The Costa Blanca, along with the Costas Brava and Sol, is devoted to package tourism on a grand scale. But it's not all skyscraper hotels and 'tea like your mum makes' – some resorts remain refreshingly Spanish, not least among them the delightful city of Alacant. Inland is the striking mountain town of Guadalest which is also quite touristy due to its proximity to Benidorm. SightsCullera Frequent trains, E 2.15 single, 30 mins. Frequent bus services with ALSA, T 902 422 242 (within Spain only), E 2.50 single, 1 hr. The Costa Blanca proper doesn’t start until Dénia, but there are a couple of big seaside towns south of Valencia. The first is Cullera, curled around the steep crag of the Monte del Oro and overlooking a vast, natural bay. The old town has been virtually swallowed up by a bland sprawl of modern apartment blocks but there are 14 km of beaches to compensate. The best and quietest is the Platja del Faro/Playa de Faro, backed by sand dunes. Gandia/Gandía Frequent trains to Gandia and Platja i Grao de Gandia (for beaches and port), E 3.35 single, 55 mins. Gandia’s history is bound up with the fortunes of the Borjas, better known by their Italian name, the Borgias. The town was given to Rodrigo Borja (who later became the notorious Pope Alexandro VI) in 1485, but the Spanish branch of the family was less Machiavellian. The 15th-century Palau Ducal de los Borja, currently occupied by Jesuits, is still the town’s most famous sight. The sumptuous salons are richly decorated with ornate ceilings, azulejos and marble floors and one boasts a beautiful frieze depicting the four elements made with ceramics from Manises. Unfortunately, some of the original tiling can’t be reproduced, as the plants used to make the original Arabic dyes have long been extinct. C/Duc Alfons El Vell/Duque Alfonso el Viejo 1, T 962 871 465. Admission by guided visit only, tours leave hourly. Winter Tue-Sat 1000-1330 (last visit 1200), 1630-2000 (last visit 1900); summer Tue-Fri 1000-1330 (last visit 1200), 1730-2030 (last visit 1930). Closed Sun and holidays. E 2.50/1.50. Regular shuttle buses depart from outside the train station in the centre of Gandia for its lively port (Grao), 4 km away. Gandia-Platja is a big, popular resort with a buzzy nightlife and famously manicured beaches (they get combed by tractors every day). Dénia No train services from Valencia. From Alacant, take the narrow gauge railway run by FGV ('El Trenet') which runs along the Costa Blanca, stopping at San Juan, Benidorm, Altea, Calp, Gata and Dénia, http://www.fgv.es, T 965 262 233. From Alacant, E 6.60 single, 1¾ hrs. Bus services from Valencia depart about eight times a day with UBESA, T 965 730 192, E 6.50 single, 1½hrs. Dénia is a relaxed, family resort dotted with colourful villas, blessed with long, sandy beaches and celebrated for its excellent prawns. There’s a ruined castle above the town (slated for conversion into a theatre and cinema complex despite a local outcry) and you can make the long scramble up to the top of the peak of Montgó for fantastic views. This wild, windswept cape has been designated a natural park, and there are plenty of hiking trails. The local festival in early July is celebrated with the Bous A La Mar (Bulls By The Sea), in which the bulls are chased to the water's edge. Xàbia (Jávea) There are buses from Valencia and Alacant, or you can take a taxi or a bus from Dénia. (There are 5-6 buses a day between Dénia and Xàbia, fewer on Sat and none on Sun.) You can also take a tourist, glass- bottomed boat around the cape from Dénia via Xàbia (E 10 return) and Calp to Altea (Mundo Marina, T 966 423 066). This is a delightful old village set on a hilltop a couple of kilometres back from the sea. The peaceful seaside resort spreads gently around a rocky, horseshoe bay cut off by cliffs at either end. It’s a low-key place where, thankfully, high-rise hotels and apartment blocks have been banned. Scores of British and German families have set up home here and you can pick up marmite in the supermarket or an English book at the friendly bookshop. The old pueblo is an immaculate little maze of whitewashed houses and pretty squares. Like most villages of this region, it celebrates its local festival (held in July) with a battle between the Moors and the Christians, which culminates with a spectacular firework display on the seafront, see also box. It’s a good base for hiking in the Parc Natural Montgó (the tourist office, has a series of excellent leaflets describing the various trails) and the Cabo de San Antonio has been declared a marine reserve to prevent further development and the diving is excellent. The tourist office has lists of schools offering diving courses. Calp/Calpe Calp is on the El Trenet narrow gauge railway between Alacant and Dénia, E 6.35, 1 hr 35 mins. It is linked by local bus services to Dénia and Benidorm. Calp, around the tip of the cape, is a big, blowsy resort in a stunning natural setting with excellent beaches. The extraordinary rock, the Penyal d’Ifach/Peñón de Ifach, which juts sheerly from the sea, was declared a natural reserve to preserve it from the onslaught of tourists. A tunnel has been bored up to the summit, but only 150 visitors are allowed at a time (it’s a stiff climb and takes about two hours). Calp is now so popular with German tourists and second-homers that it even celebrates Oktoberfest. Altea Altea is on the El Trenet narrow gauge railway between Alacant and Dénia,E 6.15, 1 hr 20 mins. Local bus services link it with other towns along the Costa Blanca including Calp and Xàbia. Altea is a picture-postcard white village piled prettily on a hilltop overlooking the sea. ‘Discovered’ by artists and hippies in the 1970s, it’s still got a mellow, arty atmosphere with craft shops and galleries lining its narrow, winding streets. The village is crowned with a rosy church topped with a blue-tiled dome, which overlooks a buzzy little square filled with tapas bars. The beach is pebbly and narrow, but still a favourite with families, and there’s a lively craft market along the promenade on Tuesdays. Benidorm Benidorm is on the El Trenet narrow gauge railway between Alacant and Dénia. Journey time to Alacant, E 2.85, 1 hr 6 mins. There are frequent bus services with ALSA, T 902 422 242 (within Spain only), from Alacant, single E 2.40, 45 mins, and Valencia, E 10 single, 2 hrs. Benidorm, despite recent efforts to moderate its image, is still the king of package tourism, a mini New York of towering skyscrapers, flashing neon and crammed, sweaty beaches. The only reason to visit is for a hedonistic holiday of sun, sea and dodgy sangría. It's often seen as a mecca for northern Europeans and it’s easy to forget that half the tourists who come here are Spanish – if you switch to Spanish time, you’ll find your dining or beach side companions are likely to be Spaniards, who prefer to eat late and take a siesta during the searing midday heat (while the pale-skinned northerners are happily frying). Guadalest You will need your own transport to get here as it’s not served by public transport. The easiest way to visit is to take a sight-seeing tour which you can book at the Benidorm tourist office. Guadalest is a beautiful medieval village perched alarmingly on a pinnacle. The rock is a natural fortress, accessed via a tunnel, and the views from the lofty Plaça del Castell/Plaza de Castillo are staggering. Its proximity to Benidorm, less than 30 km, means that tour buses disgorge thousands of visitors in an unending stream. Catch it out of season, or as early in the day as possible as the mist lifts from the valley below. If you’ve got your own transport, stop off for a swim at the Fuentes del Algar, a string of waterfalls and natural pools hidden away in the forest near the small town of Callosa d’en Sarrià. Alacant/Alicante There are high-speed train services from Valencia, E 20-22.50 single, 1 hr 25 mins. Regional trains, E 8.95 single, 2 hrs. Alacant is also the terminus of El Trenet, the narrow-gauge railway which runs along the Costa Blanca to Dénia (see Dénia, Calp and Altea above).There are frequent bus services from most major Spanish cities. From Valencia, with ALSA, T 902 422 242 (within Spain only), E 12.50, 2½ hrs. Alacant, the Comunitat Valenciana’s second largest town, is the main gateway for package tours to the Costa Blanca. The coastline is dense with the ugly paraphernalia of hard-core tourism, but the town itself remains authentically and pleasingly Spanish. Elegant, palm-lined boulevards stretch along the seafront, decorated with colourful azulejo tiles, and the old town (El Barrio) is an atmospheric huddle of narrow streets. It’s packed with buzzy bars and restaurants and Alacant offers some of the best shopping and nightlife on the Costa Blanca. Catch the fiery festival of Las Fogueras which celebrates the midsummer solstice (24 June) if you can: the Fogueras are the massive sculptures which, despite taking months of hard work to build, end up in the flames. Picasso, Dalí and Miró have designed them in the past – all turned to ashes along with the rest. Alacant’s biggest monument is the Castell Santa Bàrbara/Castillo Santa Bárbara, an enormous medieval fortress clamped high on a cliff. The gardens and squares are strewn with sculptures and the ancient walls offer tremendous views out to sea. The best way to reach the castle is by the lift, E 2.50, which creaks up 205 m (entrance from Avenida Jovellanos, behind the Platja/Playa de Postiguet) and saves the long, dusty climb via the road. T 965 263 131. Castle grounds, winter 0900-1900, summer 1000-2000. T 965 152 969. Capa collection (sculpture): winter 1000-1400, 1600-1900, summer 1000-1400, 1700-2000, closed Mon and Sun afternoon. The Museu d'Art Modern/Museo de Arte Moderno, tucked away in the Barri Vell/Barrio Viejo, is Alacant’s best art museum and is located in the 17th-century Casa del Assegurada/Asegurada. The light and airy museum contains works by Dalí, Picasso, Miró, Tàpies, Chillida and other great Spanish artists of the 20th century, as well as excellent changing exhibitions of contemporary art. Plaça/Plaza Santa María 3, T 965 140 959. Oct-May Tue-Sat 1000-1400, 1600-2000, Sun 1030-1430; Jun-Sep Tue-Sat 1000-1400, 1700-2100, Sun 1030-1430. Free. MARQ (Museu Arqueològic Provincial d'Alacant/ Museo Arqueológico Provincial de Alicante) is a glossy, new archaeology museum stacked with interactive exhibits and high-tech presentations of local history including the Ibero-Roman city of Lucentum which is being excavated behind the Platja/Playa de la Albuferata. Plaça/Plaza del Doctor Gómez Ulla s/n. T 965 159 006, http://www.marqalicante.com E 6. Tue-Sat 1000-1900, Sun and holidays 1000-1400.
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Valencia - £7.99
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