Costa Blanca

What Alcoy is really like: an inland Costa Blanca mountain town of bridges and Modernista streets, home to Spain’s greatest Moors and Christians festival.

Inland Alicante town, about 46 km from the coast: 12th-century Atalaya Castle, the September Moors and Christians fiestas and Alicante wine country.

Historic inland city on the Segura river and, 30+ km away, Orihuela Costa with 16 km of beaches. Which to choose, Holy Week, the July fiestas and how to get there.

Inland city near Alicante airport: UNESCO palm grove, Huerto del Cura, the Misteri d’Elx on 14 and 15 August, Spain’s shoe capital. Beaches by bus.

Jávea (Xàbia), Alicante: 30,642 residents, three districts to choose from (Arenal, port, old town), rocky coves, Montgó park and no train station.

Salt town on the southern Costa Blanca with a protected pink lagoon, a 2,365 m beach at La Mata and Alicante airport about 40 minutes away by road.

Alicante’s coast in four areas from Dénia to Pilar de la Horadada: coves and capes in the north, long beaches and salt lakes in the south, trams, airports.

Altea’s blue-domed church and whitewashed lanes – and the pebble beaches and steep climbs the photos leave out.

La Vila Joiosa’s rainbow facades and chocolate heritage – where the painted houses actually are, and what to expect.

Denia’s hilltop castle ruins, UNESCO gastronomy and the split between rocky Les Rotes and sandy Marineta beaches.