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?

Los Alcazares in Spain ....lovely small town beautiful beach and promenade .One of Spain,s best kept secrets .

Questions like "where is skiathos" and "are there's pools and bars in Croatia" are really stupid in this day and age. You're on the internet - google them.

Another vote for calpe, it’s half an hour from benidorm and a world apart. We stayed in the gran hotel sol y mar which is right on the beach. It is an adult only hotel and has an amazing infinity pool overlooking the beach.

Honestly why don't you just avoid hotels? We go to the canaries every year (I know unpopular with a lot of MN) but just book and villa with a pool. Don't have to worry about any other people just have our little bubble. As long as you avoid near the big resort type places you can usually find one in a small town with restaurants etc

I’ve just come back from the Costa Del Sol. Wow, aren’t I common 🙄.

Not all parts of Spain are full of lager louts.

We stayed in Nerja. Yes, many British people were there, but there were no lager lout behaviour, and it was a lovely place, also Frigiliana.
I thought that Benalmadena etc have had a big clean and spruce up the last few years.

Use Google to find the nice parts. Or try the short haul threads in the travel section for more advice or ideas.

Try the western costa del sol. As someone mentioned previously, Estepona, sabinillis, Porto duquesa. Casares is a lovely white Spanish village perched on a hillside. Go inland Spain.

Spain is beautiful. Cádiz, San Sebastián. Spanish people are wonderful.

Just booked yet another holiday in a completely unspoilt traditional part of Spain. The food and drink is very inexpensive and away from the town centre “restaurants” consist of walking through someone’s house into their garden where a few tables and chairs are set up...you’ll be served the most wonderful home cooked local produce.

The worst Engli-fied place I’ve ever been to was Coral Beach near Paphos in Cyprus. Hideous.

Somebody mentioned the West coast of France. I went on a family holiday there as a child, it was absolutely lovely. Beautiful beaches and so many places to visit. Can't vouch for what it's like now bu t might be worth a look?

I agree, I don’t holiday abroad because most of these places are filled by drunken English people, I prefer to find a quiet spot in the uk. I would love to holiday abroad in the future though and would try and chose a less popular holiday destination to avoid drunken British people.

Lovemusic33. I think it is unfair and ingenuous to tar all of abroad with the same brush. The rowdy places get a lot of publicity for all the wrong reasons. There are loads and loads of nice and quiet holiday destinations abroad. Just as we have rowdy holiday destinations here - Blackpool and Newquay spring to mind immediately.

And most holiday destinations are not full of rowdy English drunks .
Several are, but not most.

I agree, I don’t holiday abroad because most of these places are filled by drunken English people

Well that’s just silly.

Skiathos is overcrowded and there's not a lot to do imo. Op you're a snob, just look for a nice hotel/apartment in a less popular tourist area, it's really that simple.

Agree about Croatia, go there and you will fall in love with it..still relatively unspoiled and untouristy, heaven if you find a quiet place on the coast.

Another vote for Costa de Luz and Estepona. I have never stayed anywhere like the OP describes it really isn't difficult to avoid them.

I’ve been to various places mentioned here and it’s not been brits abroad at all - only place was Malia and I was part of its target market then.

What you focus on you’ll see, so one bloke in Union Jack shorts with a beer at 7am will ruin your hols, whereas if you focus on the 100s of other holiday makers you’ll not even notice him.

This will be out fifth year in Skiathos. It's guaranteed to be quiet, it's clean, not a lager lout in sight 😁. Not masses of "stuff" to do, but lots of nice beaches and a few activities if you are that way inclined. We're happy by the pool all day and go out in the evening.

So, avoid Salou and go 5km down the coast to Cambrils. Same gorgeous beach, pretty old quarter, you can rent bikes up and down the coast. It's a totally different place.

Go somewhere else and save Spain for the rest of us. I must say i think you are being shockingly rude about a fantastic country. Not sure they'd want you back.

Sounds like you need to rent a villa with a pool and avoid everyone.

The coast near almeria is lovely

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

We have a family holiday home in Benalmadena and have had for many years.

We’ve never seen anything like you suggest and we go for 8/9 weeks between May-Sept, a week in Oct and then very occasionally for Christmas.

Spain is where the rabble go ?

Nice .

I have been to Spain and am not rabble tyvm

Just about every country around the Med has somewhere where 'the rabble' go.

Club 18-30, if it still exists, probably provides a handy guide to the places the 'non rabble' should avoid, so Magaluf in Mallorca, Falikari on Rhodes, Benidorm, Spain, Kavos on Corfu or Ayia Napa, Cyprus etc.

Not just Spain, but other countries too. If you avoid those areas, your holiday can be as authentic and peaceful as you like. Just don't write off entire countries because other people have a different idea of what makes a good holiday. They'd probably consider your holiday dull as ditchwater.

LoveMusic33
I don’t holiday abroad because most of these places are filled by drunken English people

Well given what the population level of England is, even if they were all drunken and went on holiday simultaneously they wouldn’t be able to fill every single resort abroad. What utter nonsense some people talk. If you can find a quiet spot in the UK (which after all is likely to be populated by UK people) then it’s even more possible to find one abroad.

I think what some people are saying (thankfully not the majority) is that “I want to do no research myself whatsoever and pay tuppence for my holiday, but then start kicking off when other people do the same”.

And thanks to the positive posters on this thread, I’ve got lots more ideas for trips abroad now!

OP is Hyacinth Bouquet reincarnated!