I am 20ish ha ha, female carer. I have just moved back home to the North after travelling around Eu...
I am 20ish ha ha, female carer. I have just moved back home to the North after travelling around Europe and living in Spain for a couple of years and no, I dont have a great tan!!!!!!
Member since:18.09.2002
Reviews:23
Members who trust:3
Over the last two years of travelling Spain, I have spent the majority in this wonderful area. I had a massive advantage over the general tourist, as I travelled by car, allowing me to visit every area possible, not just the ones targeted for tourists.
The main place we all tjhink of when you say Costa Blance, is Benidorm. This was my home town for over a year and I love it. Benidorm is one of those places you either love or you hate, there is no inbetween. Of course it has its down sides, such as being too commercialised, but if you are after a cheap and cheerful holiday, where there is planty to do and loads of places to visit near by, than Benidorm is the place. You can go out and have a meal and a drink for under 5 euros, around £3.50, there is nightlife to suit everyone, from cabberett to discos and bars fop the younger age group. Benidorm has two main beaches, the la playa lavante and la playa poniente, each known for the areas of Benidorm they are situated. Playa Lavante is known for the new town. The new town is where you will find all the bars, clubs and resuarants you can wish for. The variety is amazing, the mixture of acts you can see at the cabberett bars, the kids shows like phil the clown at Panchos bar and the mixture of bars, catering for different age groups and music tastes, like the rock bars on the beach to the huge clubs on the Mediterraneo.
Valencia
is another great place to visit in the Costa, its archatecture is amazing, with each building displaying its own personaltity. Valencia is more expensive, costing around 12 euros for a basic meal, about £8. The shops here are great, with a huge variety, from you typical spanish clothes shops, like Zara, el Corte Ingles and Mango, to designer stores, and on the lower scale, second hand stores. Valencia has recently opened a science museum on the outskirts of the city, which gives you the opportunity to learn as you experient. You can learn about your health by running a 100 metre track, which measures you speed and compares it with your weight and height, to let you know if you are fit or unfit for you size. The children can take part in their own activities in the kids zone, where they too, take part in experiements, building houses and playing with water to learn. The centre is huge and covers lots of areas within science using experiments and demonmstrations to help you understand. This is definately an excellent day out, at only 13euro's per adult, around £8.50, to use the centre and the facilities.
Alicante is another major city in the Costa Blanca, known mainly because of the airport that most of us will fly in and out of. Alicante itself, is very big and again, another excellent place to shop. Here you can find the usual shops but also factory stores, such as the nike factory shop, where i bought a pair of trainers for 33 euro's, about £22. Alicante itself, would need at least a full day to explore, to be able to visit it's many museums and shops.
Getting away from the hustle and bustle, there are many traditional places on the coast to visit, which are untouched by tourism, such as Gandia, on the coast about 50kms from Valencia. Gandia has just had a big modernisation project which has updated this beautiful traditional town, to a modern coastal town. It has a range of bars and restaurants along the beach front, facing the new promonade which has under ground parking, allowing the increasing amount of visitors during the summer season, to find easy parking.
Further in land, between Gandia and Oliva, is Villa Longa, a must visit area. It takes about twenty minutes from Gandia to reach Villa longa, up very steep mountain roads, but it is well worth it when you see the views. The town is extremely small and traditional, with small roads and town houses. The church is the most beautiful you will ever see. It is old and not used as often as it would have, as they have built a newer one in town. This church is situated at the top of around 250 steps from the village, giving it the best place to visit if views are what you are looking for. From here you can see all the way to the coast, seein Gandia to the left, Oliva, javia and denia to the right, and all those unknown villages between here and the coast. Truely amazing. Villa longa also has a communial pool, just beside this church. You pay 2 euros upon entry to stay in its peaceful heaven for as long as you like.
Further down coast, before Benidorm, you will find places like Alfaz del pi, which is a lovely town which is rapidly being taken over by the spending power of the Brits. This is where the Spanish has realised that the English are moving over and are selling their property for extremely high prices. Most cabberett acts, tend to live in this area, because it is away from the tourist hustle and bustle, but close enough as it is only a ten minute drive. Altea is also close by, situated on the coast with a link to the E15 motorway and the main coastal road the N332, runs straight through it, giving this a good location to be based if you was to travel the area.
Guadalest is one of the most traditional places i visited, although it has already been discovered by the tourists and is now a day trip from Benidorm. The house are built into the side of the mountain like caves. There is loads to do here with its many museums and walks around the village and castle. A must visit in Guadalest would be the waterfalls. They say that the main waterfall here is the one filmed in the timoteshampoo advert a few years ago. whether this is true I dont know, But I do know that it is an execellent day out. You can swim ion the freezing fresh water springs and sit on the rocks under the waterfalls, truely a must see.
The costa Blanca has musch to offer, with many day trips and excursions, such as the aqua park in Benidorm, or Mundomar an animal cantre, also in Benidorm. Or Peakock island, where you can take a glass bottom boat to the island, explore the island and get the boat back. There are also caves that you can explore near Oliva, as well as the many orange groves you can walk around in the Oliva and Gandia area. Or how about a safari trip, there are many to choose from, but the best we visited was one in Denia, 12 euros entry, about £8, with a massive section to drive around, it took us about an hour and a half. Then once you have completed this part, you can walk round field full of different animals and feed them, take a camel ride, tour around the park for 3 euro each, or even swim with sealions, 18 euro, about £12 for half an hour with all the equipment provided.
Over all, the Costa Blance is the best area I have visited so far. It has so mush to offer if you know where to look. It has the cities for a shopaholic, the tourist centers for those people looking for a typical holiday or the traditional Spainish feel. There is plenty to see and do here and is very cheap to do so. I love it here.
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Hi sorry for the FH rate but you need to include more info, it can help to break it into sections i.e. Places to Stay, Places to see, Places to Eat, i.e. how much would it cost to eat a meal out. let me know if you update ans I will come back and take a look, also it may be of use to look at similar ops to see what makes an op get a top rate.
sdwill 19.09.2002 07:54
Sounds interesting, I've never visited any of the Costas and would love to know more about Costa Blanca.
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