Benidorm, Spain: Manhattan on the Mediterranean

When the mayor of a small Spanish fishing village on the Costa Blanca had the idea of attracting tourists to his town by building several rows of six-story hotels back in 1956, no one could have predicted the development of what was to become the Benidorm of today. But this simple method of providing more bang for the tourist buck by accommodating the most tourists and services in as little space as possible quickly caught on here and has been a major success story for the Spanish tourism industry, drawing in ever more visitors ever since.

To say Benidorm has grown since then is a bit of an understatement, although most of the growth has actually been vertical. With a local population of some 73,000, and located just a few miles to the north of Alicante on Spain's beautiful Mediterranean Costa Blanca coast, Benidorm is also guest to over five million visitors a year and home to some 120 high-rise hotels and apartment buildings, the world's tallest hotel and apartment building being among them (the Gran Bali stands a full 550 feet tall). But nobody can say with any certainty if this number might not be higher than 120 as of this writing, what with all the construction cranes pulling up new skyscrapers here all the time.

It appears as if the city has been trying to set one record after the next these past fifty-plus years; also now holding the title of beach vacation locale number one in Europe. And Benidorm boasts having the heaviest concentration of high-rise buildings in the world, some of these structures standing less than 10 meters apart. And when not counting the giant European metropolitan areas, there are in fact more hotels in Benidorm than anywhere else on the continent, these being booked out over 90% of the time, as well. But it is no wonder, really. Benidorm offers competitively low prices when compared to other popular European beach vacation spots and, perhaps more importantly, over 3400 hours of guaranteed sunshine every year.

You get an inkling of the dimensions of this place when driving into town, the skyscrapers slowly approaching from far in the distance while coming up from Alicante on the highway. But to just what degree the Spanish have become infected with high-rise madness here only becomes apparent once you begin walking through town. And although not a huge area by any means, Benidorm's beautiful beaches stretching a modest five kilometers from Playa de Levante to Playa de Poniente, the 1000 restaurants available here, and all of the shops, the Guinness bars along the beautiful promenade so full of colorful characters and active vacationers (Benidorm being particularly popular with Flemish, British and Dutch tourists), all of this attests to a concentration of pleasant distractions that you would normally expect to find in a city much larger.

The Mediterranean Manhattan, some call it. Only there's no Statue of Liberty off in the distance here of course, Benidorm's trademark island Isla de Benidorm beckons to its visitors just two miles off the coast instead. And despite the recent housing market disturbances which have now strongly affected the Spanish real estate market as well, those ready and willing to buy a dream apartment in Benidorm can and will continue to do so here. Not unlike the wealthy New Yorkers who can always purchase a Manhattan penthouse suite despite the economic situation, "new money" Russians are among the latest investors active here these days, and prices ranging anywhere between from 3000 and 7000 euros per square meter for a high-rise apartment aren't scaring any of them off.

It is a vacation spot for the wealthy and the modest-income tourist both, in other words. You too can do yourself a favor, as I did (with a fraction of the money the wealthy Russian might have), and get a feel for how the other half lives by booking your own room in the forties (as in floors) of one of the larger hotels in Benidorm. There certainly are enough of them to go around, so shop around first. And then, from high above, you too can enjoy a breathtaking view of the Costa Brava and the white sands of the beautiful beaches Llevant, Ponent and Mal Pas below, curving around together like the flapping wings of some great white bird.

If you have ever dreamed of going on a Mediterranean vacation with style, flair and a touch of the exotic, but don't feel that the overpriced allures of the Cote d'Azur are precisely what you were looking for, an extended stay at Benidorm might just be your cup of Spanish tea.