Advice on Long Stay Vacation on Costa Blanca

Charlescsrd wrote on Sun Jan 8, 2023 5:51pm:

Hello Costa Blanca Forum Members:

My wife and I are planning a long stay vacation (i.e., 2 month) in May-June 2023.  We are looking for suggestions on weather to stay the entire time in or around the Calpe area or should we break it up and spend a few weeks in Alicante, Benidorm or even Valencia?  We are a retired ...

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...couple (62 years young) from western Canada.  We are not into night life, but we do enjoy nice restaurants and fine wine (okay - mediocre wine, now that I'm retired!)  Last year, we had an enjoyable stay in Nerja on the Costa del Sol and are now  looking for someplace similar to stay but in the Costa Blanca region of Spain. Also, should we be booking our flights into Valencia or Alicante?

Safe travels to all.

Best regards.

Charles H

Charlescsrd wrote on Sun Jan 8, 2023 5:51pm:

Hello Costa Blanca Forum Members:

My wife and I are planning a long stay vacation (i.e., 2 month) in May-June 2023.  We are looking for suggestions on weather to stay the entire time in or around the Calpe area or should we break it up and spend a few weeks in Alicante, Benidorm or even Valencia?  We are a retired ...

Read more...

...couple (62 years young) from western Canada.  We are not into night life, but we do enjoy nice restaurants and fine wine (okay - mediocre wine, now that I'm retired!)  Last year, we had an enjoyable stay in Nerja on the Costa del Sol and are now  looking for someplace similar to stay but in the Costa Blanca region of Spain. Also, should we be booking our flights into Valencia or Alicante?

Safe travels to all.

Best regards.

Charles H

dinnerout wrote on Mon Jan 9, 2023 12:22pm:

Hi Charles,

May/June is a great time to visit the Costa Blanca. It's very hard to give detailed advice, it's a big area!

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I noticed you list your location as Calpe. Did you choose this at random or because you've visited before?

Regarding airports, I live near the lovely port town of Denia on the northern Costa Blanca. From Alicante airport it takes just over an hour on the toll free motorway AP-7. From Valencia airport it's about 40 minutes so there's not really much difference. From Alicante Airport to Calpe you're probably looking at 40 minutes.

There are so many lovely towns to visit, both on the coast and inland. North of Benidorm I'd recommend Altea, Moraira, Javea and Denia, all pretty much unspoilt and retaining their Spanish character. (and all with really excellent restaurants!)

Valencia itself is a historic and very beautiful city. But it is a city at the end of the day. You could stay there without requiring a car. 

I'll let someone else speak for the southern Costa Blanca...

Kind regards, Steve

Simon 135 wrote on Mon Jan 9, 2023 2:31pm:

Hey, great time of year to come weatherwise. As I remember, Nerja was quite lively and touristy in a non-spoilt and Spanish way, but others on here will be able to advise better on the coastal resorts that may be similar. To your point about staying in a city as well, my personal opionion is YES!...

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... Both Valencia and Alicante are lovely but I'm biassed to the latter having lived here a year now. Its still very Spanish but much more compact than Valencia and everything, the beach, marina, castle (and its stunning views), a great selection of restaurants and bars, museums and lovely shady squares etc etc, are all in walking distance. And there's a direct bus from the airport that gets you here in 25mins. Sold? But seriously, wherever you stay I'm sure you'll have a lovely time.

Lefty wrote on Mon Jan 9, 2023 3:12pm:

I follow with interest as I am doing exactly the same end of April.

We have decided to rent a place in Benidorm and use that as a base then have a couple of nights in Valencia, a couple in Alicante (still retaining the base in Benidorm) then make use of the excellent tram and bus services for all of the day trips we are planning 😃...

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Charlescsrd wrote on Sun Jan 8, 2023 5:51pm:

Hello Costa Blanca Forum Members:

My wife and I are planning a long stay vacation (i.e., 2 month) in May-June 2023.  We are looking for suggestions on weather to stay the entire time in or around the Calpe area or should we break it up and spend a few weeks in Alicante, Benidorm or even Valencia?  We are a retired ...

Read more...

...couple (62 years young) from western Canada.  We are not into night life, but we do enjoy nice restaurants and fine wine (okay - mediocre wine, now that I'm retired!)  Last year, we had an enjoyable stay in Nerja on the Costa del Sol and are now  looking for someplace similar to stay but in the Costa Blanca region of Spain. Also, should we be booking our flights into Valencia or Alicante?

Safe travels to all.

Best regards.

Charles H

Charlescsrd wrote on Mon Jan 9, 2023 4:54pm:

Hello Lefty:

Thanks very much for taking the time to respond.  Wherever we ultimately decide to stay, we are also thinking about taking two weeks during our stay to visit a couple of European cities.  The low cost airlines in Europe offer very reasonable fares, provided you only have carry on luggag...

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...e so we need to decide whether to keep our rental Airbnb while we travel or find a place to store our large checked baggage and then rent another place on our return.  If we don't keep our initial rental, then we have the flexibility to stay in another location for the remaining three weeks.  Our biggest cost is the airfare from Canada to Spain so we want to explore a few places in Europe while we will already be in Spain.

Kind regards.

Charles H