Family Hotels on the Costa Blanca: 14 We’ve Stayed In
By Javier Sobrino
Travel expert and founder
The Costa Blanca is the most efficient family holiday in Spain: Alicante airport to Benidorm is about 45 minutes, and once you are there the hotels are close enough together that you never need a car.
It is also the most competitive stretch of coast in the country, which is good for you. Hotels here fight on water slides, all-inclusive and theming rather than on the view, so a mid-range budget buys facilities that would cost a lot more in Andalusia. Our highest score anywhere in Spain is on this coast, and so are the only two resorts where we have given the children’s facilities a 10.
These are the fourteen we have stayed in, in our order. They run from a nine-out-of-ten themed resort to a campsite bungalow at €70 a night, which is the range this coast actually covers.
Benidorm or the villages?
Benidorm itself gives you the beach, the promenade and somewhere to go at night. Albir, Finestrat and La Nucía, ten to twenty minutes inland, give you bigger resorts with more space and a much quieter evening. If your children are under about eight, the quiet ones usually win. If you have teenagers, they will want to be in Benidorm.
The fourteen hotels, scored
Benidorm, Alicante
Our highest score in Spain. Ten-metre pirate ships sitting in the water, ziplines running from one to the next, and theming that never once breaks character — we gave both the theming and the children’s facilities a 10. What you pay for it is the cabin, which is tight for five, and giving up the beach.
Magic Natura Animal & Water Park
Benidorm, Alicante
A zoo and a water park inside the same reserve, which nothing else in Spain offers. What you are actually buying is the ultra all-inclusive: we scored it a straight 10 and it is what changes the holiday. The catch is structural — the beach is a ten-minute drive away.
Hotel Cap Negret
Altea, Alicante
A cyclists’ hotel in Altea that turns out to be one of the best places we have eaten in any four-star: garage, workshop and bike wash downstairs, a 9.5 for the staff and a pool nobody shouts in. Two things to be clear about — the beach is rock rather than sand, and it is built for adults rather than for children.
Albir, Alicante
A medieval-themed resort rather than a hotel, and the most complete place for children we have stayed in anywhere in Spain — we scored the children’s facilities a 10. Rooms take up to seven, and laser tag, a climbing wall and a medieval show are all in the all-inclusive. The catch is that there is very little for adults, and no beach.
Hotel Villa del Mar
Benidorm, Alicante
The Benidorm hotel where you eat best, and it beats five-stars on this coast at it. A gourmet four-star directly opposite Poniente beach that does not compete on pools or entertainment and does not pretend to. Odd blind spot for a hotel selling ultra all-inclusive: the between-meal snacks are thin.
Benidorm, Alicante
The most reliable of the big Benidorm names we have stayed in, and the one we would pick if you want gardens and space rather than theming.
La Nucía, Alicante
Worth it for a quiet couple of nights if you find a deal. For a full holiday expecting a clear five-star experience, there are better options on this coast.
Hotel Alone Benidorm
Benidorm, Alicante
The value pick in Benidorm. A renovated three-star that beats higher categories on food and on cleanliness, with slides, jacuzzis and free run of the hotel next door. The catch is the calendar: it sells out and roughly doubles in price in summer.
Camping Benisol
Benidorm, Alicante
A bungalow that sleeps six, with its own kitchen and bathroom, for €70–90 a night, plus a covered heated pool and a water park. You pay for that in two ways: you need the car to get to the beach, and the bungalows go early.
Finestrat, Alicante
Three slide towers, a splash park with buckets and jets, and an all-inclusive with a huge snack bar and food trucks. Built to keep children fed and wet all day.
Benidorm, Alicante
Completely renovated in 2024. We went specifically to check whether the refurbishment is real or just fresh paint.
Benidorm, Alicante
The Benidorm hotel British visitors ask us about most. We stayed several days to work out what holds up and what does not.
Albir Garden Resort & Aquapark
Albir, Alicante
One of the most popular family hotels in the Alicante area, and the aquapark is the whole reason people book it.
Benidorm, Alicante
A three-star on the Benidorm sea front, directly across from Levante beach. Location first, everything else second.
Our Benidorm shortlist
If you want the hotels compared side by side rather than one by one, this is the guide that does it.
Best Family Hotels in Benidorm →
Our full Benidorm shortlist, hotel by hotel.
If the Costa Blanca is not it
Two other coasts we have covered, both an easy flight from the UK.
Quieter and better value, but you will want a hire car.
Best Hotels for Kids in Salou →
The Costa Dorada option, next door to PortAventura.
Best Family Hotels in Majorca →
Written for families flying in from the UK.
Questions we get asked
How far is Benidorm from Alicante airport?
About 45 minutes by car or coach. It is one of the shortest airport transfers of any major Spanish resort, which is a large part of why Benidorm works so well for families with small children.
Which Costa Blanca hotel has the best water park?
Magic Natura is in a category of its own, because the water park and a zoo are both inside the same reserve. Magic Pirates Island is the one that does most with the water itself — ten-metre pirate ships and ziplines between them. Of the standard hotels, the Magic Tropical Splash has the most complete set-up: three slide towers plus a splash park with buckets and jets, and the Albir Garden Resort is the other one people book specifically for the aquapark.
Do I need a hire car on the Costa Blanca?
Not if you are staying in Benidorm itself. If you book one of the resorts in Albir, Finestrat or La Nucía and you want to go into town in the evenings, a car makes life easier, though taxis are cheap and plentiful. Magic Natura is the one where it matters most: the beach is a ten-minute drive.
Is Benidorm too rowdy for young children?
The reputation comes from a specific part of the Levante end at night. The family hotels and the Poniente side are a different holiday altogether. If you are worried, the inland resorts in Albir and Finestrat remove the question entirely.
Every hotel on this page is one we have slept in. We pay for our own stays; where a stay predates that policy and was an invitation, we say so on the review itself. If you book through our links we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.