17 sporting events, 5 cultural cycles and 6 major music festivals make Benidorm the destination with the best 'plans B'

A destination for all audiences, with offers for people of any age and hobbies to enjoy 365 days a year. Benidorm City Council has presented in this edition of the International Tourism Fair that is being held these days in Madrid, Fitur, its offer of large sporting, cultural and musical events that will take place during 2024 and that will make it the destination tourism with the best 'plans B' in the entire national panorama. Seventeen sporting events, five major cultural cycles and six music festivals, which start next week with the third edition of the Benidorm Fest, are part of this enormous complementary offer to the sun and beach tourism model that has made Benidorm internationally famous. along with gastronomy, nature or its status as the first certified smart tourist destination in the world.

The mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, has stated that the commitment to major sports competitions is one of the strategies that the city "has been betting on for several years and that are giving better results", both as focuses of tourist attraction and promotion. and national and international projections for the city. “We have a very recent example of what it has meant for us to host for the second consecutive year a stage of the Cyclocross World Cup that has not only brought to Benidorm the best athletes of this modality but also nearly 20,000 fans who have been able to know and enjoy our offer,” said the first mayor.

In addition to this competition, which brought together some 600 participants, the calendar of major sporting events that will be held during 2024 also includes such established events as the Costa Blanca Cup, in which some 5,000 players and nearly 300 soccer teams will come from more than twenty countries; or the Benidorm Half that will take place on November 23, which includes the 10K and 21K events and in which more than 5,000 runners will participate, of which 1,800 come from the United Kingdom alone. And, once again, another of the events that will mobilize the largest audience in the city will once again be the European Electronic Darts Championship, which will take place from June 3 to 17 and in which participation of more than 1,500 'darts' is planned. along with their families and companions.

The Spanish Championship of regional futsal teams; the ITF Taekwondo Costablanca Cup; Jugones Cup for youth football teams; Easter Basket Campus; the 18th Vertical Climb to Bali Hotel; Doble Amor Solidarity Cross; the Marina Baixa Cup for youth football teams football; Jugones Weekend of youth football teams; the Costablanca Cup of futsal; the Heartbreak/Club Finisher Swim Trip; L'Illa Swim Crossing; or Aspanion 10k Race complete the main events confirmed to date and that, in sum, will bring together nearly 15,000 athletes and their companions to our destination throughout the year.

Culture for all

Toni Pérez has detailed that, apart from the sporting field, also during 2014 'plans B' will have great weight in the cultural field. Not in vain, throughout the year there will be highly renowned cycles or festivals that will bring great national and international figures to Benidorm in fields such as music, theatre, dance or cinema, as well as other events. of less impact but that “are also interesting and can be very attractive within the complementary offer segment”, as Toni Pérez has highlighted. And, with the added value that, in addition, most activities are carried out free of charge, thus bringing high culture closer to people and making it available to everyone.

Regarding the cultural offer, the XXXV edition of the International Music Course of the City of Benidorm and the XXV edition of the Music Competition that takes place within this course stand out, this time in the piano category. It will take place from June 30 to July 5, with the participation of great music masters and the attendance of more than 150 students of different nationalities, offering daily and free concerts for the general public as part of the parallel activities.

Without abandoning this field, this Friday the XII City of Benidorm International Organ Festival begins, which in recent years has turned the city into a world reference by bringing together the main figures of this instrument, with free concerts open to everyone. the public. Among the organists who will meet throughout this year are Gabriele Giacomelli; Daniel Oyarzabal; Miguel Bernal Ripoll with the soprano Julia Ruiz; Walter D’Arcangelo and the oboe Gonzalo Devesa; students of the organ specialty of the Alicante Professional Conservatory; Cristina García Banega; Ugo Spanu with the trumpeters Saúl Rubio and Javier Alcara; Fabio Macera and Benantzi Bilbao with the Choir of the University of Alicante.

Finally, all this musical programming is also completed with the Cycle of Great Recitals, with concerts by great performers linked to the Valencian Community and with international projection.

In the field of dance, Benidorm will once again host the Les Ones Festival from June 26 to 29, which in its fourth edition once again schedules dance shows by professional companies in the streets and squares of the city, such as the Castell or the plaza of His Majesty the Kings of Spain, and whose programming also includes workshops and classes at the Dance Conservatory. All of this makes Les Ones a unique event in our region, by bringing together both facets in the same event: cultural and educational.

For the second consecutive year, the Benidorm Cultural Center will host a new edition of the Amateur Theater Show, in which professional and amateur theatre companies will participate and which will take place in May. This offer will also be completed with the Children's and Family Theater Series, in which different plays will be programmed from January to December, both at the Town Hall and at the Cultural Center.

Finally, Benidorm will also roll out its particular red carpet, in this case as the setting for an event dedicated to the 'little brother' of the seventh art: the Skyline Film Festival, which this year celebrates its eighth edition from April 13 to 20, already consolidated as a reference within the short film production sector in our country.

Capital of Music

As far as large music festivals are concerned, the first and most popular due to its enormous national and international impact takes place in just a few days: Benidorm Fest, the competition organized by Benidorm City Council, Generalitat Valenciana and Radio Televisión Española and from which the representative of Spain in Eurovision will be chosen. In just three editions, the event has captured the attention of the main media in our country and outside our borders. Furthermore, it has generated a lot of interest among the public, to the extent that RTVE sold in just a few minutes the tickets to follow live both the two semi-finals - which are held on January 30 and February 1 - and its final gala, which It will be on February 3, so in 2024 it predicts “a new success with the public and impact for our city,” Toni Pérez has anticipated.

Throughout 2024 the city will also be the scene of other large concerts and festivals, such as the Tribute to the Ruta, which will take place on June 8; the Reggaeton Beach Festival, which will be held on July 6 and 7 at Ciudad Deportiva Guillermo Amor; Low Festival, which will have this same stage from July 26 to 28; and Iberia Festival, scheduled for October 11 and 12 at Julio Iglesias Auditorium in Parque de l'Aigüera.