Text and photos: Antonio Colmenar
Benidorm is the city with most skyscrapers in Spain, more than Madrid and Barcelona. Many call it Beniyork or the New York of the Mediterranean because of its similarity to the skyscraper town par excellence. Without a doubt, it is the Spanish Manhattan.
Currently Benidorm boasts 27 building over 100 metres high; the tallest being the InTempo residential complex, which, at 200 metres is the fifth tallest building in Spain, and the second tallest residential complex in the EU, topped only by the Sky Tower in Breslavia (Poland).
This colossus of two towers that are joined together at the bottom, with 47 floors, suffered a number of setbacks in the construction phase due to the bursting of the property bubble. It has now ended up in the hands of Sareb, the so called bad bank, where all those things we Spaniards pay for with our taxes end up.
But Benidorm is not only the InTempo fiasco. We are before one of the most important and well-known tourist destinations in Spain and in the Mediterranean, thanks to its beaches and night life. In summer it hits 400,000 inhabitants, due to the fact that the touristic capital of the Comunidad Valenciana is also the third city with most hotel beds in Spain, behind Madrid and Barcelona.
Among its hotels Bali stands out. It is still the tallest hotel in Europe. At 186 metres, despite the fact that the original planning had stated a height of 210 metres, it has 52 floors and 776 rooms.
