Round Town: Local News Benidorm, Alfaz, Altea.

Levante is the busiest, basically because it’s the closest to the majority of the hotels. But if you cross over the headland to the Poniente, you’ll be rewarded with a much quieter beach. The one in the middle, Mal Pas, is generally overlooked by the tourists because as the name suggests, it’s difficult to reach and is therefore a well kept secret; a place frequented mostly by the Benidorm locals, the folk who still refer to Benidorm as a village.

The sand on all of the beaches is the finest you’ll find and as such is used in many of Benidorm’s publicity – last year it was shipped to Oxford Street in London and used to re-create a beach scene, together with sun-beds and massive halogen lamps, to give passers-by a feeling for the resort.

User Friendly

The beach slopes gently into the sea, there’s no sudden shelves, making it very user friendly, especially for kids. There are plenty of play areas on the beaches to keep the little ones happy as well as several wheelchair access points, making bathing for the lesser able bodied possible too. Over 5000 sun-beds makes sunbathing a more comfortable experience and plenty of foot baths make leaving the beach with crunchy feet a thing of the past!

The open air ‘biblio-playa’, (beach library), on the Levante houses the day’s newspapers and allows passersby the chance to read quietly in its breezy, shady interior. Plenty of foot baths make leaving the beach with crunchy feet a thing of the past

Health and safety

Health and safety is top priority in Benidorm, starting with quality of the sea water which is analysed daily to make sure its safe to swim in.

All boast the blue flag awarded to the cleanest beaches and in fact it takes a team of 27 to keep them clean with the help of four massive sand sweeping machines which trawl up and down the beaches throughout the night sifting the fine, precious sand and ridding it of the daily build up of fag ends, lolly wrappers and other human ‘leftovers’.

The sand goes through rigorous testing to make sure its safe to lie on and once a year the beach gets a proper ploughing, to let the sand breathe and to rotate it, esnsuring it stays ‘healthy’.

Baywatch

Benidorm boasts a team of sixteen ‘baywatchers’, life guards watching out for the safety of the bathers from their vantage, elevated look out perches and each is equipped with first aid equipment and training. There’s also two medical centres, one on each of the main bays, manned by proper medical staff from 9am – 8pm every day, plus two ambulances at the ready to whisk patients to hospital should the need arise.

A massive forty-one police officers ensure the safety of the sun-worshippers with the help of a zodiac style speedboat, a jet-ski and three quad bikes to speed across the sand.

No Nooky!

The beaches are also patrolled at night and not just by the police! It’s a kind of hobby for some folk to wander the beach looking to capture some action on camera, if you get our meaning! Nooky on the beach is illegal and if you’re caught with your trousers down will land you a hefty fine – that’s if Mr Camcorder hasn’t spotted you first – in which case you’ll find yourself posted on the internet!

Practical Hints

Beware of undercurrents; the sea may look calm but undercurrants can be fatal – always heed the colour of the flags flying; green is good, yellow, take care and red – do not go swimming.

Don’t be tempted to use the island as a landmark “Kids, we’ll be in the bar opposite the island” as the island looks like its opposite every bar along the beach! Instead, use the brightly painted boards placed along the beach for that reason, there distinctive drawings are easy to see and simple to recognize, especially for the little ones.

If you plan on sunbathing for the day then do like the Spaniards and get as close to the shore as possible – this is to enjoy the cool sea breeze that rolls in off the sea.

Lots Going On

Benidorm’s beaches are used as the backdrop for many activities and events; the historic battles between the Moors and Christians are re-enacted there in October every year, it’s the centre piece for the fiesta finale firework display in November and most recently it hosted the European volleyball championship in May. But perhaps its most important and timeless role in all of our lives is the background it provides to so many happy memories; from paddling as toddlers and making first sand castles with proud parents to beach parties with friends as teenagers and romantic strolls on the promenade with loved ones – it’s the perfect setting for every occasion.

Benidorm’s authorities are keen for us all to look our very best whilst gracing their spectacular beaches and so have installed some free-for-all exercise equipment on the beach so we can tone as we tan!

The user friendly equipment is designed to offer a low impact all round body work out and there’s a serious side to its recent appearance on the beach; research shows that muscle aging can be easily reversed by regular resistence training. There are two sets of equipment, one on the Poniente and the other on the levante – so lets get physical!