Meliá Villaitana

Few resort complexes on the Costa Blanca announce themselves quite as boldly as Villaitana, the sprawling hotel and golf development that rises above Benidorm's hinterland. The site hosts 2 18-hole courses — Poniente and Levante — designed by Jack Nicklaus Design and opened in 2008. Set on rugged, undulating terrain inland from the famously crowded coastline, the courses play across a landscape of rocky outcrops, Mediterranean scrub, and broad panoramic ridges that bear little resemblance to the beach-holiday image Benidorm projects to the outside world.

The Nicklaus Design stamp is evident throughout: generous landing areas give way to firm, contoured greens that reward precision approach play, and the routing takes full advantage of the elevation changes to deliver long views toward the sierra and, on clear days, out to the Mediterranean. Poniente is generally considered the more demanding of the 2 tracks, while Levante offers a slightly more accessible challenge without sacrificing the drama of the setting.

Benidorm itself sits in a natural bay sheltered by coastal mountains, giving the area one of the mildest microclimates in Europe — making year-round golf genuinely viable rather than just a brochure claim. The resort draws a heavily international crowd, and the golf here feels calibrated to that audience: polished, scenic, and built for visitors who want a serious layout alongside their holiday.