Hi... we always allow ourselves a £100 a day when we are half bored... not going to go far this year with the state of the euro at the minute.... we are 2 adults and a 12 year old..... only 6 weeks to go.... wish it was here...

hi guys going to benidorm next week for 2 weeks, 2 adults 1 kid. we are half board so was thinking about taking £800 spending money as it will be the pool and beach during the day and cheap pubs to start with at night. do u think this will be enough money

I suppose it depends what you will be doing. I know that you have said that you will be spending time around the pool and on the beach but will you be visiting Mundamar, Aqualandia , Terra Natura or anywhere else like that because I personally think that £800.00 for the 3 of you is a very tight budget for a fortnight especially with the exchange rate been so low at the moment.

Sue

It will depend on what you want to do really, I can only compare to last year when the euro was much better.

We were self catering for ten nights being a family of two adults and two children. We had a day at Mundomar and a day at Aqualandia ate out every day in the morning for a cooked breakfast and later for an evening meal as I made a packed lunch for the afternoon at the beach/pool. We were out every night from around seven until midnight and ate and drank exactly what we wanted.

We spent £600 plus £100 that the children had with them to buy their football kits etc.

For those recently back, how did you find your holiday money lasted this year?

I am wondering and hoping that the poor rates are not going to make that much difference to our spends.

I am going to go to Aqualandia a couple of days as the same as last year we already have the decent discount vouchers, same with Mundomar. We do eat out all the time and last year every pub seemed to have BOGOF offers on local spirits and mixers for most of the night.

We are a family of two adults and two young children.

As a family of 2 adults,2 children we spent about £250 more than usual due to the rate of the euro!

just got back from 2 weeks in zante
(i know its not benidorm)
the prices were the same as last year but as the euro has dropped we spent about £250 more than last year

Just got back & prices seemed to be the same but the poor exchange rate makes a vast difference on last year, around £3.00 a pint of local in the caberet bars. My kids are always wanting to play pool & most were 2 euro a game, we were getting through £130 a day for a family of four, so I've told em its 7 nights next year!

We found that because of the exchange rate it was bit more expensive than last year but not £3.00 a pint anywhere except the English pub in the Airport which was extortionate It was 14 euros for 2 pints of cheap lager and 2 cokes
Chicago Bar on Calle Lepanto next to Sandra bar just near the square has a FREE pool table and if you buy a drink then they don't mind you having a game. The drinks are very reasonable too but it only opens in the daytime, till about 7pm.

We still found bars where a pint was only 1 euro which was only 80p opposed to 70p last year,,still very reasonable.

Obviously the cabaret bars are going to cost more giving that you are getting free entertainment, everyone expects that, the artists need paying after all.

Spain and anywhere else for that matter are not as cheap as they used to be and we all have to get used to that. My friend has just got back from Turkey and she reckons that the prices have tripled in the last 3 years. I personally feel that Benidorm still represents excellent value for money compared to other resorts in Spain.
We had a 2 centre holiday this year, a week in Los Alcazaras near Murcia and a week in Benidorm and at the former, we couldn't get a pint of lager for less that 2.50 euros anywhere and the main meals were at least 10 euros,most of the Sunday Lunches advertised were 12.50euros whereas in Benidorm they are less than half that.
On a final note, I think that because most of us only holiday once or twice a year, , we tend to think about how much we were paying the last time we visited and tend to forget about how prices have gone up over here.

Sue

Very well said Sue.

I'd say that on average the bar prices are about the same as in this country now. It is still possible to get cheap drinks in some places but to be honest those are the places you won't want to drink in. Some of the cabaret bars are a bit ridiculous, £3 for a bottle of Mahou I was in Poland with work earlier this year and it was like Beni ten years ago, shame there's no beach.

As already said, the days of cheap drinks are gone.Even the places where you get eye opening measures for spirits are few.You even pay top prices for obscure named spirits.

was there last weekend and i found prices not to bad even the lads that had not been before thought it was great, had a drink in the piccadilly bar and we got 1 guinness 1 john smiths and 4 pints of local larger for 10 euros now thats cheap. we spent most of the weekend in and around the square and on avarage 6 drinks were anything beetween 10 euros and 23 euros when i go back in 3 weeks will mabe find it differant when we go to more family bars and some entitaniment bars

i will still have more fun than i would in this country

yours the fatboy

The dearest place we found was Rockerfellas at €11 for a vodka and orange and a bottle of San Miguel.

luci

it was 3 euro a bottle of san mig in rockerfellas in april , maybe the prices have went up luci , vodka is dear in any clubs , i often wonder why as you can buy a litre bottle of smirnhoff for just over 10 euro from the tabacs.

That was last August and December at Xmas.

luci

I seem to remember a post from some time ago that suggested that as the British pound was falling against the Euro; bar, restaurant and hotel owners would recognise that British tourists had proportionally less money to spend, and they would lower their prices accordingly.

Without having to search for the post, I think it was also suggested that there would be future ‘bargains to be had'.

Unfortunately, that is not how sustainable businesses are run.

Business owners, in general, have no desire to attract more people with less money. To remain profitable they have to choose to cater to less people, with more money, and to charge disproportionately more.

If there are bars in Benidorm that are charging 3 Euro for a bottle of Mahou, then there ought to be top class entertainment on offer to justify the price (bearing in mind that one of our largest supermarket chains is currently selling cans of beer for 9 cents each, and bottles of spirits can easily be brought for a couple of Euro), and in my opinion, some second rate ‘tribute' band is just not good enough.

You do not have to travel too far to find more reasonable prices.

Yesterday I was in the town of Dolores, just a 10 minute drive inland from my home. Stopping off at a bar we had 2 ‘pints' and one coke accompanied by a substantial plate of tapas. The bill was 3,60 Euro. Had I driven for an hour or so more inland, the bill would have been far less.

There are plenty of restaurants where you can get a full 3 course menu del dia, including wine, for less than 4 Euro, and a menu del la noche for no more than 7 Euro.

Anyone who calculates value for money in Spain by comparing prices in Benidorm really needs to look further afield.

There are several bars in Benidorm charging 3 euros for a bottle of Mahou and at least one (Talk of the Coast) charging £3. Of course Benidorm bar prices don't reflect value for money in Spain, but that's not what this thread is about, the original poster asked about Benidorm prices. There are also many other bars in Benidorm where you can get the same bottle of Mahou for a euro or even less, which you will struggle to find at many other resorts. So the strange thing about Beni is that it is not only the most expensive place in Spain, it's also the cheapest. It's up to you where you choose to spend your time and money. The way I justify paying the high cabaret bar prices is to only be in them for acts I want to see, so I can more easily think of it as an admission price. If I wouldn't pay a few quid to see the act, then I won't go in!

I agree Colin.
I came back from the Costa del Sol in June and if you compare Benidorm with other coastal resorts, then it does still represent good value for money if you're ONLY comparing "costa" resorts with each other.

Of course drinks/food will be cheaper inland, the same applies if you buy property on the coast, it will cost more than inland, if you buy "front line" it will cost more than a few streets back, and will be even further cheaper the further you go inland.

I can't comment on prices in the clubs because they are not my scene anymore, but logic tells me that you will be paying more because someone has to pay for the entertainers, and at the end of the day, they are making a living the same as the bar owners, they don't sing/perform for free or for the good of their health.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you pay more for drinks in nightclubs in the UK.?

Maybe because I stick with Spanish bars and I refuse to pay the rip off prices that the Brits want to charge, I probably see this in a different light than some of you, but the Spanish don't rip the Spanish off and Benidorm along with other coastal resorts do have an awful lot of Spanish visiting the coast from the interior.

You pays your money, you make the choice.!
Sanji