British tourists are being warned they could get some “strange looks” if they don’t dress the part when visiting Benidorm next month.
Lucy Young, known as the Benidorm Enthusiast, has warned the seaside resort will be gearing up for its “fiesta patronal”, a week of partying, music, dance and parade is coming soon. Lucy says Benidorm’s celebration is particularly “special” because thousands of British and Irish tourists descend on the resort.
This year, the celebration runs through until November 13. But it is the following day where Lucy says tourists to the Spanish town will need to take note.
This Lucy says, is because a local bar in the resort founded British Fancy Dress Day followed the fiesta as a way to celebrate tourists from the UK. It comes as part of a massive street party to make the end of the festivities.
Lucy explained: “Many years ago Sinatra’s decided to say thank you to the British people for coming over and celebrating the November fiesta with the Spanish people by having a giant paella made outside the bar, which they would then give away to anybody for free in fancy dress.
“This happened on the Thursday following the fiesta and over the years it grew from just a few people to a few hundred and it has now developed into the biggest fancy dress party in Europe which spreads all the way through the new town streets.
“Last year around 40,000 people attended and this year it is expected that number will be closer to 50,000. Of course it’s impossible to feed 50,000 in one go with a paella, but in the run up to this day during the fiesta week there are giant paellas and free barbecues hosted by the bars in the new town.
“When it comes to fancy dress day on Thursday though, it’s just one big party. There are stages and pop-up bars in the streets, there’s a parade done by the bars, and if you’re not in fancy dress, you may well get some strange looks.”
Benidorm is hugely popular with Brits, with around 800,000 thought to have flocked to the resort in 2023. It meant travellers from the United Kingdom made up around a third of the 2,766,366 tourists it welcomed.
British Fancy Dress Day is first thought to have taken place in the 1990s.
This post was originally published on here
