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Ralita was asking if Salou is the worst place on the Spanish coast.
Though I feel sick at the site of Salou, I don’t think it is. I think it might be the La Manga strip, though Torrevieja is also a strong challenger.
Interested to hear from others on this important question.
Perhaps I need to define the criteria first, but let’s see if we can get by without having to do that.
Mark
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Without giving it any thought the first places that came to mind are:
Almerimar…over-development, lots of flies, rubbish on the beach and floating in the marina.
Calahonda…Over-development, lots of tatty bars, need a car to go anywhere.Both these two resorts do not have a heart and soul (and never did have) because they consist of thousands of prurpose built apartments and bars opened to serve the tourist. Wasn’t too keen on Torrevieja but was only there 2 days (thank God!)
The majority of places do have good and bad bits eg. I think Torremolinos has improved over the last few years, nice traffic free paseo. On the other hand Fuengirola has gone from bad to worse, previously quiet sea front now has constant two-way traffic. I don’t know many places that haven’t been ruined by construction but I think my main two are because they don’t have any areas that are good.
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mark wrote:Ralita was asking if Salou is the worst place on the Spanish coast.
Though I feel sick at the site of Salou, I don’t think it is. I think it might be the La Manga strip, though Torrevieja is also a strong challenger.
Interested to hear from others on this important question.
Perhaps I need to define the criteria first, but let’s see if we can get by without having to do that.
Mark
I was shocked by Salou, it is a bad place filled with dirty hotels and overcrowded beaches. I had never been there before and never plan to
go back.A bit to the South, Cambrils is a decent place but has very ugly apartment buildings and the water shore is packed with bricks and stones and the water itself is quite dirty.
On the other hand, I liked very much the city Tarragona.
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I have to agree with jiminspain about the area around Almeria with the horrible blight of the plastic greenhouses and rubbish. I do not like the area behind Puerto Mazarron, another sea of plastic nor just inland from the Murcia coast. As ever there are some good spots close by, such as San Juan des Terroses, Villaricos, Garrucha, San Jose and Mojacar.
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I have to disagree with you on Duquesa we have had many holidays there in the last few years and whilst there is building work going on, alot of it is appraoching completion.
There is a great choise of restaurants from the traditional Spanish in the Castillo area and Sabinillas, to the more English ones in the port.
The beaches are never over crowded and there are many picturesque locations within easy reach.
But saying that when we go away on holiday all we require is some sun, sea and sand with some nice restaurants thrown in, so it fits our requirements!
Take a look at this blog to see pictures of the Virgen del Carmen Procession:
http://www.property-in-the-sun.com/Blog/2007/Jul_2007/16_july_2007.htm
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I am not going to keep coming on here to defend my opinion (Duquesa was not in my main worse spots anyway, as I wasn’t just thinking of over-development, although when I do drive on the coast road there it looks horrific to me). Sabinillas is fine but is not ravaged like Duquesa. If I had used only overdevelopment on the coasts as my criteria, I would have chosen them nearly all, at least from Ayamonte and all along to Barcelona.
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Looks like Torrevieja is aiming to be a strong challenger for this title.
Lovely! 😆
http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_25210.shtml
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Hi!
I am new to this forum.
I thought I give you my opinion on the subject.Salou and Almerimar are the two worst places for me on the spanish costas.
I terms of Costa del Sol. (This is the area I know very well) I personally don’t like Calahona and Fuengirola. My two favorites are Casares Costa and Elviria (part of Marbella). -
IMO much of the CDS and CB are now so overbuilt and messy, with the original avocado farms and hillsides now ruined forever.
Calahonda, San Pedro, and most of what you see below you from Mijas is not a good view anymore, around Coin is spoilt too.
Ojen is not too bad still.
As for Costa Blanca, pretty much Ugh 😥
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I’ve just come on the forum after a couple of weeks and the first thing I see is Mark criticising Salou.
What I’m not sure of is by what criteria are these places being judged?
As I think Katy said, if it’s in terms of over-building and ruining the coastline then you’re spoilt for choice really but as I know Salou, Cambrils and Tarragona quite well I’m assuming that it’s not that issue, as they do not qualify as being over-built.
Yes, Salou’s tacky with some ghastly hotels but the beach is OK and there’s a nice long promenade along the front with a laser and music show plus regular concerts.
It must appeal to some because it always seems busy in the season.
Cambrils is more genteel but dull and I didn’t notice the water quality there because we were in-between the two resorts at Villafortuny.
Tarragona is small and OK but spoiled by the coast with docks and railway lines. The CDS I can’t really comment on having only been there once but Benidorm has evolved from purely Spanish holiday resort to what it is now – over-developed – but it’s infinitely superior to Salou.For me it is what’s happened to the coastal areas Mark, and the worst one that I know other than Benidorm is Calpe, just up the coast from Benidorm.
What was once a nice friendly little town with a picturesque fishing port is now a garish architect’s nightmare of mismatched buildings jostling for the last remaining shoreline by the fish market and they’re still building on it.
Mind you, the other contender must be that awful place near Oropesa now!
stevmk2 -
Intersting you mentioned Calpe. Haven’t been since my student days (which is a while ago!). We stayed at the Paradero de Ifach, a small hotel with three steps to the beach ,and just a walk from the traditional port which was right by the side of the rock. The pueblo was a longish walk acroos the fields and there was just one main st. Always intended to go back but never did.
It was said locally that the owner of the hotel was an old friend of Franco. I had an electric shock there when I switched on a standard lamp…happy days.
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Can’t honestly remember that name of hotel there Katy.
These days you can walk along the seafront (the old seafront) then you are at the bottom of the town and it’s a steep climb up too. There are no fields now to walk through.
When you come down the hill from the railway station or look across from the old hermitage all you can see now is a mini Benidorm where the port is – it’s truly horrible and a disgrace to do something like that to the area, especially with the Penon being such a memorable sight – not that you can see much of it now.
stevmk2 -
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The best has to be the coastline of north eg Asturias & Galicia surpised its not been mentioned in despatches, followed closely by Sunwinds choice of the Area around Moraira, especially El Portet.
The worst, stick a pin on any coastal erea and I am sure some will think its there but my vote goes to Torrevieja & surrounding area
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I will take Benidorm any day against the likes of Torremolinos & Fuengirola it’s cleaner, safer, and apart from the months of July & August when the Brit hoards invade it has a real Spanish feel to it. The beaches are good and you can walk miles from the new end of Levante to the older part of Poniente. The old town is very authentic packed with noisy Spanish Tapas bars. It has some very good Hotels, the Terra Mitica theme park, 2 water parks, and 2 nature parks, plus 2 new 18 hole golf courses. It is quickly and easily accessible from the airport and is surrounded by some stunning scenery. It is a mecca for Spaniards especially from Madrid in the off season. It has evolved as a result of demand for accomodation and homes, rather than as the pipe dreams of some deluded developer cashing in on what they perceived to be a never ending property boom. Its development has in the main gone up rather than sprawling out meaning that less of the coastline has been ravaged by building.
Downsides
The Brits in high season
The innumerable Chinese Bazaars
Tea DancesP.S how my speeling thes time Ainge
P.P.S And lets not forget Sticky Vicky -
@angie wrote:
With so many ‘dumps’ being mentioned in Spain, why on earth did people buy in these places, was it clever ‘you cannot lose’ marketing by agents and developers? It seems like most of the coast has been spoilt with mass overbuild, 1000’s of For Sale and To Rent signs everywhere!
You dont see that many properties for sales in Benidorm “says it all” Ok on the outskirts yes
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Quite an unusual qay of describing Benidorm Jim – I though it was more huge and “huger” towerblocks all fighting to block out the sky with not a Spaniard insight! Fuengi on the other hand yes is full of Spaniards and tapas bars – and a nice beach – just stay away from the delboy restaurants on the front and you wouldn´t even know there were brits there.
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got to agree on calpe my in laws had a place there in appollo 5 and from the window you could see the rock out of one side and the flats on the other now its high rises one side and villas the other.we now holiday just down the road in baladra just near moroira its quiet has a couple of good restuarants and is within easy reach of the town its self
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@gus-lopez wrote:
Good post jiminspain ,I’d agree with every word. I was quite surprised when I first went there expecting it to be a nightmare but was pleasantly surprised, especially with the seafront area.
Dont get me wrong Benidorm has its downsides but is nowhere near as bad as its reputation, I would put money on the fact that accross the whole of the year more Spaniards holiday there than Brits although I would agree in high summer it would not feel like it. The choice of places to eat is massive, prices are very reasonable, and there is a great choice of entertainment in the many hotels and bars (dont forget sticky vicky)
Suffice to say give me the choices of living no money worries in Benidorm or back here in Uk I would choose Benidorm hands down
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Benidorm is a big place and I think unless people go round all of it, a long old walk!, they will end up with differing views, the north is for me a much different place than the south, as has been said the old town in the middle still has some character left
Calpe is similar in looks on the skyline and of course smaller but I think its wrong to call it (as some do) a smaller Benidorm, I think of it more as a place that has learned from so of the mistakes made in Benidorm, however its does spoil the area that runs from Altea to Moraira, it’s a lovely coastline apart from this, the contrast as you enter the Benissa Costa from the Calpe Costa is an eye opener
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