From the April issue of The Sunday Times Travel Magazine

They call it the Med’s cut-price Miami Beach for good reason: it can be brash, and it’s hell-bent on gaining a Coppertone tan to maximise the effect of that itsy-bitsy gear – worn day and night.

Spain’s Costa Blanca has gained something of a reputation for its biggest magnet, Benidorm – famous (or, rather, infamous) for tanked-up teenagers and hen parties. But there’s more to this Costa than coachloads.

Named after its talc-fine beaches, the ‘White Coast’ edges the spangly Med from Valencia to southern Murcia – and for all the package frenzy, there’s also a very Spanish part, where English is the last language you’ll hear and paellas reclaim their culinary sovereignty over curry and chips.

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What’s more, it’s easy to explore on a well-maintained network of roads that take you from the far north to the far south in less than half a day: two hours’ drive from Benidorm and you’re on Murcia’s coast, where cliffs hide coves seldom visited by more than a seagull.

There’s culture, too. In Orihuela and Alicante, it’s Renaissance palaces, Baroque churches and fountained plazas rather than concrete towers. Flamenco drifts from bars, and malty cerveza (beer) fuels festivals scarcely changed since the Middle Ages. You’ll also find dozens of castles – Elche’s lies on the edge of Europe’s largest palm grove, planted by the Carthaginians in the 5th century BC; the one in Guadalest crumbles on a steep ridge above the partying coast.

Now pan back for the bigger picture: all around are rugged mountains, shadowed by pine forest and home to soaring wild eagles, as well as scrubby heath that’s fragrant with wild herbs and grazed by Barbary sheep and boar. This Spain is your gain.

DOWN BY THE SEA

For cracking Mediterranean views, climb the winding streets to the romantic Moorish castle of Santa Barbara in Alicante (above Playa del Postiguet; admission free). It’s a dazzling outlook as you stand atop the rocky outcrop, gazing out over the glistening blue sea.

Now head down the hill to Casco Antiguo – a labyrinth of whitewashed buildings and bougainvillea-filled streets that buzzes with bodega bars and tapas restaurants at night. The old city centre unfurls around here, packed with snap-worthy Baroque and Renaissance buildings, as well as great little museums. Don’t miss the twin-towered 18th-century town hall (Plaza del Ayuntamiento; free) with its glorious entrance hall and sweeping marble staircase; the MARQ Archaeological Museum (Plaza Dr Gómez Ulla; 00 34 965 149000; £2) with its wealth of Roman remains; and the Museo de la Asegurada (Plaza de Santa María 3; 00 34 965 140959; £2), a restored grain house whose walls are adorned with Spanish paintings by the likes of Miró, Dalí and Picasso.

For quiet coves and deserted bays, drive south to Murcia’s Calblanque region, where you’ll find rolling, heath-covered cliffs and the long Playa Larga and Playa del Calblanque beaches – both virtually unvisited outside high season. Little trails will take you from the car park off the coast road, past a series of beautiful sea expanses to shifting dunes and long stretches of pearly sand where there’s no sound but the waves and the cry of sea birds.

For a dose of natural beauty amid the thrumming resorts, escape to Calpe, just east of Benidorm. No town on the Costa Blanca has a more heart-stopping setting: the beach is a long, sheltered half-moon bay of demerara sand squeezed between the town and the Peñón de Ifach, a 300m-high mini Rock of Gibraltar. The beach is no longer a well-kept secret and is parasol-packed, but a short walk to the rock itself will bring you to a series of coves – reached via trails that run through heathland and perfumed meadows blooming with wild orchids, lavender and some 300 other species of wildflowers in spring.

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