Benidorm, located on the beautiful Mediterranean coast, has been the vacation spot of choice for many Northern Europeans ever since the 1960s, when holiday packages came into vogue and the city went from a quiet fishing village to a tourist hotspot almost overnight. The Benidorm of today is widely known for its oceanfront resorts and amazing cityscape, built with tourist money thanks to the millions of visitors who come to Benidorm to leave the world behind for a week. Benidorm also boasts some of the most raucous and enjoyable nightlife around the Mediterranean, making it a hedonist’s Eden. It wasn’t always this way, though.
Before it became a bustling holiday wonderland, Benidorm was a city built with the noblest intentions: The aim was to create a zoned city that allowed every landowner extra space for privacy and comfort. This was an amenity unavailable in most of the other Spanish cities at the time. The city was perfectly situated to make use of all the natural grandeur that Spain had to offer. The glimmering Mediterranean Sea was an arm’s reach away and coastline turned into lush, green pastures. More incredibly, beautiful Spanish Mountains were not far away inland. These mountains helped and still do help to give Benidorm what is known as a “microclimate”. Put simply, Benidorm enjoys some of the most consistently pleasurable weather thanks to the height of these mountains sending unwelcome wind patterns elsewhere. This same Benidorm exists today, albeit only in spirit. The pristine location is still perfectly seated between rolling mountains and a gorgeous seascape, making it a bounty for both the eyes and the body. The curious zoning laws of Benidorm are still enforced, as well, though this only applies to the seventy thousand or so people who call the city home. The many tourists that visit each year have as their home some of the finest hotels on the continent, like the Gran Hotel Bali, overlooking some of the most beautiful and cherished beaches known to man. Most notable among these beaches are Llevante, Poniente, and Mal Pas. Each one of these pristine locations has been recognized by the EU to be of the highest quality possibly attainable.
Benidorm, perhaps due to the many tourists who fall in love with the city and refuse to leave, is one of the most ethnically varied cities in Europe and has the highest immigrant population in Spain. Add to this the fact that hundreds of different races and backgrounds visit Benidorm each day and the end result is one of the most international cities on the planet. Surprisingly, there is very little crime and illicit activity to be found in Benidorm, aside from the seedier late night cabaret shows. Although most tourist towns keep a firm hand on crime in order to not detract visitors, perhaps the real reason that Benidorm is generally peaceful is because, no matter what your background, the city is simply too enjoyable for anybody to hold a grudge or feel anger. This very unique town on the Mediterranean just might be the closest thing to a Utopia that our species will ever have.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.gotravelmagazine.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
