Benissa 

is a municipality in the north-west of the Costa Blanca, situated the province of Alicante in Spain, and has about 10.000 inhabitants and a coastline of 4 kilometres with rocky shores, small cliffs and sandy beaches.

The municipality offers besides this interesting coastline, many hills and mountains, as the Sierra de Oltá, la Mala Verda and the most well known, the Sierra de Bernia with a height of almost 1200 metres.

Les Basetes, the local marina borders with the municipality of Calpe and offers a restaurant, a sailing school and a dive centre, because the water here is excellent for diving.

The town itself is well connected to the surrounding infrastructure, with a direct exit of the AP-7 toll road and the main road N-332 crossing the centre. Work is in progress to build a new road around the town to favour both traffic and inhabitants of the town.

A number of local and international bus companies also offer stops at Benissa, with ALSA being the most well known Spanish intercity bus company.

History
The discovery of a few rock paintings have experts believe that there was activity around Benissa since prehistoric times, and the name of Benissa has an Arabic origin, meaning “children of Isa”, as do many other rural parts of this municipality. This confirms the ruling theory that there was an important Arabic settlement when Jaime I de Aragon reached the area of Benissa. As with other towns on the Costa Blanca, such as Altea, Calpe and Teulada it suffered numerous pirate attacks in the XV and XVI century. This, in the end, resulted in the expulsion of the Moors, that still lived in the rural parts, their places being taken by people from the Pyrenees, Catalonia and Aragon.

Nowadays about 44% of the population of Benissa is of European descent, with most of them coming from England and Germany.

Many building from the past still are in well-preserved condition today and can be seen and visited. Such as the towns church “la Iglesia de la Purisima Concepcion” and La Lonja, the most ancient monument in town dating back to the XVI century and hosting exposition at present times.

For information about events in Benissa, feel free to browse our “event calendar“, or check for companies and services in “thecostablancaguide.com” and you can also check our section on the local markets in and surrounding Benissa.