Stay on the Levante seafront if the New Year's Eve party is the point: Apartamentos Santa Margarita is the shortest walk back and Apartments Torre Levante 1H the simplest, along the lit promenade. Choose Carlos V on the English Square if you want the bars too, Apartment Diamond in Rincón de Loix if you want Levante without the strip and accept an uphill walk home, and Waves on the Poniente side for a quiet night and a taxi back.
- The 2025 party started at 6pm where Avenida de Bilbao meets the Levante promenade, with the Spanish countdown at midnight and Big Ben at 1am. The 2026 programme was not out when we checked in September.
- Walking back from that spot takes about 12 minutes to Santa Margarita, 15 to Carlos V, 17 to Torre Levante, 28 to Waves and 30 to Diamond, with the last stretch to Diamond uphill.
- No New Year's Eve night bus was found in any source. Radio Taxi Benidorm runs 24 hours, on a night and holiday tariff plus a New Year's Eve supplement.
- 26 December is a normal working day in the Valencian Community, so there is no Boxing Day closure. The holidays are 25 December, 1 January and 6 January.
- Waves' key-code check-in runs 4pm to midnight and Torre Levante's 1pm to 8pm, so don't plan a late 31 December arrival at either.
High floor of the Torre Levante tower on the Levante seafront, sea-view terrace, and the promenade all the way home.
One- to three-bedroom apartments sleeping up to eight on the Levante front at Avenida Filipinas, kitchens and laundry in every one.
Two bedrooms and two bathrooms for up to six on the quiet Poniente side, with a heated pool, sauna and gym behind a 24-hour gate.
What actually happens on New Year's Eve in Benidorm?
On 31 December 2025 the free public party started at 6pm at the junction of the Levante promenade and Avenida de Bilbao, with DJs, giant screens, and grapes and party kits handed out to the crowd. The Puerta del Sol countdown from Madrid was shown at midnight, fireworks followed at about 12.15am, and at 1am the screens switched to the Big Ben chimes from London, which is midnight in the UK. Benidorm had not published its programme for Thursday 31 December 2026 when we checked in September, and we'll update this section when it appears.
The Old Town has its own party earlier the same day. In 2025 the Tardevieja on Calle Santo Domingo (Carrer de Sant Domènec on the street signs) began at 12.30pm with two stages and DJs, and the same bars ran a Tardebuena on 24 December in the same format. Nobody publishes a finish time for either event, and there is no organised move from the tapas street to the beach at a set hour.
Two things the party is not. It is not a hotel gala: those are separate, hotel-run dinners you book on their own, and none of the five apartments below runs one. And it is not a free bar: the programme hands out grapes and a party kit, not drinks.
How far is the walk back to your apartment after 1am?
From the party point at Avenida de Bilbao the walk back is about 12 minutes to Santa Margarita, 15 to Carlos V, 17 to Torre Levante, 28 to Waves and 30 to Diamond, measured on a pedestrian route planner at a normal pace. On the night, the crowd leaving after Big Ben only makes those slower.
| Apartment | Area | Walk from the party point | Walk from Calle Santo Domingo | Best for | View |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apartments Torre Levante 1H | Levante seafront, Avenida de Madrid | About 17 minutes (1.3 km), on the promenade almost to the door | About 23 minutes | Couples or four friends who want the party and the simplest walk home | View → |
| Apartamentos Santa Margarita | Levante, at Avenida Filipinas | About 12 minutes (0.9 km), flat | About 19 minutes | Families and groups of up to eight who want kitchens and laundry | View → |
| Apartments Carlos V | English Square, Calle Gerona | About 15 minutes (1.1 km), the last streets through the bars | About 21 minutes | Adults who want the bars on the doorstep | View → |
| Apartment Diamond | Rincón de Loix, uphill from Levante | About 30 minutes (2.3 km), the last stretch uphill on Calle Alcalde Manuel Catalán | About 36 minutes | Four people who want Levante without the strip and don't mind the climb | View → |
| Waves Apartment | Poniente side, Avenida República Argentina | About 28 minutes (2.3 km), west through the Old Town | About 19 minutes | Families of up to six who want a quiet night and will take a taxi | View → |
Measured on 14 September 2026 on a pedestrian route planner, door to door, rounded to the nearest minute. Waves is also the odd one out on the second column: from the Old Town tapas street it is as close as Santa Margarita, because the Old Town sits between the two beaches.
There is no bus to fall back on. We found no New Year's Eve night bus in any source, and the operator had not published last departure times for 31 December when we checked. Radio Taxi Benidorm runs 24 hours a day on +34 965 86 26 26 and through the PideTaxi app; the night and holiday tariff applies from 9pm to 7am and there is a separate New Year's Eve supplement on top, so expect the ride to cost more than the same trip in the afternoon.
The TRAM helps only if you are heading out of town. For New Year 2025/26, FGV ran a special late Line 1 service with a 12.19am departure from Luceros in Alicante to Benidorm and a 1.50am departure from Benidorm back to Luceros. Useful for anyone sleeping in Alicante, useless for getting from Levante to Poniente.
Diamond is our last pick for this one night, and the walk is the reason. The route home leaves the flat seafront for Calle Alcalde Manuel Catalán and climbs to the Trinisol II building, so after 1am you are either walking 30 minutes with a hill at the end or joining the taxi queue with everyone else. Book it for the glazed sixth-floor terrace looking east over the bay, not for the walk.
🏨Our pickApartments Torre Levante 1H, on the Levante seafront with the promenade all the way home→
Which side of Benidorm is loud on New Year's Eve, and which is quiet?
Levante and Rincón de Loix are the loud half of Benidorm on New Year's Eve, and Poniente is the quiet half. That is the split our Benidorm guide uses for the whole year, and the party at Avenida de Bilbao only sharpens it, because the stage and the screens sit on the Levante promenade and the fireworks are watched from it.
Within the loud half there is a spread. Santa Margarita is on Avenida del Mediterráneo at Avenida Filipinas, about a hundred yards from the sand, and the building itself runs quiet hours from 9pm to 9am and refuses hen, stag and party bookings, which tells you what kind of block it is. Torre Levante 1H is on the same seafront further east at Avenida de Madrid 18, with quiet hours from 11pm to 8am and no parties allowed. Carlos V at Calle Gerona 32 is in the English Square strip itself, so the street below is the nightlife; its page reports that the apartment is quiet inside once the balcony doors are shut, which is guest feedback and not a guarantee for this particular night.
The Old Town is a third thing. Calle Santo Domingo is the tapas alley, and on 31 December it is busy from lunchtime because of the Tardevieja. None of our five apartments is in the Old Town, so treat it as somewhere you go for the afternoon, then leave.
Poniente is where you stay if you want to sleep. Waves Apartment is at 6 Avenida República Argentina in the Sunset Waves complex, with the sand a few hundred metres from the door at the nearest point, two bedrooms, two bathrooms and space for six, a heated pool, sauna and gym, and a 24-hour security gate. We cannot tell you the fireworks are inaudible from the balcony (nobody has measured it), only that the party, the strip and the crowd leaving it are all on the other side of the headland.
None of the five has a 24-hour reception, and 31 December is the wrong day to test that. Waves is self check-in by key code from 4pm to midnight and the host wants your arrival time a day ahead. Torre Levante 1H checks in from 1pm to 8pm with nobody on a desk. Carlos V is a personal key handover, and arrivals from 11pm carry a surcharge. Santa Margarita issues keys from the Arca Rent office round the corner from 5pm to midnight. Whichever you pick, you will be asked for passport details; our guide to Spain's hotel check-in passport rules explains what they take and why.
Is Benidorm open over Christmas and New Year?
Yes. Benidorm is open in December, and a self-catering week here runs on Spain's calendar rather than Britain's: the public holidays fall on 25 December, 1 January and 6 January every year, and 26 December is a normal working day. Plan the food shop around those three dates and the two early-closing evenings, and the week looks after itself.
24 December is Nochebuena: shops and restaurants close early for the family dinner, so buy the food by lunchtime. 25 December is a public holiday across the Valencian Community, and if half your family is spending it at home, our guide to Christmas Day hotels and what's open covers the UK side.
26 December is the one that catches British visitors. The Valencian government's Decreto 100/2025, published in the DOGV on 7 July 2025, lists the region's twelve public holidays for 2026 and 26 December is not one of them; Benidorm's two local holidays fall in November, around the Fiestas Mayores Patronales. There is no Boxing Day here: 26 December 2026 is a Saturday and an ordinary working day on the regional calendar.
31 December closes early again for Nochevieja, so shop by lunchtime. 1 January and 6 January (Reyes, Three Kings' Day) are both holidays, and the Cabalgata de Reyes parade on 5 January is the one fixture whose 2027 route and start time had not been published when we checked. Exact supermarket hours for 24 and 31 December were not published either. Pharmacies work on a farmacia de guardia rota over the holidays, so one is always open, just not always the one nearest you.
Do the big shop on 26 December. It is an ordinary working day here, the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day crowds have gone, and every apartment in this post has a full kitchen, so a Boxing Day that does not exist in Spain becomes the easiest day of the week to fill the fridge before the 31 December early close.
What's on in Benidorm at Christmas?
Benidorm's Christmas programme is called BeniNadal, and the 2025 edition ran from 29 November 2025 to 6 January 2026 with a Christmas market, festive lights and an ice rink in the Plaza de la Navidad, the square beside the town hall whose formal name is Plaza de SS.MM. los Reyes de España. The 2026 programme had not been published when we checked in September, so treat the market and the rink as last year's evidence, not a promise for this one.
Hotel gala dinners for Nochebuena and Nochevieja are a different product: hotel-run, separately booked, and priced as an event rather than a room. If you want one, book it with the hotel directly and stay in one of the apartments for the rest of the week; the apartments themselves run nothing on either night. The Tardebuena on Calle Santo Domingo on 24 December is the Old Town's free version, same bars and same format as the Tardevieja a week later.
What's the weather like in Benidorm at New Year?
Mild by day, and a lot cooler on the seafront after midnight. December and January days here are mild by UK standards, which is why people come, but the Levante promenade at 1am with a breeze off the sea is a coat-and-scarf job, and the walk home is longer than it felt on the way out. Our Benidorm guide, linked above, holds the monthly numbers; there is no useful forecast for 31 December this far ahead.
Benidorm gives you two midnights. If you are walking home with children or with someone who tires, do the grapes and the Puerta del Sol countdown at midnight, watch the fireworks (about 12.15am in 2025), and set off before the Big Ben crowd at 1am. You get the whole Spanish night and a promenade that is still moving, and you are home before the taxi queue forms.
Common questions
Is the Benidorm New Year's Eve party free?
Yes. The party on the Levante promenade at Avenida de Bilbao is a free, open-air council event, and in 2025 the grapes and the party kit were handed out free as well. The things that cost money are the hotel gala dinners, which are separate events run by individual hotels, and the drinks.
Do you need tickets for New Year's Eve in Benidorm?
No, not for the public party. You walk up to the promenade and you are in. Tickets only come into it for a hotel gala dinner, which you book directly with that hotel.
Can you take children to New Year's Eve in Benidorm?
Yes, and in 2025 there was a separate family programme for them. On 31 December 2025 the Plaza de la Navidad ran its own New Year celebration from 11am, with children's activity and a pre-countdown at noon, afternoon DJs, a break and an evening restart. The Levante promenade at midnight is a big crowd on a seafront with no published accessibility plan, so with a pushchair we would do the square by day and watch the fireworks from further along the promenade.
Is the beach open after midnight on New Year's Eve?
Plan for the promenade, not the sand. Benidorm's standard rule is no beach access between midnight and 7am, the organised event is on the promenade at Avenida de Bilbao rather than on the beach, and we found no published exemption for New Year's Eve. If the council lifts the rule for 2026 it will say so in the programme, and we will add it here.
When should you book an apartment for New Year in Benidorm?
Earlier than the rest of your winter trip. New Year's Eve is the one night in the festive fortnight tied to a big public event, and the apartment operators we read tell people to book early for multi-bedroom places in particular. If you need three bedrooms for eight people, sort the apartment before you book the flights.
Levante seafront, sea-view terrace, and the promenade all the way home after Big Ben.
The shortest walk back, with three-bedroom apartments for eight and a kitchen and washing machine in every one.
The quiet side of town, two bathrooms, a heated pool and a security gate, with a taxi back from the party.
