Costa Blanca

Discover Sant Joan d’Alacant near Alicante: 16th-century watchtowers, historic chapels, garden estates, Fogueres fiestas and rice cuisine.

What Mutxamel is really like: a green inland Costa Blanca town near Alicante, with baroque estates, a historic dam and easy San Juan beaches.

Albir coast or the town of l’Alfàs: where to stay between Benidorm and Altea, the Serra Gelada lighthouse walk, the beach and how to get there.

What Crevillent is really like: a hillside Costa Blanca town of rug-weaving and a famous Semana Santa, close to Elche, El Hondo and the coast.

Inland university town of about 60,000 north of Alicante: tram to the city in around 25 minutes, old centre, parks and April Moors and Christians fiestas. No beach.

Inland Alicante town, about 39 km by road from the sea: the Shoe Museum, a 12th–13th-century castle and the Moors and Christians fiestas.

Inland Alicante town, about 30 km from the coast: free modernist sanctuary and castle on the Mola hill, July fiestas and bagged table grapes.

Inland Alicante town, about 39 km from the coast: free restored castle, cave houses and the May Moors and Christians fiestas.

Southernmost Costa Blanca town on the Murcia border: inland town plus the seaside district of Torre de la Horadada, with 5 km of beaches, coves and a 16th-century tower.

What Guardamar del Segura is really like: 11 km of pine-backed dune beaches, a hilltop castle and a river-mouth marina on the Costa Blanca.