Best Dog-Friendly Hotels in Costa Blanca

Before you go

What happens when you get there

Beaches in Alicante

Dogs are only allowed on the sand of Alicante's beaches and coves from 1 November to 1 March, on a lead throughout. The year-round exception is Playa de Agua Amarga, north of Urbanova, which is the city's designated dog beach with a cleaning service, a fenced off-lead area and adapted services in summer. Two dogs per adult, one if the dog is on the dangerous breeds list, no dogs in heat, no puppies under four months, and microchip and health records required.

Beaches in Dénia

Dogs are banned from every beach and cove in Dénia from 1 June to 31 October, with only rescue and assistance dogs exempt. From 1 November to 28 February dogs are allowed on part of Playa Els Molins, from Calle Llac Tiberiades to the Riu Girona, and on most of Playa Deveses except the stretch by the Riu Molinell. From 1 March to 31 May it is only part of Playa de les Marines, between Calle Mussola and Calle Rascló, to protect nesting wildlife. The Escollera Norte, south of the breakwater behind Marina El Portet, is the stretch dog walkers use all year.

Beaches from Benidorm south

Benidorm's municipal ordinance bans dogs from its beaches all year round, with no seasonal window, and the town's own tourist board sends visitors to four official dog beaches instead. Playa de L'Olla in Altea is 17 km and about 20 minutes, Playa del Xarco in Villajoyosa 20 km and 25 minutes, and Playa Canina Barranc d'Aigües and Playa para perros Punta del Riu, both in El Campello, are 28 km and 35 km, so all four need a car. Calpe names Cala Les Urques, a 100-metre pebble cove near the Puerto Blanco marina, as its dog beach, and Santa Pola's Caleta dels Gossets is cleaned by hand rather than machine to protect the Limonium around it, so expect seaweed and a small rocky cove. For Xàbia and Teulada-Moraira no published dog beach or reachable ordinance could be found, so assume the main beaches are closed in season and check before you travel.

Weight limits

Seven and eight kilos are the norm here. Hotel Villa España in Benidorm caps at 7 kg and Villa Venecia at 8 kg, although three different figures for Villa Venecia are in circulation, so get it in writing. NH Alicante takes two dogs of up to 25 kg each. Magic Robin Hood is the only property on the coast that publishes no weight limit at all, which is why it does so much work on this page.

Getting around

A hire car is close to essential, because every official dog beach is a drive from every hotel. The TRAM light rail from Alicante through El Campello and Benidorm to Dénia does not carry dogs, only assistance dogs, working dogs and small pets in carriers, and the municipal ordinance prohibits animals on public transport. ALSA takes one pet per coach service in the hold at up to 10 kg, and Interbus takes pets in the hold in a closed carrier. Radio Taxi Benidorm is on 965 862 626, and tell the operator the dog's weight when you ring so they send a suitable car.

Walking in the natural parks

The Montgó natural park between Dénia and Xàbia is walkable with a dog and the Dénia tourist board recommends it by name. The Serra Gelada park between Benidorm, Albir and Altea is dog walkable on a lead, and the paved Faro del Albir track, 2.4 km each way, is the easiest cliff walk on the coast with a dog. The Peñón de Ifach at Calpe is different. The summit route is a two-and-a-half-hour climb through a 30-metre tunnel to a narrow exposed section and it needs an advance booking, and no dog rule for the park could be verified, so treat the summit as off limits until the park office says otherwise.

Heat and hot ground

July and August sit in the low to mid thirties with high humidity near the sea, and the paving and sand hold that heat well into the evening. Alicante's own dog beach guidance tells owners to use sun cream on short-haired dogs, which is local advice rather than fussiness. Walk before nine in the morning and after eight at night, test the pavement with the back of your hand, and carry water because the promenades have taps but not bowls. Elche, inland under its palms, is measurably more comfortable in August than the seafront towns.

Vets

AniCura Marina Alta Centro Veterinario at Partida Madrigueres Nord 17 in Dénia is open 00 to 24 for emergencies on 965 784 038, and it is the 24-hour vet Hotel MR Les Rotes gives its own guests. For anywhere between Dénia and Calpe, that is the number to have in your phone before you arrive. In Benidorm, Visit Benidorm lists La Clínica de Marina on 966 80 02 29, Clínica Veterinaria Costa Blanca on 965 85 59 49, Veterinaria Avenida del Mediterráneo on 965 86 80 09 and Clínica Veterinaria Casagrande on 965 86 09 43, none of them confirmed as 24-hour.

Best walks

Dénia does this better than anywhere else on the coast. The Les Rotes seafront walk, the Torre del Gerro lookout 1.5 km along it, and the Cova Tallada path that skirts the foot of the Montgó to a sea cave in the Cabo de San Antonio marine reserve, which needs a permit in season and is better out of it. The town also runs two municipal dog parks, Parc de Torrecremada and Parc de la Pedrera. Around Alicante, the Explanada de España palm promenade, the stepped climb through Parque de la Ereta to Santa Bárbara castle, Parque Monte Tossal behind the centre, and the rocky coast path round Cabo de las Huertas past Cala Cantalars and Cala Palmera. Near Benidorm and Albir, the paved Faro del Albir track runs 2.4 km each way into Serra Gelada, and Benidorm's own entrance at the far end of Playa de Levante runs about 2.5 km to Cala Ti Ximo and Cala Almadrava with no cars on it. In Calpe, the Paseo Ecológico Príncipe de Asturias under the Peñón and the Serra d'Oltà behind the town. In Elche, the Palmeral with its 200,000 palms, the Parque Municipal and the Huerto del Cura gardens.

When to go

November to March, and this is the one coast where we would tell you that flatly. It is when the beach rules flip, because Alicante opens its sand to dogs from 1 November to 1 March and Dénia opens Els Molins and Deveses from 1 November to 28 February, while the summer bans lift everywhere else. It is also when the walking works, with Calpe recording 3,180 hours of sun a year, an annual average of 18 degrees and only 44 cloudy days, and the promenades and coastal paths usable in the middle of the day. July and August are the opposite, with hot sand, hot paving into the evening and most of the coast closed to dogs anyway.