To want to holiday like a normal person

[Bimgy85]

Popular places in Spain have been ruined and are now so tacky and commercial... Benalmadena, Salou, Benidorm is a no go completely.

Ruined by these typical lager lout holiday makers usually consisting of a large British family who drink cans of San Miguel beside the pool at 1 in the day smoking cigarettes and or drinking beer with their breakfast...

Aibu to want to relax by the pool like a regular person without taking over the entire place, reserving sunbeds, allowing my kids to scream their heads off from 9 am until 9 pm

Parts of Spain have been ruined and taken over by these type of people! Lager lout beer bellies up for a fight most of the time, poor fuckers

Can you recommend a nice spot in Spain that hasn't been ruined? And become tacky central?

Why Spain?

I went to Skiathos last year... was beautiful 👌

I guess I've just gotten used to the country! Where is that?

We love to go to Italy.

My family go to Skiathos annually, they rave about it.

Lay off Spain, OP, go somewhere more exciting like Croatia, probably cheaper, far fewer tourists.

Skiathos-Greece.

Agree about Croatia. The coast is beautiful. We went there about 10 years ago and it felt relatively unspoilt, probably like the Costa Brava was around 50 years ago.
May be a bit more developed now but not like the places you have described.
It feels very Mediterranean so would not be too big a leap if you are used to Spain.

Oh nice, what is it like in Croatia? Do you have the weather, swimming pools, plenty of bars and restaurants?

"what is it like in Croatia? Do you have the weather, swimming pools, plenty of bars and restaurants?"

Have you heard of Google?

Sorry, not helpful I know, but really. There is a whole world out there and a wealth of information at your fingertips. And yes, Croatia has all those things (and is beautiful and historic).

Ben havis and estapona are both lovely parts of Spain. We love Tarifa too. Wouldn't even consider the places you mention.

We are in Benalmadena right now and there are very few English voices. Out hotel seems to be mainly French families

@Bimgy85

Oh nice, what is it like in Croatia? Do you have the weather, swimming pools, plenty of bars and restaurants?
Sounds like the type of holiday you want is going to attract the type of crowd you’re hoping to avoid.
Croatia isn’t the same as Spain...

We avoid the type of places you describe and have had some fabulous holidays in Italy, Crete and Croatia. I hate typical Brits abroad resorts and do a lot of online research. Last eyar we went to Sicily and there weren't many English people there at all. Most of the holiday makers were Italian. I loved where we stayed.

Calpe was nice, about an hours drive from Alicante too. Definitely not full of British lager louts.

Come to the Costa de la Luz. Authentically Spanish, barely hear an English voice and miles of golden sandy beaches. Enchanting place, we never tire of exploring the Moorish cities, white villages, gorgeous coastline.

Spain is where the rabble go. Go elsewhere or put up with it.

If you are looking for a more traditional resort in Spain, then you might enjoy Colonia de Sant Jordi in South Mallorca. We went a couple of years ago and hardly heard any UK voices. It's a resort mainly frequented by Spanish visitors along with some Germans and Scandinavians. I speak a bit of Spanish which helped and I found the locals to be lovely. Beautiful beaches too. It also helps that we can avoid the English school holidays, as being Scottish, our schools break up a few weeks earlier.

If you don’t want to be around the mass population, you need to book self catering that has a pool attached.

Second Calpe as a good place to go. We always holiday in Xabia (again, about an hour from Alicante). It has three very distinct areas (old town, port, beach) and it's lovely. Used to tourists, but still feels like a place where Spanish people live & work, and expats move out to, rather than a holiday destination.

Italy is a lovely place to holiday - Tuscany, the Amalfi Coast, Elba just for starters.

Or in Spain you could try the Basque region - some beautiful countryside and I rather like SAN Sebastian/Donostia.

Hasn’t Benidorm etc been petty tacky for decades already? I don’t know anyone who’s been tbh but from what you see on tv I am not clear why on earth you’d book to go there unless you explicitly wanted a very particular type of “brits on tour” holiday.

Have you considered going to the non-shit parts of Spain, OP? Just a thought. Spain is a big place and has lots of lovely places. Everyone knows Benidorm is horrible...so just don't go there.

\its probably not that difficult...

Majorca, Menorca and Ibiza are wonderful. Just avoid the busy bits.

Asturias in Spain is nice, fantastic beaches that could rival Cornwall. A different kind of holiday from “package holiday” Spain. EasyJet, BA, Vueiling, Ryanair fly to various airports in the region. I’ve travelled there 2 or 3 times a year, for the past 10 years. Definitely worth a visit.

Spain is an amazing country, with so much to offer anyone who is looking for a holiday.

The food and wine culture is among the best in the world, particularly in areas like the Basque Country around Bilbao and La Rioja. Andalusia is great for seafood around Cadiz and Jerez produces Sherry, one of the world’s most misunderstood and under appreciated wines. What could be better than enjoying delicious tapas with the locals while sampling a few glasses of the local manzanilla?

There are fantastic, unspoilt, quiet beaches on the Atlantic coast, eg the Costa de la Luz west of Tarifa. Great for water sports. San Sebastián is also a fantastic beach destination.

Barcelona is great, but it is overwhelmed by tourism in summer, so try Seville, Madrid or Valencia instead.

In fact, the only parts of Spain you really should avoid are the package-tour Costas full of ignorant pissed-up British chavs.

Namechanged to say just back from a week in Salou, never been before and a bit anxious - beautiful place, lots of tourists (families) and tacky touristy shops obviously, amazing sandy beaches, saw four "British" bars though suspect there are more, no one drank at the pool as you weren't allowed to eat or drink there, all noise stopped at 12, heard as many French and Spanish voices as English ones, loads of N Irish people, lovely visit to Barcelona too.
Not our usual sort of holiday but would I be the kind of rude fucker who'd write such a goody OP? Nope. I usually think you can find what you want to on holiday - if you want bars, that's what you see, if you want scenery you'll look for that etc. I also think the OP actually wants a bog standard holiday destination as the comment about Croatia reveals!