Benidorm takes a couple of days to get to know. The Costa Blanca around it takes longer, and it is usually the part people talk about afterwards: a mountain village of two hundred people, a seafront town under a blue and white dome, a fishing port painted like a row of beach huts. Here is how to see it on your own terms, and where a coach trip still earns its money.
Where can you go on a day trip from Benidorm?
Four places sit within an easy day. Guadalest, a mountain village of about 200 people some 21 km inland. Altea, a seafront town whose old quarter is marked by a church with a blue and white dome. Villajoyosa, a fishing port of brightly painted houses. And Sierra Helada Natural Park, which starts at the edge of Benidorm.
Each has a different pace, and that matters more than the distances. Guadalest is a run up into the mountains, Altea and Villajoyosa are towns you walk around by the water, and Sierra Helada is a few hours on foot. Two of these fit into one day if they lie on the same side of town.
| Where | What it is | Getting there | Time to allow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guadalest | Mountain village, about 200 residents | By car or bus line 016, around 21 km, 45 to 50 minutes | Half a day |
| Altea | Seafront town, old quarter and a domed church | North along the coast, around 10 to 14 km, TRAM line 9, about 13 minutes | Half a day |
| Villajoyosa | Fishing port, painted houses, chocolate museum | Towards Alicante, around 15 km, TRAM line 1, about 16 minutes | Half a day |
| Sierra Helada | Natural park above the bay, mostly marine | On foot, straight out of Benidorm | A morning |
Journey times and distances are approximate, the pace is a suggestion. Check timetables and fares with the operator, since both change with the season. Park area and islet names: Visit Benidorm, Ruta La Cruz.
Is an organised excursion worth it, or are you better off going alone?
It depends on the day you want. A coach trip takes the planning and the driving off your hands, which counts for something in Guadalest, where the road climbs in tight bends. Going under your own steam leaves the timings to you, and along the coast the TRAM line makes that straightforward.
There is no need to be sniffy about the coach. For Guadalest it solves a real problem. The village is served by bus line 016, run by LLorente Bus, which works out at one departure a day in each direction and takes 42 to 55 minutes. The timetable and the fare are given over the phone rather than published, so without a car the day is built around the return service. A guided trip removes all of that, and the mountain road with it.
The coast is a different case. Altea is about 13 minutes away on TRAM line 9, which runs roughly once an hour, and Villajoyosa about 16 minutes in the other direction on line 1. For journeys that short, a fixed departure time and a group of forty is a lot of structure for very little saved effort. A hire car gives the widest choice, since it is the only way to come down from the mountains and reach the coast the same afternoon.
How far is Guadalest from Benidorm and what is there to see?
Guadalest is around 21 km from Benidorm, but the drive takes 45 to 50 minutes because the road climbs into the mountains. The village has roughly 200 residents and takes more than two million visitors a year. You come for the ruins of Castillo de San José, an eleventh century fortress, and a cluster of small museums.
Those two figures next to each other, two hundred residents and two million visitors, tell you more about planning the day than most guidebooks will. Guadalest is tiny: a few narrow streets, a couple of squares, a view down the valley. When several coaches arrive at once, the quiet goes with them, so go early. Leaving Benidorm straight after breakfast puts you there ahead of the main wave.
The sightseeing has a clear centre of gravity. The ruins of Castillo de San José, an eleventh century fortress, stand at the highest point of the village, and the walk leads up to them. Around them sits a dense collection of small themed museums: Casa Orduña, plus dolls houses, vintage vehicles, miniatures and even salt and pepper pots. A combined castle and museum ticket comes to about 4 euros, a figure that appears on tourism listings rather than an official price page.
What is there to do in Altea?
Altea is a seafront town roughly 10 to 14 km north of Benidorm, with 6 km of coast made up of shingle beaches and coves rather than wide sand. The landmark of the old quarter is the church of Nuestra Señora del Consuelo, with its blue and white dome. TRAM line 9 takes about 13 minutes.
Altea is everything Benidorm is not, and that is the point of going. Instead of a skyline you get an old quarter under a blue and white dome, and instead of a promenade built for every taste, a town that is easy to walk without a plan.
One practical warning about the beaches. Those 6 km of coastline are largely shingle and coves, so if you are travelling with small children, or you want a day flat out on sand, keep the beach time for Benidorm and treat Altea as a town to walk. The afternoon suits it better than midday.
Why are the houses in Villajoyosa painted in bright colours?
The fishing quarter painted its houses in different colours so that families could pick out their own home from the water on the way back in. The colours stayed, and became the way the town is recognised from the sea. Villajoyosa is also home to the Museo del Chocolate Valor, beside the factory.
Villajoyosa lies on the opposite side of Benidorm from Altea, around 15 km towards Alicante. This is a working fishing port rather than a town rearranged for visitors. The painted houses stand right at the water, and behind them an ordinary Spanish town carries on with its shops and its school run.
The second reason to come is the Museo del Chocolate Valor, the chocolate museum attached to the factory, which is that rare attraction working equally well for adults and children. The main exhibition takes about 45 minutes, in groups of up to 50, and closes on Sundays and public holidays.
Admission is described two different ways: the manufacturer calls entry to the main exhibition free, with a ticket from a machine at the door, while the town tourism site describes a paid visit. Confirm before you go.
Can you walk into Sierra Helada Natural Park on your own?
Sierra Helada is the one trip here that needs no transport at all: the park starts at the edge of Benidorm. The best-documented route, Ruta La Cruz, runs about 5 km there and back, takes around three hours, climbs up to 237 m and is graded moderate. It starts at the tourist information point in Rincón de Loix.
The park covers 5,653.92 hectares, and 4,908.95 of those are sea, taking in the islets of Illot de la Mitjana, Illots de l'Olla i la Galera and Illot de Benidorm. Most of what is protected here lies under water.
Ruta La Cruz is the walk up to the cross above the town. It starts at the tourist information point in the Rincón de Loix district and finishes at La Cruz de Benidorm: about 5 km for the round trip, around three hours, with up to 237 m of ascent and a moderate grading. This is a walk for anyone who likes walking, not a mountain expedition.
It asks for a bit of sense: boots with a proper sole, water, and an early start. The slopes are dry and open and there is next to no shade. Out of season the balance flips, which is one of the arguments we make in the piece on wintering on the Costa Blanca.
How much does a day out of Benidorm cost?
Transport decides the budget, because the sights themselves are cheap or free: the towns cost nothing to walk around and only individual museums charge. In Guadalest, a combined castle and museum ticket comes to roughly 4 euros. A restaurant dish runs 6 to 22 euros and a coffee 1.30 to 1.80.
You will not find fares here: tariffs change more often than timetables, and for line 016 to Guadalest the operator gives the price by phone. The same goes for car hire and fuel. Check them the day before you travel.
The same goes for car hire, and here we will say plainly why there is no figure. Rates move with demand, and no firm publishes a season by season comparison with a stated method behind it, so any range we quoted in August would be invention by half term. What a car changes is the shape of the week rather than one day of it.
Admission charges are the predictable part of the budget, and in the villages they are small. The rest comes down to meals, and that is where a kitchen quietly changes the arithmetic: breakfast on the terrace before a run inland, sandwiches made at home rather than bought at the second stop. It is one reason an apartment tends to win over a room on a longer stay, which we go into in the piece on where to stay in Benidorm.
How do you fit these trips into a week without spending it in the car?
Split them rather than stacking them. One day inland to Guadalest, leaving straight after breakfast. One day along the coast, with Villajoyosa in the morning and Altea in the late afternoon. Sierra Helada works best as a separate early start on a day when you are going nowhere else.
The usual mistake is taking in the mountains and both coastal towns at once, which ends with a day spent travelling. Two days, one on each side, works far better.
- A day in the mountains - leave for Guadalest straight after breakfast, take the village before the main wave arrives, and be back in Benidorm by early afternoon for the beach.
- A day along the coast - Villajoyosa in the morning, back through Benidorm, then Altea in the late afternoon with dinner there.
- A morning in the park - Sierra Helada on a day with nothing else in it: out at first light, back for a late breakfast.
Choose the season deliberately too: we set it out month by month in the guide to the best month to visit Benidorm.
What works if you are travelling with children?
Alternate a sightseeing day with one built for them. Aqualandia, the water park in Benidorm, is 38 euros online for an adult and 30 for a child, free under 100 cm. Terra Mítica charges 35 euros off peak and 43 at peak, with under threes free, and runs from 15 May to 1 November 2026.
With children, part of the list above stops working, because two hours in an old town is not what anybody has been waiting for all year. Alternate instead.
Aqualandia costs 38 euros online for an adult ticket and 30 euros for a child. An afternoon entry from 2pm is 28 and 22 euros, and a combined ticket with the neighbouring Mundomar starts at 52 euros. Children under 100 cm go in free.
Terra Mítica works differently, closer to a theme park. An adult ticket bought online is 35 euros outside the peak season and 43 euros at peak, and children up to three go in free. The 2026 season runs from 15 May to 1 November, so outside that window there is nothing to plan around.
Of the trips out of town, Villajoyosa works best with children: a short ride, colours the moment you arrive, and chocolate at the end.
A base with a kitchen and a view over the bay
Two bedrooms, a 20 m² terrace and the panorama from the Intempo tower, on the quieter Poniente side of town. A kitchen of your own means breakfast before the drive inland and dinner after it, and the heated indoor pool, the sauna and the outdoor jacuzzi are waiting at the end of a day spent on your feet.
Common questions
Around 21 km, but the drive takes 45 to 50 minutes because the road climbs into the mountains. Guadalest has about 200 residents and takes more than two million visitors a year, so leave Benidorm early if you want the village at a quieter moment.
Yes. The towns cost nothing to walk around and only individual museums charge. TRAM line 9 runs to Altea and line 1 to Villajoyosa. Guadalest is served by bus line 016, in practice once a day each way. Check times and fares with the operator before you set out.
Fishermen painted their houses in different colours so they could pick out their own home from the water on the way back in. The colours became the way the town is recognised. Villajoyosa is also home to the Museo del Chocolate Valor, the chocolate museum attached to the factory.
The manufacturer says entry to the main exhibition is free, with a ticket from a machine at the door, a visit of about 45 minutes in groups of up to 50, closed on Sundays and public holidays. The town tourism site describes a paid visit instead, most likely a guided one.
No, although a car is the only way to take in the mountains and the coast on the same day. TRAM line 9 reaches Altea in about 13 minutes and line 1 reaches Villajoyosa in about 16. Guadalest has no tram, so it is bus line 016, a car or a coach trip.
Better not. Guadalest sits inland in the mountains, while Altea and Villajoyosa lie on opposite sides of Benidorm along the coast, so taking in all three leaves you with a day spent travelling. One day in the mountains and one along the coast works better.
