[edit]
Benidorm skyline
Poniente Beach
Balcón del Mediterráneo
Benidorm has three major beaches: Playa de Levante (Valencian: Platja de Llevant), Playa de Poniente (Valencian: Platja de Ponent) and Playa de Mal Pas (Valencian: Platja del Mal Pas); all of them have had a blue flag since 1987, the maximum quality standard recognised by the European Union. The Gran Hotel Bali, a four-star hotel located in this city since 2002, is a 186-metre-tall building that stood as the tallest skyscraper in Spain for five years, until it was surpassed by the CTBA towers in Madrid and Intempo building, also in Benidorm. The Intempo building is currently the fifth-tallest in Spain and the tallest building in the Valencian Community.
Benidorm is popular with tourists from the UK, Ireland, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands. Benidorm's initial growth in popularity can be attributed to the package holiday explosion, and continues year round, due to the night-life based around the central concentration of bars and clubs. There is a large number of free cabaret acts that start around 21:00 and continue into the early hours, while pubs, which are mostly of the British style, can operate until 3 am.
The author and Guardian journalist Giles Tremlett identified the city as the birthplace of "package tourism" in the book Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through a Country's Hidden Past, where he remarked that culturally the city contradicted the conservative notions of National Catholicism that General Franco had espoused. The accessibility of Benidorm to a wide gamut of social strata made the city into an ever so easy target for highbrow sarcasm, as by Jani Allan in the Sunday Times in 1990: "These days you just have to look at the numbers of wide-bodied jets bearing wide-bodied holidaymakers to Benidorm to realise that package holidays and airborne cattle trucks make fun in the sun accessible to everyone."
The city is quite popular with families. Also, many elderly people from northern Europe pass the winter there. This has ostensibly made the name of the city into something of a synonym for elderly people in those countries, as can be seen, for example, in the Flemish candid camera program Benidorm Bastards. Benidorm's mayor protested against the depiction of the city and demanded that its name be removed from the show's title because it "damages its image."
A 2025 CNN report characterized Benidorm as the "New York of the Mediterranean," a tourist "metropolis" that's distinctive for its "high density of skyscrapers." The report finds the characteristic fruit farmers and the fishermen of the former village gone and replaced by "millions of visitors," one third of whom are British. Its overall take is that the city has now become both an "incredible economic success" and a symbol of the "uncontrolled juggernaut that is Spain’s tourism industry". Nonetheless, while protests against mass tourism, and its detrimental effects on the locals' cost of living, have taken place in tourist destinations across the country, such as Barcelona and others, they are absent from Benidorm.
Events and attractions[edit]
Every summer from 1959 to 2000, the city hosted the Benidorm International Song Festival, where artists such as Julio Iglesias, Raphael, or the Dúo Dinámico, first became known. In 2021, RTVE signed a four-year contract with the city to hold the Benidorm Fest, loosely based on the song-festival format, that would determine the Spanish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Every July since 2010, in July, it hosts the "Benidorm Low Festival" for indie music. In 2019, a counterpart of Primavera Sound, Primavera Weekender, premiered at the Magic Robin Hood Camp.
In 2011, Benidorm hosted the start of the Vuelta a España, one of cycling's three grand tours.
Benidorm has hosted open water swimming events of the Oceanman series.
Benidorm features three "family-oriented" theme parks: Terra Mítica is inland from the city, at the foot of the mountain, while Aqualandia and Mundomar are located on the outskirts of the city on the Levante side. Benidorm offers activities for all ages.
An episode of the hit British sitcom Only Fools and Horses was set in Benidorm, titled "It Never Rains...". A TV series called Benidorm has aired on ITV (with replays on ITV2) in the UK, featuring Jake Canuso, Steve Pemberton, Sheila Reid, and Johnny Vegas. Airing of the tenth series began in February 2018. In 2020, a Spanish comedy series of the same name, starring Antonio Pagudo and María Almudéver, premiered on Atresplayer Premium. Belgian TV channel VTM aired Benidorm, a series based on a Dutch-language theatrical play.
Early morning exercise (organised by the local council).
Late morning community singing, in Spanish (organised by the local council).
Benidorm Island viewed from a beach of the city.
Poniente beach in Benidorm when the sun sets.
San Jaume church
Sunset in Benidorm
