Costa del New York

The other half (both taken from the old town)
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We left L'Estartit for a long drive down to Benidorm down the Autopista, or the Route du Paege as I like to think of it. Toll roads. You get a ticket when you get on - you pay when you get off. This is the correct way. A paege (toll both) every 20kms or so to charge you 2 euros is not...

The country on the way didnt seem to change much - we both commented it was quite like Perth (Australia). Quite rocky and dry with sparse vegetation, and this is the middle of winter! We arrived in Benidorm with the sun going down and it was a spectacular site - I never realised it was so big!

The 'tourist' side of Benidorm - yep this is just half of it!
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As I found out later it has the most high rises over 20 stories of anywhere other than Manhattan and has the third most hotel beds in Europe (behind only London and Paris). It also has the highest population of British outside of Britain by my informal reckoning...

We stayed in a large, full and very forgettable campsite on the edge of town - so forgettable Ive forgotten its name. Benidorm, at least in Winter is full of, shall we say, seasoned travelers. Not sure I saw any other children while we were there. Not even sure I saw anyone under 50. Nearly everything and everyone is British or at least it seems that way, there are endless restaurants and bars offering Tetleys (beer not tea), 'full english' breakfasts, and premiership football.

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The town sits on 2 very nice and, even in winter, fairly busy beaches - it must be absolutely heaving in summer! There are mountains on each side and this helps to keep the place warm and wind free, it was sunny and around 20o in the day which was lovely, but still quite cool at night.

The town from what we gathered is split in half with a 'residential' side on one beach and a 'tourist' side on the other beach and a small 'old town' between. In fairness we stayed in the tourist area and didnt visit the other end so it may be a bit more spanish down there.

As you may have gathered from the review Benidorm is impressive and has nice beaches but really isnt my cup of tea. Worth a look if you are driving past though ;-)

Dave.