Mal Pas beach with a view of the Mirador

Many people that visit Benidorm often comment on the tradition of leaving padlocks at specific places. Two such locations in Benidorm are the stairs leading from Mal Pas beach up to the Mirador and actually at the top of the viewpoint - both in the Old Town.

Mal Pas beach is a tiny sandy cove which is reached from the bottom of the Old Town - head to the "Parc dÉlx" or better known to the Brits as Dove Park and its just along from there.

Every Thursday you can also catch a boat from here for a day trip to Tabarca Island and Alicante.  The boat departs at 10.30am and arrives in Tabarca at 11.45am, giving you just under 2 hours to explore. It then departs Tabarca at 13.30pm for the half hour journey to Alicante and you have 3 hours to yourself before catching the boat back again at 17.00pm and arriving in Benidorm at 18.00pm. The cost is 27.50 euros for adults and 18 euros for children - its certainly a lovely way to spend the day and you get to explore other parts of the Costa Blanca.

Trendy toilets - they even have baby changing facilities

There are bars and restaurants close by or just up the road is "Granny´s Tea House" where you can get a nice pot of tea and home made scone mid afternoon! There are also very clean toilet facilities here - often a problem faced when going to the beach! Most of us will go to the local bar but feel either embarrassed or obliged to make a purchase but here at Mal Pas you don´t need to!

For years loved up couples have been leaving padlocks all around the world inscribed with initials and dates: the banks of the river Seine in Paris, Rome, Florence and now even in the UK! Love padlocks have started to appear on the Millenium Bridge in London... gosh the Brits are getting romantic, or is it the tourists that have seen them whilst on holiday and decided to try the same?

No-one is too sure how or why this started but many people love just browsing and reading the messages that have been left. But apparently this tradition is far older than you may think - it originated in Serbia during World War II when couples who symbolically sealed their love for one another before the men went off to the front line. It was then taken up by naval personel about to embark on a journey across the seas and I have heard there is even a large collection at Liverpool Dock ( is that the padlocks left behind from when the bikes are stolen I wonder - only joking!)

Padlocks all up the staircase

At the bottom of the Mal Pas beach in Benidorm is a very long staircase that leads all the way up to the Mirador and the handrail is literally covered with padlocks. In places the weight is pulling the handrail off the wall and I just hope that the Town Hall don´t put a stop to it - sighting Health & Safety, but it is an issue, especially if you need to use the handrail to get up. There must be thousands of them with various messages, initials and dates written on them.  Its rather romantic really ..... and I bet that the local Fereteria  (Hardwear shop) hopes it isn´t banned as the takings will drop dramatically!

... and don´t forget every evening there is a night market up at the Mirador