Costa Blanca Mini Vacation
Like many in Spain during the hot days of summer, we decided to take a trip to the beach for some much needed rest and relaxation. Setting out from Casa Espanada for what we thought would be a day trip, we set our sites on the beaches of Costa Blanca in the province of Alicante. Having recently visited Alicante to visit friends and see Cirque du Soleil’s Luzia, we decided to return to explore the beaches of this beautiful region.
Costa Blanca
First a word about this region. Spain in a beautiful marketing scheme has named each of its coast line along some theme characteristic of the area. The list and description of all coast can be found on Spain’s official tourism website.
Javea / Playa de l’Arenal
When exploring “buffet style” we quickly browsed the beach offerings in the area and settled on Playa de l’Arenal. We chose this beach in part because it is an urban beach centrally located with bars, restaurants and beach stores. It is also a “blue flag” beach, valued for “a series of stringent environmental, educational, safety, and accessibility criteria must be met and maintained each year”.
Lunch was at Pizzería Pepe. You can find my review of the meals on my Trip Advisor or Google Guides pages. Follow me there for recommendation on where… and where not… to visit.
Benedorm
After enjoying our beach day, we didn’t have any desires for heading back to Casa Espanada. A quick search of various booking sites we quickly realized we weren’t finding anything cheap and close. So we decided to check out Benidorm which was a short 40 minute drive. The coastal route between these two places through Calpe is spectacular and got added to the list of future excursions.
Altea / Playa de Roda
Making the most of our day, we decided to explore other beaches along the Costa Blanca. We found ourself in Altea and decided to stop for a look. Turns out the Playa de Roda is one of Spain’s pebble beaches. I don’t know if it was a translation thing but I would classify the make up of this beach as pure rock. That said, their rounded, salt covered appearance offered a very interested and, in some respects, fascinating experience.
Less touristy and crowded we easily found ourselves with a spot on the waterline. The breeze off the water kept us fresh all day and when we were done, no sand to clean out of those most difficult crevices!
After a morning of pure relaxation, we headed out for our midday meal. Having passed an interesting looking restaurant on our walk from the car, we decided to return to Restaurante Columbus 1492. Check out our review on Google or Trip Advisor.
After a wonderful meal we made our way back to the beach for a classic siesta before making our way home.
