. Benidorm was also an agricultural area. The locals were used to travelling , some of them spoke English and French.

From the middle of the 19th century Benidorm's beaches attracted holidaymakers. Industrialists from Alcoy and well-of families from Madrid discovered Benidorm as early as 1858. the village had 2726 inhabitants, three small hotels and eight boarding houses. Most of Benidorm was agricultural land and open countryside with a few scattered farm houses.

Its development as a holiday resort was interrupted by the Civil War and the Second War, but Spanish and European holidaymakers returned to Benidorm in the late 1940s and the number of visitors grew in the 1950s. By 1970 it was world famous.

The old town is situated on the promontory between the two bays. Most of the buildings were constructed during the last century. It still conserves its own charm and character with traditional restaurants and the ambiance of a Spanish town.

The old town was given a face lift with new road surfaces, all the houses being painted, larger gardens and a new Central Library which includes all the latest technology.

Between 1787 and 1957 Benidorm's resident population fluctuated between 2000 and 4000 but since 1960 it has increased rapidly and is now over 62500.

The Alicante Airport was opened in Spring 1967. Between April and November 1967 there were 3 flights a week from London to Alicante taking 2 hours, 25 minutes.

More and more hotels had to be built. The number of hotels, apart-hotels and pensions is now 144 with over 40000 hotel beds and includes 3 new four star hotels in the Rincon area, 2 four star hotels near Plaza Triangular and the tallest hotel in Europe (Hotel Bali - 52 floors) at Poniente.

There are also 20000 beds in tourist apartments and 7200 places in the 10 campsites.

Benidorm's hotels are among the most modern in all the tourist areas of Spain and have the highest hotel occupancy rate of all Spanish resorts.

The Harbour

Up to the present time Benidorm has not had a harbour but only a jetty which was built in the 1920s and made longer and wider at a later time. The new harbour has moorings for fishing boats and small sailing boats.

Development

Since 2000, 10 km. of new avenues have been constructed inland in the area bounded by Finestrat and the Cortina mountain. This zone will contain the theme parks Terra Mitica and Terra Natura and the two eighteen hole golf courses.

These avenues have been landscaped and have wide, attractive pavements made of different coloured sets, bicycle lanes, picnic areas with drinking water fountains and over 1,000 street lights of modern attractive design. They have six "glorietas" (large, ornamental roundabouts) which represent Earth, Fire, Water, Air, Gravity and Reason with pieces of sculpture and fountains. Twenty one thousand trees and countless plants native to La Marina, have been used in the landscaping and the countryside has been improved by re-planting a wood covering 77 hectares.

• Pros:Very lively nightlife, lots of bars and clubs.
• Cons:Not really a family destination.
• In a nutshell:Good holiday for single people with their friends.