Benidorm

Benidorm beaches, a Sierra Helada hike and the tram to Altea

Three days work well in Benidorm: the beaches, the old town and the Balcón del Mediterráneo on the first, a morning hike over the Sierra Helada towards Albir and an afternoon on Poniente on the second, and TRAM line 9 north to Altea and Calp on the third.

Give day one to the town itself. Spend the morning on Levante beach while the sand is still cool, then walk west along the promenade to the old town for lunch in the tapas bars below the church of Sant Jaume i Santa Anna. In the late afternoon, climb to the Balcón del Mediterráneo on Punta del Canfali, the old pirate lookout that splits the two bays, and stay for sunset over Poniente. Evening belongs to Levante, or to a quieter terrace in the old lanes.

On day two, start early for the Sierra Helada. The path climbs from the Rincón de Loix end of Levante over the headland towards Albir, with long views back across the skyline. Allow a morning, carry plenty of water, and come back for a late lunch and an afternoon on Poniente's long, calmer sand, with Intempo rising behind it.

Day three: take TRAM line 9 north to Altea for its whitewashed old town and blue-domed church, then, if you have the energy, carry on to Calp to see the Penyal d'Ifac rising from the sea. Be back for dinner in the old town.

Arroz a banda and old-town tapas away from the Levante front

For Spanish food in Benidorm, walk to the old town on the headland, where the lanes around the church hold the best tapas bars, and order arroz a banda or squid-ink arroz negro. Levante's front line is mostly English café-bars and international comfort food, cheap and reliable but hardly Spanish.

Benidorm has more than a thousand places to eat. Levante's front line is wall-to-wall English café-bars, fried breakfasts and international comfort food, plus Chinese restaurants run by a sizeable local community. It is cheap and reliable but hardly Spanish. For that, walk to the old town on the headland, where the lanes around the church hold the best tapas bars in the city.

Order cured jamón, olives and a bottle from the Jalón valley, the inland vineyards behind the coast. This is Valencian rice country too, so look for arroz a banda, rice cooked in fish stock and served with alioli, and arroz negro, coloured black with squid ink. For something sweet, turrón, the almond nougat, comes from Xixona, less than an hour inland, and Valor has made chocolate in neighbouring Villajoyosa since the 1880s.

Keep Spanish hours if you want the old town at its best: lunch from about 14:00 and dinner after 21:00, when local families fill the terraces.

Altea, Guadalest and the Fonts de l'Algar as trips from Benidorm

The best trips from Benidorm are Altea and Calp by TRAM line 9, Villajoyosa and its painted houses by line 1, and, by car, the castle village of Guadalest and the Fonts de l'Algar waterfalls, 20 to 30 minutes inland. Go in the morning, before the villages wind down for lunch.

Benidorm makes a convenient base for the rest of the coast. TRAM line 9 heads north roughly once an hour to Altea, a white hill town with a blue-tiled church dome, then to Calp, where the Penyal d'Ifac, a huge limestone rock with a nature reserve on its slopes, rises straight from the sea, and finally to Dénia. Southbound, line 1 reaches Villajoyosa after a short ride, with its rows of brightly painted houses along the seafront and the Valor chocolate factory.

Inland, the mountain villages are 20 to 30 minutes away by car. Guadalest perches behind its castle on a crag above a turquoise reservoir, and the Fonts de l'Algar near Callosa d'en Sarrià are a string of waterfalls and pools that make a cool escape in summer. Go in the morning: villages wind down for lunch, which is exactly why the free 'blanket trip' coach tours, with their sales demonstrations, tend to arrive just as everything closes.

For walkers, the Sierra Helada natural park between Benidorm and Albir has cliff paths high above the sea, and from Albir a further track leads out to the lighthouse.