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?

We are just back from Benidorm. We stayed in an apartment with a shared pool - no sun lounger fights, went to the massive, clean great for kids beach every day. Ate out most nights in the old town - busy but not full of drunks. Prices were not bad - most of the food we ate was delicious.
That said, I did quite often have a beer at the pool, and even cocktails on the beach in the afternoon, so maybe I am one of ‘those drunken Brits’.

Benidorm is the pits, I completely agree with you.

Pinoso is very nice up in the mountains about 40 minutes inland from Alicante. Alicante itself is nice because it tends to be Spanish tourists rather than Brits. It's also about 40 mins away from Murcia and the Roman spa town of Archena. Lovely beaches all down the coast that aren't full of Brits.

I have not read the whole thread, but have followed it since yesterday

I live among the people you are venting against, and I am one of them

Posted too soon!! You are SO judgmental!!
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People do not go to Spain just for the free booze. They go because this is the only way they can take their kids on holiday, and then they take advantage of the "free" booze because they have already paid for it. Does this make sense?

I can't find the money to buy a holiday, even a caravan at our nearest beach. I am a teaching assistant, escaping from domestic violence. I am happy for all all of you that you can give your children these experiences

NorCalledVicky

I'm in Spain (hence username!) and this week we're driving 3 hours to France and staying for free in a friend's parents' (empty) house in the middle of nowhere. It is the only way we'd be able to afford a holiday. We'll be walking the dog, swimming in lakes/rivers, then home for easy-to-cook food while working our way through Harry Potter's opus

Cheap cheap cheap. Wish we could bring you

@NotCalledVicky if you had actually read the thread properly you'd see I did not say people go to Spain for free booze. I said I want to avoid the type of people that simply go there for cheap alcohol to drink all day and night.

@Mummyontherocks thank you! Murcia is lovely, will definitely consider heading back there.

We camp in France. (You can stay in lodge and get full board if that’s your thing) Some resorts are amazing -in the forest next to the sea. Spa, beautiful pools, kids activities and clubs. Most of all the people (including teens) are friendly and polite and dare I say well behaved . People drink have fun but without the stag or hen do mentality. We get ferry to Spain and drive across border for about 2hrs including stopping time. We have uses yelloh village but there are so many others.

To be honest, if you want to avoid smokers and people drinking alcohol at breakfast time, avoid Spain, as the locals smoke far more than any tourists and the manual workers drink a couple of shots of hard liquor with desayuno!

San Juan de Alicante is a lovely place, Elche is worth a day visit, Santa Pola is nice, Calpe, Javier and Denia are all really nice too. Just stay away from the usual suspects and dont book a package holiday with a major tour operator.

Depends what you really want OP. If you want loads of bars and restaurants and 'night life' I can't help you.

If you want good weather, few Brits, amazing food, gorgeous scenery, nice pools or beaches and friendly locals I'd recommend:
South of France (avoiding Cote d'Azur itself which stops moving in summer and is very expensive) - go inland to Var and Vaucluse.
Mallorca (anywhere apart from Magaluf and Playa de Palma) - Palma City is lovely, as is Valdemossa, Andraxt and the northern coast.
Croatia - Dubrovnic and north of there is lovely, you can island hop too.
Normandy Coast (France) - weather not as good but amazing beaches and good food, plenty to do
Italians Lakes - any of them, all beautiful
Switzerland - clearly no beaches here but gorgeous scenery, its beautiful in the summer. Can be expensive though

Could you let us know when you do book OP, just so I know where to avoid this year?

Oh my goodness the snobbery on this thread is unbelievable

OP you seem to be in vanguard of that. Writing off places you've never even been with sweeping generalisations. It makes really depressing grim reading to be honest and I'm glad I've never found myself on a sun lounger next to you

FWIW I am just back from a week in Malaga - the city centre of Malaga in fact. Lovely beaches, galleries and museums, fabulous food, historic monuments. It was fabulous. Only time we met any other Brits was when we purposely sought out an English bar to watch football. That was very civilised with excellent wine and tapas.

Like I say, you seem very narrow minded and, if you don't mind me saying, pretty ignorant. Give me a Brit having a good time drinking beer any day over your ignorance. I mean, what sort of question is "what is it like in Croatia? Do you have the weather, swimming pools, plenty of bars and restaurants?" Just breath taking.

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

Yep I could - but I don't want to.
The less that know the better IMO.

We visit family in Spain so we’re here often but I don’t disagree with you about Brits in the Costas. It wouldn’t be my first choice for that reason. My observations are that Spain is enjoying a revival amongst discerning travellers, but they aren’t heading to the coastal resorts, on the whole. Go inland and you’ll find a very different experience. Beautiful architecture and fascinating history. Seville has to be one of my favourite cities.

For beach type holidays I echo everything people have said about Croatia.

Book a boutique hotel - no riff raft in places like that

Ca'an picafort. Quiet. Shallow sea and warm waters.

Menorca, some of the quieter resorts (though none are leary tbh). Cala Santandria is a favourite of ours. We rent a villa - own pool, own sunbeds, relaxing as fuck. :o

Nerja (Spain) is lovely - it has the old town, plenty of beaches and restaurants and bars and if you hire a car you can travel to Granada and Ronda in about an hour (two separate trips) and both are lovely.

If you want to have a change form Spain, you could try Crete (Greek island) it's stunningly beautiful and not expensive and the Greeks were lovely and generous and kind. We swam every day on deserted beaches in crystal clear seas. We stayed in Plaka near Almyrida - Plaka is a smallish village with a few tavernas and restaurants but then Almyrida is bigger and situated on the beachfront and is quite buzzy with restaurants, bars and shops. There were some lovely looking apartment blocks with swimming pools close to the sea and a real mix of nationalities.

Hmm. If it's just lazing round the pool that floats your boat then unfortunately you probably have that in common with the people you are complaining about... and that is why you end up staying in the same place as them... The simple rules to avoid this scenario is hire villas or go to boutique hotels in less party-centric places (independently - not with a tour operator) and most importantly NEVER EVER GO ALL-INCLUSIVE!

Go to Spain.

Just avoid the Costa del Sol and the bit around Benidorm. That leaves 99% of the rest of the country to explore.

It makes me sad to hear the way people generalise about Spain.

My Dad’s lived in Tenerife for the last 18 years, with the exception of his first year, he’s lived away from the resorts on the coast and is one of the only English people in and around his town. The touristy bit is a fraction of the island and the rest is just lovely and authentically Spanish.

As for the costa del sol, I actually lived there for a year in 2016 with my husbands job. We lived in San Pedro near Marbella and it was mainly European/Spanish. We were the only English family on our urbanisation and with the exception of the swell in August it is still a proudly Spanish area. Puerto Banus is becoming very party central but this behaviour is not seen in the neighbouring towns/villages.

Don’t judge Spain on a few pockets of stylised resorts.

Do u have to go to a hotel? What about a villa or apartment and then u get the place to yourself

Lots ! San Sebastian, La Coruna, Santander, Cadiz are places I've been with only Spanish people for company, and wonderful food, beaches, and culture.

The trouble is that, for lots of people, unless they can be looked after and pampered from stepping off the plane to going home, they're not interested. And you're much less likely to find English speakers at the locations above. Some people speak no English at all, even in hotels.

If you're OK booking you own accommodation, organising your own transfers and having restaurant/cafe meals or carpet picnics, you will get what you want AND save a ton of money.

I think others have mentioned Nerja but we absolutely loved it there. Very traditional Spanish town, lovely atmosphere and lots of places to explore within a short drive. Frigiliana is a lovely little town in the hills overlooking Nerja which is great for a villa holiday.