Spain: Benidorm - Spain´s Tourist Goldmine

Year 2014. The dream of our predecessors, as well as the dream of the main visionary of the mass tourism in that area, the lawyer Pedro Zaragoza Orts, came true..

But where is the point in a city full of skyscrapers – not in vain it is the city with more skyscrapers per inhabitant in the world –with that touch of «summer for elders» that makes the people from every corner of Europe to spend at least a couple of nights in one of its many accommodation establishments?.

Nejprve se zmíníme o jeho plážích: Poniente, Levante a Mal Pas. First of all, we must refer to its blue-flag labeled beaches. Three: «Poniente, Levante and Mal Pas». Fine sand, gentle temperatures and sheltered by the fact that we are talking of the Mediterranean. Beware, though, with its oceanic currents and the disoriented sharks that find themselves trapped in the human tide that makes the Benidorm beaches in its peak with its full time bathers..

Although the latter examples are true never in the several times I have been in Benidorm have they not been a problem nor for me neither for others. Benidorm is cool!

There are some facts I would like the reader to know. Are they not interesting? Let´s go to the statistics.

In the end what I am talking about is of its crowdedness and its throng – an attractive thing for more than one. Year 1950: 2726 inhabitants. Year 1960: 6259 inhabitants. Year 1981: 25544 (!) inhabitants. Today: 70280. You are in Benidorm, so smile. It is not that I don´t like people: In fact, I love them, but the visitor must to know that there is virtually no room for solitude there.

There are alternatives, nonetheless, and the visitor can chose to set apart for a while and visit the neighbor areas that coexist with Benidorm in the region: Villajoyosa, Calpe or Altea. Such a great places to walk in a more airy space where to stretch a bit your sun tanned legs..

Benidorm is not far from the capital of the province, Alicante. A city big enough (334.678 inhabitants in 2012) to deserve the prominent honor of having a El Corte Inglés, the famous and idiosyncratic Spanish big department stores as a guest. Alicante is well communicated with Benidorm by Tram, a new regional train that departs from Alicante every half hour taking a bit more than an hour to reach «Beniyork».

Putting altogether one can say that Benidorm is the perfect mixture between beach, Sun, nightlife and dances in one of its multiple Discos and Hotels that apart from composing a more than honorable plan for the visitor - it is cheap! So, let´s go to Benidorm!

Text: Daniel Fernández Cantalapiedra
Photo: Karin Bogschová