Benidorm Castle and the Balcó del Mediterrani

The castle underneath

Most people arrive here looking for the viewpoint and leave without realising they were standing on a fortress. The Tossal de Canfali — the rock that divides Levante from Poniente — carried the Castell de Benidorm through the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, built to defend the town against Algerian and Berber corsair raids. Sources differ on the detail: some date the first fortification to the fourteenth century, others describe the surviving structure as a rebuild on an earlier one under Philip II. What they agree on is the purpose. This was the principal defensive point of the Marina Baixa, and its position let it signal visually to the watchtowers at Punta Cavall on the Serra Gelada and Torre Aguló at Villajoyosa.

How it was destroyed

The castle did not decay quietly. In 1812, during the Peninsular War, French forces stormed it. The English fleet then shelled the position from the sea and brought most of it down. After the war it was abandoned for good. What survives is fragmentary: an access arch, sections of wall lying on the rock, and pottery from several periods. Some of it can be seen through acrylic panels set into the floor of the Plaça del Castell — you are walking over the ruins, and there are windows.

From ruin to postcard

The square was tidied up from the late nineteenth century onward, with substantial work in 1928, and it was in the nineteenth century that a small mirador was built where the main tower had stood. The white balustrade, the two gateways and the chequerboard paving came later, in the tourism boom that reshaped Benidorm from the 1950s. The four cannons on the square are a nod to the military past rather than original armament. The wind rose in granite and bronze marks the cardinal points and, unusually, names a native animal for each one. It also records a fact worth knowing: Benidorm faces south, which is rare on this coast and is the reason both its beaches get sun all day.

Practical information

• Getting there: in Benidorm old town, an easy walk from both main beaches; about 50 minutes by car from Alicante airport (ALC).
• What to do: take in the sweeping Mediterranean views and the two beaches, and visit the small old-town church nearby.
• History: the terrace stands on a former sixteenth-century fortress that defended the coast against pirate raids.
• Best time to visit: late afternoon for the sunset, arriving a little early to secure a spot before it gets crowded.