Language
Quite often we are asked "will I need to be able to speak Spanish?". Well the simple answer is no. All the bar, restaurant and shop owners can speak English and German, however, just notice how the few people who do make an attempt to speak Spanish, no matter how badly, get treated better than the 99% of those who don't. Even the use of common everyday courtesies such as "hello", "how are you", "please" and "thank you" will certainly pay dividends.

Lookie Lookie Men
The resort does have quite a large number of illegal street traders selling "genuine" designer watches and T shirts. Do not start to barter with them unless you have a genuine desire to buy. A firm but polite "no" will not offend.

Money
The official currency of Spain is the now the Euro. For more information please see the "Euro" section on the previous page.

Pickpockets
Benidorm, as in every other holiday resort, does have its fair share of pickpockets. Use common sense in any crowded areas, and hold on to any personal belongings. If you do have something stolen, you must report it to the local Police with 24 hours, if only for insurance purposes.

Public Toilets
You will find public toilets in some of the larger shopping centres, other than that, every restaurant and bar will have them for customers use. So it may cost you the price of a Coca Cola to "spend a penny".

Restaurants
The Spanish and most of the other Europeans, do tend to eat very late in the evening compared to the British. As a result, few restaurants will tend to get very busy much before 8pm.

Shopping
Benidrom has excellent shopping with many of the brand names you will recognise from home, although some products may be manufactured locally under license and have a slightly different taste.

Sunbathing
Obvious advice, but the sun in Spain is very hot. Please be careful and ensure that you cover yourself in a high protection sun cream. Remember you will get very badly burnt even on a cloudy day.

Taxi
Taxis are numerous and a cheap way to get around the resort. Your hotel reception will always call a taxi for you (sometimes for a small charge) or alternatively flag one down in the street. Cabs are not always metered, however, a list of common fares is often advertised at the Taxi ranks, and the driver should also always carry a copy. For trips any further a field always agree the price with the driver before getting in.

Telephones
Public telephones are numerous throughout all of Benidrom with instructions in several languages. International calls home are cheaper between 10pm and 8am, and all day on Sunday. To make a call to the UK dial 00 wait, 44 then dial your full STD number without the first 0. The minimum cost of a call is usually around 2 Euro. International calls can be made from your hotel, but may prove to be very expensive.

Using your mobile phone whilst in Spain may also prove very expensive. Some UK mobile phone operators charge you to receive calls by as much as £1.80 per minute, and any calls made to the UK at £2.10 per minute for those customers on PAYG tarriffs. It is however, possible to significantly reduce these costs by fitting a Spanish SIM card into your phone when you arrive in the resort, although you will need to ensure that your mobile handset is unlocked for it to work.

Timeshare
Spain has got to be the Timeshare, or "holiday co-ownership" as they prefer to call it, capital of the world! Any couple walking together under the age of 60 will be a prime target for the touts. The first question will always be "do you speak English?". After that you may be asked to help them with a holiday questionnaire on behalf of the Spanish tourist board, or the more common scratch card. These scratch cards are all winners. Prizes may be 3 days car hire, water park tickets, duty free packs or the star prize of 2,000 Euro. Unless you want to sacrifice 1/2 day of your holiday to a relentless hard sell, do not go with them to collect your prize! Remember, only the foolish or greedy will really believe that they are getting something for nothing.

Tipping
It is customary to pay tips in Spain. Normally a tip of around 10% of the total bill is expected.

Working in Spain
Without a doubt the most popular question we are asked is regarding working here. So, we have created this section which should hopefully answer most of your questions.

Firstly, working in Benidorm is not a paid holiday. The bar and restaurant owners work long hours and will not carry passengers. Secondly, work is becoming harder to find for everybody. However, if you are genuinely prepared to work hard, come out to the resort early in the season on a cheap flight, pick up a copy of an English language newspaper and follow every lead. If you strike lucky then good luck to you, if not, well you've had a cheap holiday.

A couple of web sites well worth looking at before you go are the pages of Escape Artists, Wemploy, and Ambient Jobs, who give listings of jobs throughout all of Spain and the Canary Islands.