Costa Blanca travel guide: where to stay, when to come, how to get around

The Costa Blanca is the stretch of Mediterranean coast running roughly from Dénia in the north to Torrevieja in the south, with Alicante at its heart. It earned its package-holiday reputation decades ago, but the modern reality is more varied: quiet coves under the Peñón d'Ifach, hilltop old towns like Altea, serious hiking country twenty minutes inland, and a food culture built on rice, salted fish and mountain herbs. This guide covers the practical decisions — where to base yourself, when to come, and how to move around.

Choosing your base

Alicante is the transport hub and the best all-round city base: a real working city with a castle, an old quarter (El Barrio), an urban beach and year-round restaurant life. If you want day trips without driving, start here — we cover it in more depth in our Alicante city guide.

Altea is the postcard: a whitewashed old town stacked on a hill above a pebble beach, with an arts scene and a calmer pace than anywhere else on this coast. Evenings on the church square are the reason people come back.

Calpe sits under the Peñón d'Ifach, the giant limestone rock that anchors half the photographs of the region. Two long sandy beaches, a working fishing port with fish auctions you can watch, and family-friendly infrastructure.

Benidorm is the high-rise resort, and it does what it does extremely well: reliable sun, beaches cleaned nightly, entertainment and water parks. It is also far cheaper out of season than its reputation suggests.

Jávea (Xàbia) and Dénia in the north are greener and quieter, with sandy bays, a strong sailing culture and, in Dénia's case, one of the best food scenes on the coast.

Finestrat and the inland villages — Polop, La Nucía, Guadalest — suit travellers who want a villa with a pool and a view, hiking from the door, and a short drive to the beach rather than a seafront address.

You can browse available stays across all of these towns, or start from our curated collections if you would rather pick by trip type than by map.

When to come

• June and September are the sweet spot: 25–30 °C, warm sea, and school-holiday crowds either not yet arrived or already gone.
• July and August are peak season — hot, busy and lively. Book months ahead and expect premium prices, especially close to the beach.
• March to May and October are ideal for walkers, cyclists and city-breakers. The almond blossom inland in late winter is genuinely spectacular.
• November to February is mild-winter territory. Daytime highs around 16–20 °C make this one of Europe's most comfortable places to escape a northern winter, and long off-season stays are common — many hosts price weeks and months accordingly.

Getting there and around

Alicante–Elche airport (ALC) is the gateway, with year-round direct flights from most UK and European cities. From the airport:

• The C-6 bus runs to Alicante city centre roughly every 20 minutes.
• Direct shuttle buses serve Benidorm, and connections continue up the coast.
• Taxis and pre-booked transfers are the practical choice for villas and late arrivals; agree or check the fare band before setting off.

Along the coast, the TRAM d'Alacant light railway is the underrated asset: it links Alicante, El Campello, Benidorm, Altea, Calpe and Dénia, hugging the coastline for much of the route. It is cheap, scenic and spares you parking in the old towns.

Hire a car if your stay is hillside or rural, or if you want the inland day trips — the Guadalest valley, the Algar waterfalls, the mountain villages behind Benidorm. Coastal-town stays manage fine without one.

What to eat

Rice is the backbone. Order arroz a banda (rice cooked in fish stock, served with alioli) or arroz del senyoret — the "gentleman's rice" with all the seafood already peeled. Proper rice restaurants serve it at lunch, not dinner, and it is worth planning around.

Look out for espencat (roasted pepper and aubergine salad with salt cod), turrón from Jijona if you are here near Christmas, and horchata as the summer drink. In Dénia, the local red prawn is a delicacy with a price tag to match. Menú del día — a fixed-price three-course lunch — remains the best-value way to eat well almost everywhere.

Planning your stay

The Costa Blanca rewards choosing your base deliberately: the resort towns, the old-town hill villages and the rural inland offer genuinely different holidays within thirty kilometres of each other. Once you know which one you want, browse our stays on the Costa Blanca or explore our collections for a starting point matched to your kind of trip.