Torrevieja, Spain- anyone been?

[justasyouare]

We are looking at accommodation for next Summer and are looking for advice on areas to stay.
We have been looking at Torrevieja but there seem to be some very mixed reviews, although a lot of the bad ones are 10 or so years old and I think I have read the area has changed since then.

Has anyone been in the last couple of years? Is it awful?

We love Nerja but feel we have done that area. Tried Fuengirola but found it quite soul less, although we did find some good restaurants. Did Benalmádena for a day and also not keen. Don’t really like Alicante and are not interested in Benidorm!

We are looking for somewhere that we can walk into a nice centre with bars and restaurants but not full of high rises etc and not a massive drinking culture. Would like some things to do such as rafting and parasailing, which we can see are available in Torrevieja.

Also looking at Los Alcazares

Any thoughts are very welcome!

We've been next door, La Zenia area, though La Zenia doesn't have hotels. Torrevieja was next door, and one town ran into the next, so we went in for meals, for the funfair and a walk. It was in the summer hols last year, and certainly seemed very popular with families. It wasn't dreadful, but it did have a bit of a tired feel about it. The front area, where the nightly market and fair is seemed to be re-generated and there were lovely restaurants round there. We really enjoyed that area, and would walk out the new wooden promenade, we really liked that. The beaches were packed through the day. Have a look on street-view, you might get a feel of the area. We never went to the centre area, it was a few streets in, just stayed round the front.

Torrevieja is quite similar to Benidorm - high rises etc. It's very busy. We visited on a day trip 2 years ago - we took the kids to a water park and we both remarked that we were glad we weren't staying in that area.
We stayed near Los Alcazares and much preferred it. If you enjoy any type of water sports then anywhere around the Mar Menor area should be okay. We did kayaking, paddle boarding, windsurfing, etc when we were there.

Cadiz might be an option?

Hmmmm, definitely good fo thought!
@BluntAndToThePoint would you recommend Los Alcazares? Does it have nice restaurants etc?
I’ve tried Street View but it’s so hard to tell, some of the views are quite old and I’m never sure if I’m missing the main restaurant areas etc!

We will be staying in private rental rather than a hotel so don’t need somewhere with hotels.

Will have a look at Cadiz .

@justasyouare we stayed in a private residential resort in a villa with a pool and often didn't feel like cooking in the evening. We had hired a car and explored a few areas. We used a restaurant on the end of the pier in Los Alcazares a few times (Restaurante Balneario San Antonio) which we enjoyed. It served a lot of local produce/fresh fish etc. We also drove down to Cartagena a few times which has a lovely promenade (and boat trips) and a good selection of bar/restaurants to eat in. There is a large pedestrian area across from the harbour/marina with a host of restaurants too.

I wouldn't say a lot of that region looks particularly new and sparkly with development but I quite like that - we spent quite a lot of time wandering round the little windy streets and came across a few gems and some horrors (restaurants and shops) but then I guess you'll find that anywhere.

My parents live just a 5 minute drive from Torrevieja centre and in all the years I have been going to visit them I've never gone into the centre of Torre for a meal. To me it's not a typical tourist type of place and is more for locals, lots of office blocks and high rise apartments etc. Saying that there are some lovely places in the area to stay like La Zenia, Villa Martin, San Miguel, Cabo Roig

Thanks everyone this is really helpful!

Calpe is up the coast and really nice!

I’ve been. Wouldn’t be in a rush to go back. It is as most others have said, high-rises, a bit tired. We stayed in one of the areas a few miles out which was basically all British ex-pats.