TRAVEL: Benidorm bargains; Fed up with the credit crunch and the forecast of a gloomy winter? KEN BENNETT joins the over-50s in their search for sun, fun and cheap deals …

Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England), Sept 13, 2008

Byline: KEN BENNETT

As bargains go, this has to be one of the best breakfasts anywhere on the Spanish Costas or at home ... Two fresh eggs, two rashers of bacon, two plump tomatoes and two slices of toast: all for an eye-wateringly single Euro!

It's 10am and the temperature is warm enough for the gaggle of hungry grey heads to linger on a boulevard cafe overlooking Benidorm's pristine Levante Beach.

"I come here for a month every winter,"

Eileen, a seventy-something former Blackpool landlady confides. "Wouldn't miss it for the world. It's just like a home from home."

Her companions nod agreement. "We all meet up here every year," says Betty from South Wales. "Better than shivering at home worrying about fuel bills."

Alan, a retired shipyard worker from the North East, adds: "If you play your cards right you can bank your pension to pay the bills in the UK."

Life in Benidorm's slow lane is still where the smart holiday money is heading this winter.

Locally, the over-50s are known affectionately as 'The Orange Express', because from November until April oranges in the Alicante province on the Costa Blanca start to swell and droves of money-conscious Brits - and Spanish too - migrate here.

Prices for a 28-day full board holiday cost less than pounds 250 a week in a comfortable downtown hotel, leaving plenty of room in the wallet to ignore the hotels substantial buffet and spend a euro on a belt-stretching English-style breakfast at the Beach Rock Cafe.

Chris Hackney, General Manager of Product for giant holiday operator TUI UK tells me: "We have a very loyal customer base to Benidorm with many guests returning to the same hotel.

Some go back to the hotel three or four times a year.

"At one hotel alone, a number of guests have returned on more than 50 occasions."

He points to the resort's two blue flag beaches - Lavante and Poniente - as a magnet, the great year-round climate, fabulous entertainment and a huge selection of bars and restaurants.

"Benidorm is arguably the most affordable destination in Spain," he adds. "It is not uncommon to be able to find bars offering a large beer for one Euro and good, cheap eats."

Alexander 'Fingers' Neal, a gravel-voiced pianist who spends the winter entertaining the early morning diners, agrees.

To emphasise the point, he shows off his neat, new fleece, open necked check shirt, jeans and new trainers.

"All this cost me less than pounds 40: I can afford to throw it all away at the end of the winter season," he smiles.

Thirty years ago, Benidorm truly was the resort that the Brits knocked around a bit.

However, much like the maturing tourists themselves, the resort has grown up and long buried its wild association with larger louts.

Sure, there are hotels, acres of them, pushing towards the Mediterranean like a shimmering steel and concrete army.

And yes, there are still lines of market stalls on the sunny avenidas, overflowing with cheap - sometimes tacky - dresses, shoes, coats and hats.

But Benidorm, boasting more beds than the whole of Portugal, is unique: mixing the very cheap with the truly glitzy rolling out along two beautiful sandy beaches.

And if sweet soul music is your bag, Alexander, a 56-year-old Scot, is on hand to play, if you want, some good old-fashioned ballroom dancing (thousands do).

There are legions of welcoming hotels and bars ready to waft you in with affable smiles.

Mature hard rock fans - I saw scores - play their air guitars to their hearts content at specially themed bars on the boulevards.

And I promise you'll even see grey heads in black leathers riding expensive chrome-decked motorcycles or admiring the truly awesome cars lolling along the seafront.

Take a gentle stroll down scrupulously clean tiled pavements to an impressive headland rising above the Playa de Malpas, separating the two beaches.

Then relax and absorb the resort's glorious sweeping views under waving palms and listen to a real, live harpist playing tunes from Bach to The Beatles.

And make sure you take time out for a canter round the magnetic old town: Narrow, shaded streets with tall, shuttered windows.

Cool tapas bars. Dinky delis, up-market fashion houses and a cosy British pub selling homecooked nosh.

A mid-morning or mid afternoon coffee, a large brandy and slice of fluffy cake costs around pounds 3.50 at downtown bars with a bewildering choice of a lunch or dinner venues offering mixed seafood, salad, tortilla or home-made steak pie with mash and gravy for just over a fiver a head.

But if you really want celebrate in style, I'd recommend a visit to the fantastic Benidorm Palace with its stunningly costumed dance show with a belt-busting meal for a great night out.

Here, a candlelit dinner, show and dancing costs from just pounds 27 a head.

WONDER OF WOOLA COMBE

NORTH DEVON: Woolacombe Bay Holiday Parcs (01271 870 343) offers three-night weekend or four-night midweek self-catering breaks from pounds 65, saving pounds 50 and equating to less than pounds 9 per person, between Oct 3 and 23. Package includes evening entertainment/extensive leisure facilities.