Altea is the prettiest town on the Costa Blanca, and one of the few places along this stretch of coast that hasn't been swallowed by resort development. The Casco Antiguo sits on a hill above the bay, its whitewashed lanes climbing to the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Consuelo, a church with glazed blue-tiled domes that have become the symbol of the town. From the church terrace you look down over terracotta rooftops, a marina, and a long pebble beach curving around the bay.
The town has always attracted artists — there is a higher concentration of galleries and studios here than anywhere else on the Costa Blanca. This gives the old quarter a slightly bohemian character that contrasts pleasantly with the surrounding package-holiday belt. The Tuesday market runs weekly on Carrer de la Filarmónica, and craft stalls fill the square outside the church on summer evenings.
Below the hill, the new town stretches along the seafront with a promenade, seafood restaurants, and an easy, unhurried atmosphere. Altea is quieter than Benidorm (just 10 km south) by design: the town has largely resisted high-rise development and keeps its scale human. To the south, the limestone headland of Serra Gelada separates Altea's bay from Benidorm and offers good walking and sea-cave kayaking. Three kilometres north, the Marina Greenwich sits exactly on the Prime Meridian — a curiosity worth a detour. And a short drive into the Altea Hills brings you to the Russian Orthodox Church of Saint Michael, Spain's first purpose-built Orthodox church, assembled by craftsmen who imported everything from the Ural Mountains.