East coast of Spain - any recommendations?

[beautyisfoundwithin]

DH and I will be taking a trip to Spain in November. We are meeting friends who live in Barcelona for a long weekend, then 10 days later we will be meeting friends in Benidorm for a few days.

We plan to drive from Barcelona to Benidorm stopping along the way for a few nights here and there. Does anyone have any recommendations for nice places?

Looking at the map Valencia seems an obvious choice? But we have driven around Europe quite a lot and find that often smaller, less well known places can also be fantastic.

FWIW we aren't going to Benidorm for the party scene, it's something that's been organised by a friend of a friend in Spain who has an apartment there. (I'm not suggesting there's anything wrong with the party scene, just adding for context because obviously it affects the type of recommendations!)

What about Peñiscola? It’s a bit north of Valencia. It’s very picturesque with good beaches and an interesting old city.

I would suggest looking at Tarragona, Denia, Javea and Calpe.

Oliva is lovely and very Spanish. Places like Javea and Denia are very built up and full of English bars and full English breakfast places.

Oliva has the best beaches along that coast.

Grau, Benicassim and El Campello are also worth a look, as they have beautiful beaches and bars and restaurants. Grau also has a large interesting port. We also like Playa San Juan, great beach and seafront with nice bars and restaurants. It’s not far from Alicante and you can catch a tram there which runs all along the coast there. It’s an excellent system.

Tarragona is lovely and I thought Valencia was better than Barcelona

Calpe. Beautiful.

Thank you so much everyone for your suggestions 😊 I will get Googling!

Calp is very busy and built up. There are numerous high rise apartments and hotels. I struggle to see what is beautiful about Calp.

Altea, on the coast between Calpe and Benedorm. It’s a lovely old quaint Spanish town with a church on a hill and a long promenade with restaurants and cafes.
Not many Brits go there.

Boho / chill / traveller vibe beach dream in France/ Spain / Italy? .. does it exist ?

We visited quiet part of Ibiza last year and stayed in Cala Vadella which was a dream. Really really chill - unbuilt up / few bars & restaurants on the beach. family friendly , gorgeous sandy small cove/ soft sand / apart-hotel with a pool. Felt a bit traveller vibe but in Europe.

the main Criteria
unbuilt up ( don’t want any big hotels )
a short -5/10 min - walk to a small sandy beach / cove
A short walk to some beach bars / restaurants for sunset beers
relaxed friendly vibe.

Looking for something similar even better? But somewhere new - I’d love to hear any recommendations please in Spain ( not Ibiza / formentera) / south France.

I would take in Tarragona and Valencia then have a few beach days somewhere south of Denia. Javea has a lovely big bay which is fairly built up, but the old town is nice and is only a short bus ride away.

Or Moraira which is small and pretty.

@Helsnorth
I was wondering if you had meant to post on a different holiday thread ? Or a new thread ?

Sitges is lovely, going there again for a few days in May 👍🏼

So sorry I’d never posted before. Couldn’t work out how to delete it either - sorry! I reposted xx

No problem - just didn't want your question to get lost in someone else's thread 😊