Where to live on the Costa Blanca
Finestrat, Benidorm, Polop and Relleu are four very different places, 10–25 minutes from one another. Compare the essentials using official statistics and see what a year by the sea is like.
Four places side by side
| Four places side by side | Benidorm | Finestrat | Polop | Relleu |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residents (1.1.2025) | 77,327 | 9,919 | 5,828 | 1,375 |
| 10-year growth | +12% | +59% | +33% | +8% |
| Foreign nationals among residents | 35% | 50% | 32% | 39% |
| Most residents from |
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| Residents aged 65+ | 23% | 15% | 17% | 29% |
| Area | 38 km² | 42 km² | 23 km² | 77 km² |
| To the nearest beach | 3 min on foot · 260 m | 14 min · 8.0 km | 24 min · 12.9 kmno coastline | 30 min · 19.4 kmno coastline |
| Blue Flag beaches | 2: Levante and Poniente | none | none | none |
| To Alicante airport | 47 min · 63 km | 46 min · 58 km | 59 min · 70 km | 56 min · 55 km |
| To the public hospital | 6 min · 1.4 km | 15 min · 10.9 km | 23 min · 12.7 km | 28 min · 21.4 km |
| Schools | public primary — 13, secondary — 5, private — 2 | public primary — 2, secondary — 0, private — 0 | public primary — 1, secondary — 0, private — 0 | public primary — 1, secondary — 0, private — 0 |
| International schools | Costa Blanca International College, Oakwood British School | none | none | none |
| Healthcare | health centres — 4, clinics — 0, private hospitals — 2 | health centres — 0, clinics — 2, private hospitals — 0 | health centres — 0, clinics — 1, private hospitals — 0 | health centres — 0, clinics — 1, private hospitals — 0 |
| IBI property tax | 0.82% of cadastral value | 0.76% of cadastral value | 0.68% of cadastral value | 0.65% of cadastral value |
| Our projects | 150 m² duplex in the centre of Benidorm Adosados en Benidorm | Riviera 1 Sierra Verde Villa in Balcón de Finestrat with sea and mountain views | — | Riviera Relleu |
- Population — INE, Padrón at 1.1.2025; foreign residents, nationalities and age — INE, Censo Anual de Población 2025; area — IGN.
- Schools — the official register of educational centres; healthcare — Ministry of Health catalogues. The public hospital for all four municipalities is Hospital Marina Baixa in La Vila Joiosa.
- Travel — from the town hall by car in normal traffic, from Google Maps (checked 18.10.2026); to the beach in Benidorm — on foot; hospital — the nearest one with a 24-hour emergency department. IBI tax — Ministry of Finance data for 2026.
Direct flights to Alicante
Alicante-Elche airport is 45–60 minutes from our towns. Type your city to see whether there’s a direct flight.
All direct routes (147)
ArmeniaYerevan*
AustriaLinz, Salzburg, Vienna
BelgiumAntwerp, Brussels (BRU), Brussels (CRL), Ostend
BulgariaSofia
SwitzerlandBasel, Geneva, Zurich
CzechiaPardubice, Prague
GermanyBerlin, Bremen, Cologne, Düsseldorf (DUS), Düsseldorf (NRN), Frankfurt (FRA), Frankfurt (HHN), Friedrichshafen, Hamburg, Hanover, Karlsruhe, Memmingen, Munich, Münster, Nuremberg, Paderborn, Saarbrücken, Stuttgart*
DenmarkAalborg*, Aarhus*, Billund, Copenhagen
AlgeriaAlgiers, Oran
SpainA Coruña, Asturias (Oviedo), Barcelona, Bilbao, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Lanzarote*, Madrid, Menorca*, Palma de Mallorca, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Tenerife, Vitoria-Gasteiz
FinlandHelsinki
FranceBordeaux*, Lille*, Lyon*, Marseille, Nantes, Paris (BVA), Paris (ORY), Toulouse
United KingdomAberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cardiff, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow (GLA), Glasgow (PIK), Leeds, Liverpool, London (LGW), London (LTN), London (SEN), London (STN), Manchester, Newcastle, Newquay, Norwich, Southampton, Teesside
GreeceAthens*
CroatiaZagreb
HungaryBudapest
IrelandCork, Dublin, Kerry*, Knock*, Shannon
IcelandReykjavik
ItalyBari*, Bologna*, Catania, Milan (BGY), Milan (MXP), Naples, Rome, Turin*, Venice (TSF), Venice (VCE)
LithuaniaKaunas
LuxembourgLuxembourg
LatviaRiga
MoroccoCasablanca, Fez*, Marrakesh, Tangier*, Tétouan
MoldovaChișinău
NetherlandsAmsterdam, Eindhoven, Rotterdam
NorwayBergen, Haugesund, Kristiansand*, Oslo (OSL), Oslo (TRF), Stavanger, Trondheim, Ålesund
PolandBydgoszcz, Gdańsk, Katowice, Kraków, Poznań, Rzeszów, Warsaw (WAW), Warsaw (WMI)*, Wrocław, Łódź
PortugalLisbon, Porto
RomaniaBucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Târgu Mureș
SerbiaBelgrade
SwedenGothenburg, Stockholm (ARN), Stockholm (NYO), Stockholm (VST), Växjö
SlovakiaBratislava
TürkiyeIstanbul
* summer only
Routes: the airport’s official list (Aena) and the Ryanair timetable as of 18.10.2026. Schedules change — check the airline’s website before buying a ticket.
A year by the sea
Weather, sea, sunshine and the tourist season by month.
- water up to 26 °C in August
- 3,173 hours of sunshine a year
- about 35 rainy days a year
- on average 59% of apartments are occupied
- Climate — 1991–2020 normals, Alicante station (AEMET 8025, data submitted to the WMO). Sea — NOAA OISST, 1991–2020 normal near Benidorm; over the last five years the water has been 0.5–1.5 °C warmer on average.
- Season — INE: occupancy of registered tourist apartments and hotels in Benidorm, average for 2023–2025. Elaboración propia con datos extraídos del sitio web del INE: www.ine.es. Private flats let through Airbnb and Booking are not included in the statistics.