A family vacation with little kids
Travel date: May 27th – June 10th 2022
- Alicante
- Benferri
- La Marina Beach
- Orihuela
- Platja Granadella
- Mar Menor – Cabo de Palos
- Torrevieja
- Valencia Oceanografic
- Elche Safaripark
- Murcia
In the year 2022 we decided to do our first family vacation together with another family. It can be diffcult to travel with another family with it´s own rhythm. But we were very lucky and everthing matched perfectly. The week before we started we had to tell them that I was pregnant again. First I felt a bit uncomfortable. Then the other mommy told me she is also still breast feeding, so there will be no spanish wine for us both. We felt like sisters in spirit. It´s not mainly important but I really love a good glas of Tempranillo 😉 Our man were very happy to have their personal drivers aside.
We chose the vaction time end of May till the beginning of June. Later in the summer it can get extremely hot in the south of spain. Our flight with Lufthansa was directly from Munich to Alicante. We chose Lufthansa because you can add so much packages with the kids stuff which is really necessary. And it was the only available direct flight. After our arrival in Alicante we took a rental car to our rental apartment in Benferri.
Benferri is a really small town between Alicante and Murcia. It was very popular in the late 90´s when a lot of german residents moved there for their retirement. Now the housing estates are mixed with people from England, Switzerland and Germans. All of them have vacation homes. We were at a private house. Our friends made the connection over their family. Otherwise I would have never known about the place called Benferri with less than 2.000 residents. They have a pharmacy, a nice market place and 2 restaurants. One of the restaurants “La Rue” is next to the tennis court. It is a pizza place with nice tables outside. They also offer burgers and tapas which taste really delicious. The only problem is the cook often arrives at 8 p.m. at the earliest. It is traditional in spain that they eat dinner very late at the evening. You need to get used to that vibes first or you get nuts with kids.
https://www.laruepizzeria.es/en/
The way from our home to the beach took us about 30 minutes. Which is not bad because you got many beaches to choose from. We took our first trip to La Marina Beach. It is a nice family beach with free parking and a spacious area. Even trough there were a lot of people it felt not crowded at all. The water went flat into the mediterranean sea. Our kids were playing in the sand. You could even make long beach walks.
At the evenings we always thought about where to eat. One time we went to Orihuela which is about 15 minutes from Benferri. It is the next bigger city with a beautiful Mall and playgrounds for the kids. The city itself seemed a bit poor and there were also begging people. This impression was not so good but we found a neat place to eat. Same problem occured as always. We were at 7.30 p.m. way too early for supper 😀
The people were very friendly and we got our table early. The “Bar Restaurante Manolo” was next to the river Segura. Even trough it was next to the noisy street we enjoyed our stay and the fantastic tapas.
Our next Excursion was on June 1st – children´s day. We went to the castle of Alicante “Castell de Santa Barbara” to expect some mighty knights. The castle is on a high mountain with a stunning view over the city. Because of our kids in the group (two boys 4 years old and a 8 month old baby) we decided to drive as close up the hill as possible. We wanted to avoid a lot of exhausting walking. Even we took the last possible parking lot it was still a lot to walk to cashier. And after the cashier it got even steeper and higher. I can not recommend to go up there if you are not in a good physical shape. The rocks can be slippery and often ther is no hand railing. The day was not too hot but it was still exhausting. After the entrance there was a special exhibition with horror movie scenes. This was actually funny for the kids and of course the dad´s. We made it all the way up to the top and there some metal knights and old cannonballs. The view was the best. On the way down there was a a little snack bar in the courtyard with cold drinks. That brought us back to life. You can really spend a whole day at the castle because there is so much to see. Even a small cinema with a movie about the castle, flags, the thron, a shop and so much more.
The beach of Alicante I can’t recommend to someone. It was dirty with a lot of trash in the water and disgusting. I wasn’t tough enough to get into the water. It was just too ugly. I’ve never seen such a beach like that before. That’s why I’m not showing any picture of that. It doesn’t represent that nice city.
Platja Granadella was a day trip for us. It took us almost 2 hours by car to get there. It was supposed to be a famous secret tip from influencers. On the pictures it looked like a white sandy caribbean beach but there were only stones. I walked like an Egyptian 😀
For me it still was ok because I didn´t expect the paradies. If you can google it as famous bay, it is just clear that there are masses of people. We got a space on the side next to the entry for sups and that was ok. We tropped our stuff out of the car and the man drove the car back to the parking lot which was above the bay.
The water was clear and beautiful. While snorkling you could see corals, crabs and some fish. Our friends even went out till almost the end of the bay but didn´t see any special fish. They expected sea turtles but I´m not sure if they are popular at this area. For amateurs it is sufficient to snorkel close to the beach. In my point of view it really is a nice bay but it was not worth the travelling and I ´ve seen way better beaches in my life so far. Especially on my favorite island Mallorca.
Cartagena where they produce the famous Licor 43 is south of Alicante. Actually we wanted to make a factory tour but it was closed that day. I recommend to book online tickets before the visist to make sure that there is someone there. For that reason we drove towards the sea and the Mar Menor – Cabo de Palos. It is an inland sea with has just a small opening to the mediterranean sea. There are a lot of hotels and resorts. You can park almost everywhere on the parking lots for free. We went to the beach at the sea. This was such a beautiful beach with soft sand and crystal clear water. I loved it so much! The kids collected also a lot of sea shells.
On our wedding day, June 6th we went to Torrevieja. A vivid city with lots of beach restaurants and malls. In the afternoon we went on the beach and on the evening we ate supper at a restaurant. The beach was very flat like a kids pool. You could walk immensenly long inside. After the yetti, where the water went deep you had a good snorkling spot. We saw even more fish swarms than in Granadella. The beach walk itself is of course very touristic. It was even easy to get a table early at 6 p.m. for supper.
For the kids we took also a trip to the Valencia Oceanografic. It is one of the biggest sealife in europe with a great dophin show. We spent the whole day there. First we watched the dolphin show and then we walked through the park/zoo which had so many cherish inside and outside. A perfect place for kids with a lot of things to see. I was fascinated by the Beluga Whales because I´ve never seen one so close before.
Another kids place is the Elche Safaripark / Waterpark. The cool thing is, you can take a tour through the park and then go swimming afterwards. We took a tour with the Safari Jeep, which gives you a great overview over the park. After that we walked to the single cherish. The zoo has a lot of potential but seems neglected at some spots. We watched the show of the sealion that day, which was quite interesting but the english was hard to understand because of the strong spanish accent. The highlight was the waterpark with the slides and pools. You have to decide at the entrance if you want to buy a ticket including the waterpark. On that hot day it was the perfect refreshment for the whole family.
On our last evening we went to Murcia. At 8 p.m. in the evening there were still almost 30 degrees in the city. It was so unbelievable hot. Some weeks later in 2022 the area of Alicante became the victim of many forest fires.
Now we understood why spanish people eat at 9 or even 10 p.m. in the evening. Because earlier it is just too hot and the days feel endless. Murica has a beautiful old town with a hugh cathedral. We went inside for a quick look. After that we walked relaxed through the streets and ate dinner directly next to the cathredral in front of the ayuntamient.
This vacation was the perfect mix between culture, relaxation and family time. We will definetly come back for more 🙂
Belladonna Mira 