Alicante's Most Beautiful Coastal Towns

The province of Alicante stretches for more than 200 kilometres of Mediterranean coastline — a varied arc of honey-coloured cliffs, wide sandy beaches, fishing harbours and historic hilltop lanes that locals call the Costa Blanca. No two towns look or feel alike, and that diversity is precisely what draws so many international buyers here year after year. Whether you are exploring the region for the first time or narrowing down where to buy, these are the ten coastal towns that consistently earn the most admiring attention.

Altea

Altea is the town most often cited when people ask which is the most beautiful on the Costa Blanca. Its old quarter climbs a hillside above the sea, white-painted houses pressing together on narrow lanes that rise eventually to a church crowned with distinctive blue ceramic domes — one of the most photographed views in the whole province. The lower town has a working marina and a long pebbly beach, while the hilltop old quarter is home to galleries, artisan workshops and terraced restaurants with sea views stretching north to the Peñón de Ifach.

Jávea (Xàbia)

Jávea is sheltered between two dramatic headlands — Cap de Sant Antoni to the north and Cap de la Nau to the south — and the water here is consistently rated among the clearest on the Alicante coast. The town has three distinct personalities: a Gothic old town built from warm fossilised sandstone, a working port neighbourhood, and the sandy Arenal beach. Few places on the Costa Blanca manage to feel both genuinely Spanish and unmistakably Mediterranean at the same time.

Dénia

Dénia sits at the base of the Montgó Natural Park, a limestone massif that shadows the town and offers walks with views across the whole northern coastline. The Moorish castle above the old port dates to the 10th century, and the streets below are still lined with the pastel facades and tapas bars that UNESCO cited when it designated Dénia a Creative City of Gastronomy. The rice dishes here — cooked with the local gamba roja red prawn — draw diners from across Spain.

Moraira

Moraira punches well above its size. A 16th-century castle and watchtower, built to warn of pirate raids, still stands above a modest fishing harbour and a handful of small sandy coves. The town has kept its scale deliberately compact — strict zoning rules have kept high-rise development out — and it is perfectly walkable, from the marina to the market, past boutique restaurants and shaded terraces. Property prices reflect that scarcity; it is one of the most tightly held markets on the northern coast.

Calpe (Calp)

Calpe is defined by the Peñón de Ifach, a 332-metre limestone outcrop that rises abruptly from the sea and dominates every view of the town. From its summit, reached via a short guided trail through the natural park, the coast spreads out in both directions. Below, the old town sits quietly beside a lagoon where flamingos feed on the salt flats each winter, while the sandy Playa de la Fossa and the narrower Playa del Arenal-Bol offer two very different beach experiences within ten minutes' walk of each other.

Benissa Costa

Benissa's inland village is largely Gothic in character, but its coastline is something else entirely — a rugged and largely undeveloped sequence of small coves, cliff paths and clear water that feels noticeably quieter than its better-known neighbours. The urbanisations of Fanadix, La Fustera and Baladrar sit above rocky inlets and offer genuinely good value per square metre compared with equivalent homes a few kilometres along in Moraira or Calpe.

Villajoyosa (La Vila Joiosa)

Villajoyosa is immediately recognisable from the sea: its waterfront houses are painted in vivid blues, reds, yellows and ochres, a tradition that allowed fishermen to spot their homes from the water. The historic centre behind those facades has a proper medieval street plan with remnants of the original city walls. The town is also home to the Valor chocolate factory, producing here since the 19th century, and has one of the most genuinely Spanish old-town characters on the coast.

Santa Pola

Santa Pola retains a working fishing-port character alongside its beaches. Ferries from the harbour cross to Tabarca Island — the only inhabited island in the Valencian Community — in around 40 minutes, offering one of the most rewarding half-day trips on the coast. The protected salt flats south of the town attract flamingos, spoonbills and other wading birds throughout the year.

Guardamar del Segura

At the southern end of Alicante province, Guardamar sits at the mouth of the Segura river, behind a remarkable pine forest planted in the late 19th century to stabilise the local dune system. The resulting green belt runs directly behind wide, uncrowded beaches that are popular with Spanish families and considerably less known among international visitors — a genuine undiscovered corner of the province.

Benidorm

Benidorm is the region's most dramatic resort town: a cluster of towers and two wide sandy beaches that give it a big-city energy entirely unlike anywhere else on the Costa Blanca. Behind the modern skyline sits a compact, genuinely pretty old quarter perched above the sea, and the town's scale brings commercial and transport infrastructure that smaller towns cannot match.

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What this variety means for buyers

Prices are indicative resale averages for 2025–2026 and vary significantly by zone and property type.

The range tells its own story: Alicante province offers more aesthetic and lifestyle variety per kilometre of coast than almost anywhere else in the Mediterranean. Character and scarcity drive price — Moraira and Jávea sit at the upper end precisely because their planning constraints and natural settings are difficult to replicate. Benissa Costa and Villajoyosa represent genuine value for buyers who take the time to look.

For buyers weighing up the northern cluster — Dénia, Jávea, Benissa, Moraira, Calpe and Altea — all six towns can be visited in a single day's drive, making a focused scouting trip straightforward to plan. Most buyers shortlist two or three on a first visit and return with much sharper instincts on a second.

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Frequently asked questions

Which is the most beautiful coastal town on the Costa Blanca? Altea is most consistently cited for visual beauty, but Jávea, Moraira and Dénia all have committed advocates. The answer usually depends on whether you prefer whitewashed hilltop lanes and sea views, clear-water coves surrounded by headlands, or a living port town with exceptional gastronomy.

Are these towns easy to reach from the UK and northern Europe? Alicante–Elche Airport (ALC) serves most major UK and northern European cities with direct year-round flights. Jávea, Moraira and Benissa are roughly 75–90 minutes by road from the airport; Altea and Villajoyosa are around 45–60 minutes.

Do the most beautiful towns carry a property price premium? Yes. Moraira and Jávea both average above €4,000/m² for resale properties, well above the Alicante provincial average. Benissa Costa and Villajoyosa offer comparable coastline character with more accessible entry prices — typically €2,000–2,500/m².

Can you visit several of these towns on the same trip? The northern cluster — Dénia, Jávea, Benissa, Moraira, Calpe and Altea — can all be reached in a single day's drive of around 60 kilometres, making a combined scouting trip very straightforward.

Which towns are best for year-round living rather than holidays? Jávea, Dénia and Altea all have active year-round populations, nearby international schools and a full range of services. Moraira is quieter in winter but increasingly popular as a permanent base thanks to its walkable scale and boutique amenities.

Is Benidorm worth visiting even for buyers looking for quieter towns? Its old quarter is genuinely worth an afternoon, and its large-scale infrastructure — hospitals, transport links, commercial range — makes it a useful reference point for understanding the province's full spectrum, even if it is not on most buyers' shortlists.