Any resorts on the Costa Blanca/Valencia coast worth staying apart from Benidorm?

[crushedintherush]

We are thinking of spending a week on the Valencia coast, then 4 days in Valencia itself for our hols in 2014, total of 11 days.

We've been to Valencia before so thats easy for us to sort, but stuck on the coast bit. Never been. Any ideas? I've looked at Altea and Calpe up to now, but not much accommodation there, apart from villas or apartments slightly out of the resort.

We don't want to drive, so would like something close to the resort, say 15 -20 min walk into the centre. Somewhere really pretty with character (Altea has caught my eye for this alone).We like hotels 3 or 4 star, but can stay in an apartment if not.

Not sure about Benidorm tbh, but our arms could be twisted if somebody would recommend a nice pretty part of it, away from the crowds.

Anybody stayed along the Valencia coast? Can/will you recommend a hotel, or which place to stay?

Many thanks in advance

try denia for hotels, hotel los angeles is lovely. javea also has a few hotels, a parador right on the beach and a few other.. Moraira is a nice little town but more villas than hotels, all nicer than calpe and smaller although the sol y mar hotel in calpe is lovely. dont go to benidorm just no point, but why not just hire a car and expore and go inland a bit too. mumsnets best euro hotel is in that neck of the woods. www.caseriodelmirador.com

beginning to sound like a broken record but just shocking that its still such a well kept secret!

valencia is a great city followed by/after a week at caserio del mirador sounds perfect, but yes def need a car, why dont you want to drive? the roads are empty, its so easy you will wonder why you didnt do it years ago. javea is a nice resort town but public transport pretty non existent.

Thanks sofi0308 and loulouppy

I will look at the hotel Los Angeles in Denia, and Javea too.

The reason we don't want to drive is that for many years, we've holidayed in rural France, which involved a lot of driving. We don't mind it, but having driven to Portsmouth and back from the North of England, 6 hours of a journey, then ferry to France, then driving from port to gite, and back, then driving round in between, it kind of took it out of us. I was thinking of giving dh a rest from all that driving, and I'm not good on the roads.

If it doesn't work out, we could always just do Valencia for a few days another time, separate from the main holiday, was just trying to fit it all in in one go. I'll see what happens, thanks very much for your advice :)

just pick up a hire car at the airport, an hour down the road to denia, and easy to get about and visit different beaches, bars, days out..

i think the javea hotel is called Los Naranjas and in Moraira there is one called La Sort but honestly the taxi from valencia will be over 100 euros, you can hire a car for not much more. and you must visit the Biopark zoo in Valencia and the aquarium, amazing, world class. how old are the kids?

Hi Louloupy, we don't have any dc, just us two

After a lot of thought, it looks like car hire is the best option. Still loads of good ideas and nice places mentioned on here to think about, and we are looking at apartments as well as hotels now. Watch this space.....

oh well then.. have a night at the Posada del Mar in denia, spend the day at Zensa marina (roof top bar with pool in the marina) , then have dinner in Calle Loretto then have a night in Javea for a day at La Siesta beach bar, then head to altea. everywhere else far too child friendly! skip the zoo and stick to sangria.

thanks lou, sounds like its Altea and sangria then

What's Altea like? My friend was thinking of buying there.

altea is a bit posher than the other towns mentioned above, bit less bucket and spade, bit more boutique and bistro, hilly and cobbled, not very buggy friendly, stony beach, restaurants more expensive but better..