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?

I’ve had brilliant holidays in Benidorm, Salou and Benalmadena. A lot will depend on the hotel, time of year etc. I’ve never seen the sort of behaviour you talk about in Salou or Benalmadena although we are usually heading back to the hotel by midnight when party people would just be getting started. Cambrils next door to Salou is beautiful, old town Benidorm is lovely and Calpe nearby too. You can have lively without rowdy. All the costas have lovely resorts and Costa de la Luz and Costa Almeria are less frequented by Brits.

The Balearic Islands are stunning. Holidayed in all of them. When I was young I did clubbing in San Antonio but I’ve been back with my mum and baby DD and toddler DS in May and it had everything you could want for a family holiday and never once saw loutish behaviour, same with Magaluf. Menorca is stunning.

If you want to stick with Spain, easy and quick to get to and fairly cheap, you will find numerous places suited to your needs. There are other destinations, you could try Malta, Fuerteventura, Bulgaria, Holland, Cyprus, Italy. The worlds your oyster.

Sneering at holiday makers who enjoy a different holiday is snobby; don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. And if you’ve never been then you are merely presuming what these resorts are like.

We went to Cambril last year and walked up to Salou!! God it was grim!! Fat, sweaty, gobby loud mouth Brits. Utterly embarrassing, needless to say we stayed in Cambril for the entire holiday
Fat people!! Oh no! You should be provided with special anti-obesity sunshades. What if a fat person attempts to enter Cambrils, do the police turn them away?
Wait a minute though, if you stayed in Cambrils for the entire holiday, you missed the chance to visit Roman Tarragona or Barcelona? Philistine.

We holiday in Spain every year.

And we get a private villa with pool, usually half an hour's drive inland to avoid Brits Abroad. Which is a solution for us but maybe wouldn't be if you didn't have £3000 to splurge.

France is yes, lovely, as no doubt so is Italy but they are way more expensive that Spain.

In the same way I wouldn't dream of going clubbing in a UK uni city of a Friday night. Because it would be grim.

All these stories, anecdotes, factual reports and visual evidence of how quite a few Brits behave at the popular costa resorts isn't all hearsay. And it is also true that many of the resort towns and cities are deliberately trying to go up market, fewer people spending more money to discourage loutishness- note Palma having to ban swim wear as outdoor wear in its lovely old town, because it was offending the locals.

However, as others have said, Xabia/Javea is nice!

Oh no. We've been half an hour inland in Spain and we're British and a bit fat. We have tattoos too. Have we broken some law I didn't know about? I've heard that the Guardia Civil can be a bit fierce.

I’m looking forward to returning to Salou next month. Yet again, we will be taking sightseeing trips to Barcelona, boat trips from Cambrils and dining on freshly caught fish. If that tires me out, I may just spend an afternoon on a sun lounger by the pool with a cold beer because “fuck it. I’m on my holidays”.
I visited Benidorm in January with my 3 teens. I’ve never been there before and deliberately booked out of season. Not a drop of alcohol was taken and we were all tucked up in bed by midnight! The rowdiest daytime drinkers were the Spanish pensioners at our hotel - playing cards and wine at mid-day - they were fab!
At both resorts we avoided the British pubs and cafes. If we wanted fish & chips and a mug of tea, we’d have gone to Blackpool instead!

Salou is lovely.
Barcelona not far away - surely you didn't miss that. Pickpockets mind you but just hold onto your bag.
Greece also has fat people and Italy oh and Croatia.... what to do. Perhaps go holiday only where they allow people who meet the required 'slenderness' to pass your test.

" XiCi Tue 24-Jul-18 16:05:47
I'm not sure such a massive brit abroad stereotype actually exists outside of tv/newspapers. Im thinking of all the summer beach holidays I've had over the years. Numerous Greek islands, Italy, France, Ibiza, Croatia and further afield Caribbean, India, Dubai, Florida and I've not encountered one of these mythical creatures. So if they're knocking around they can't be that hard to avoid!! "

Indeed we travel several times a year and there are some but then it appears some go looking for them to point them out.... lol what is wrong with some people so judgemental of others.

Live and let live I say

@DontDrinkDontSmoke thank you!! This is my point! that is the type of people most try to avoid anyway, so I don't see why so many took offense.

@Boulty you do know they don't go to any of those countries right?!

You'll only find them in Spain!

Greek Islabds is where Skiathoa is! Loads of Greek islands that you will enjoy. Our favourite is Kefelonia where we go every June and then elsewhere in the September. Loads to try and find out which you prefer

'What's wrong with drinking a beer at 1pm on holiday?'

Quite

It seems to me that in this thread the people who have travelled the most have seen the least of this old, tired Brits abroad stereotype. They are the ones with open minds.

It seems to be the people who go to one place year after year or who haven't been to Spain for years who have this image in their minds.

Because in general, it's just not true.

It's horses for courses really isn't it? We all pay a lot and want to enjoy our holidays but that enjoyment means different things to different people. I'm sure some would find the places I like boring and quiet with nothing to do just as much as I'd find other 's choices loud and leery.

Just as well we don't all like the same things as those places would be overcrowded.

Spain is not a cheap holiday ime. Bulgaria and Croatia were coming up as cheaper options when I was looking.

We went to la pineda for a week a few years ago and it was sort of inbetween. Lots of Brits but mostly families. Quite mixed.

Bit those have have travelled extensively go out of their way to avoid Brits Abroad!

It's easy to be relaxed about crass, loutish holiday behaviour when you don't go anywhere near those hot spots!

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...

Sounds awesome.

@Blushah I do a mixture of holiday. Some city breaks, some beach holidays with the kids, visits to more middle class haunts across Europe. I can honestly say I can not remember seeing anyone like the Brits abroad described on this thread.

I've had a week in Salou twice in the last three years for instance. No sign of any of this. I've been to Majorca four or five times in the last 4 years. Again, no sign of it.

I think it's a bit of a myth.

And anyway, not everyone wants the same holiday. Hell I dont always want the same holiday. Sometimes I want to go and look at beautiful historic surroundings, sometimes I want to travel across a country and get a real feel for it, sometimes I want to sit on a secluded olive grove with a book and a glass of local wine, sometimes I want to have beer with my breakfast and sing kareoke at night. All of those holidays are just as valid and choosing one over another doesn't make one morally superior.

So far this year I've been to the canaries for a very quiet break with my DP where we read all week long, Ive been on a riotous few days away with a friend and danced till 3am, I've been to Vienna to study the history and architecture of the Austro Hungarian empire, I've been to a beautiful Spanish city to eat tapas and explore the old town, Im shortly off to drive through central France on a wine trip, I've bern to Holland to eat fried snacks and drink beer...which of those is considered ok for the cognoscenti and which is not? Personally I couldn't care less. I enjoyed them all.

Never fear, OP, the mayor of Marbella is on this. Shirtless men and women wearing swimwear in the streets can now be fined 750 euros. Ditto sex toy headgear (!). This is to avoid the “lower quality tourists” they have seen in other parts of Spain, and preserve the areas reputation for glamour. Hen and stag parties will not be welcome!