Spain does not have to mean a packed strip of high-rises and a €9 beer. Away from the obvious resorts there is a whole tier of small coastal towns — working fishing ports, walled headlands, dune-backed Atlantic villages — where a family of four can land, self-cater for a week and fly home having kept the whole trip inside the £700 mark. Here are seven of them, and the practical planning notes that make the numbers work.
The arithmetic of a cheap Spanish holiday is simple and slightly brutal: flights and accommodation eat the budget, and both are priced by demand. Move your week even a fortnight either side of the English school summer holidays and the same apartment, in the same town, with the same tiled floor and the same rattling ceiling fan, can cost a fraction of what it did in the first week of August. Choose an airport that Ryanair and easyJet fight over, and the flight line on your spreadsheet shrinks again. Choose a town where Spanish families holiday rather than British ones, and your daily spend — the menú del día, the ice creams, the sun lounger — quietly falls too.
That last point matters more than most budget guides admit. The reason a week in Peñíscola or Conil de la Frontera lands under £700 while an identical week on the Costa del Sol does not is not just accommodation. It is that the restaurants are pricing for Madrileños on their August fortnight, not for a captive tourist market. You will pay less for better fish, and your children will be welcome in places that close at midnight because there are Spanish six-year-olds still running around the plaza.
Everything below assumes two adults and two children, seven nights, self-catering, flying from a UK regional or London airport, and travelling outside peak August. Public transport, ferry and bus routes are noted where they save you the cost of a hire car entirely.
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How the seven towns compare at a glance
| Town | Region | Nearest airport | Beach type | Car needed? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mojácar Playa | Almería | ALM | Long grey-gold sand, gentle shelf | Helpful, not essential |
| Dénia | Alicante | ALC | Shallow sandy bays north of the port | No |
| Torredembarra | Costa Daurada | BCN / REU | Wide flat sand, train-side | No |
| Peñíscola | Castellón | VLC | Sheltered bay under a castle | No |
| Conil de la Frontera | Cádiz | SVQ / XRY | Atlantic sand, some surf | Yes for coves |
| Isla Cristina | Huelva | FAO / SVQ | Dune-backed Atlantic | Yes |
| Sanxenxo | Galicia | SCQ | Sheltered rías, cool water | Yes |
1. Mojácar Playa, Almería — the desert-edge beach that never fills up
Almería is Spain's driest province, which is why the film industry built spaghetti-western sets in the hills behind it, and why Mojácar's beach season stretches from Easter into late October. The white village sits on a hill; the beach runs for miles below it, broken up by chiringuitos that grill whatever came in that morning. Because ALM is a smaller airport served from Manchester, Gatwick and Birmingham rather than a mega-hub, fares swing hard — but the swing works in your favour if you are flexible about the day you fly.
Self-catering here skews towards low-rise apartment blocks with shared pools, most of them a two-minute walk from the sand. It is worth filtering for a washing machine and a proper hob: apartments along the Mojácar Playa seafront on Booking.com often list both, and the ones set a street back from the promenade tend to price lower for the same square metreage. If you want the village views instead, the hilltop Mojácar Pueblo guesthouses and casas are a different holiday altogether — cooler evenings, steeper staircases, and a bus down to the beach.
2. Dénia — a fishing port with a castle, and no hire car required
Dénia is the answer for families who want Spain without the logistics. The airport bus and coach network from ALC runs directly into the town, the beaches north of the port shelve so gradually that toddlers can walk out twenty metres, and the Montgó massif behind gives you a proper day's walking if the children are older. The Saturday market smells of dried peppers and roast chicken, and the castle above the marina costs very little to climb.
Because it is a real town rather than a resort, the accommodation stock is mixed: Dénia old town apartments on Booking.com put you among the tapas bars, while the Las Marinas strip north of the harbour is where you find the pool-and-parking blocks. For the airport leg, pre-booking a seat on the coach rather than queuing at arrivals with luggage and tired children is worth the small admin: Alicante airport to Dénia bus tickets via 12Go can be held before you leave home. Dénia is also the mainland ferry port for the Balearics, so a day sail to Ibiza or Formentera is on the table if the budget stretches.
3. Torredembarra, Costa Daurada — the train-line town
Half an hour south of Barcelona by rodalies train, Torredembarra has the wide shallow sand the Costa Daurada is named for, a small fishing quarter, and — the reason it belongs on this list — a station in the middle of town. That single fact removes car hire, airport transfers and parking from your budget. You can land at BCN, take the train, and be building sandcastles by mid-afternoon.
Families with older children use it as a base for day trips: Tarragona's Roman amphitheatre sits directly above the sea one stop down the line, and PortAventura is a short hop the other way. Torredembarra self-catering apartments on Booking.com price well in June and September, and if you are combining the beach week with a city night, a family room in Barcelona's Eixample at either end of the trip is easier than dragging bags across the city on the last morning. Longer-distance coach connections along the coast, including the run down towards Valencia, can be booked ahead through 12Go if you fancy a two-centre week.
4. Peñíscola — the castle in the sea
Peñíscola's old town sits on a rock jutting into the Mediterranean, walled, whitewashed and topped by a Templar castle that doubled as a Game of Thrones location. Below it, a curve of sand runs north for three kilometres. Spanish families have holidayed here for generations; British ones mostly have not, which keeps the menú del día honest.
It is roughly ninety minutes north of Valencia, and the coach from VLC is straightforward — Valencia to Peñíscola and Benicarló bus routes on 12Go save you the hire-car line entirely. Accommodation is overwhelmingly apartments, and the ones on the north beach are newer and cheaper than the postcard-view flats under the castle walls. Compare Peñíscola north beach apartments on Booking.com against the old-town options before you commit; the walk from the far end of the sand into the walled town takes twenty minutes and is one of the nicest evening strolls on this coast.
5. Conil de la Frontera, Cádiz — Atlantic light and grilled sardines
This is where I owe you the honest bit. We took our two to Conil one October half-term, expecting Andalucían heat and getting a levante wind that flung sand at our ankles for the first two days. On the third morning it dropped. We walked down through the whitewashed lanes to the Playa de los Bateles and a man was setting espetos — sardines skewered on cane, angled over a driftwood fire in a half-boat filled with sand. The smell of that smoke, olive oil and salt, at half past one in the afternoon, with the Atlantic doing its cold silver thing behind him, is the single clearest memory my daughter has of Spain. Six sardines, bread, and a jug of water, eaten with our fingers at a plastic table. That is the Conil case for the defence.
Conil works best with a car, because the coves at Cala del Aceite and the Caños de Meca stretch south of town are the reason to be here. Hire is easiest collected at Seville or Jerez; Rentalcars.com and the on-airport desks are worth comparing directly, and neither is linked here. For accommodation, Conil de la Frontera apartments and casas on Booking.com include a lot of family-run places with roof terraces, and if you are flying into SVQ late, one night in central Seville before driving down beats a midnight arrival with a car seat to fit. Without a car, Seville to Cádiz coast bus tickets through 12Go cover the run down to Conil and Chiclana.
6. Isla Cristina, Huelva — the Faro workaround
Here is a trick UK families under-use. Isla Cristina sits on Spain's Costa de la Luz, forty-five minutes east of Faro airport across the Guadiana bridge. Faro is one of the most heavily served routes from the UK, including from LHR and half the regional airports, which means you can access a quiet Spanish tuna-fishing town on Portuguese flight pricing. The beaches are dune-backed, enormous, and never crowded outside August. The town itself smells of the canning industry and does an outstanding fried fish.
You need a hire car, and you must tell the rental company you are crossing into Spain. Stay-wise, Isla Cristina and Islantilla apartments on Booking.com cover both the town and the quieter golf-and-beach strip next door, and some families split the week with a couple of nights on the Portuguese side near Tavira to cut the drive on departure day. Cross-border coaches between the Algarve and Huelva can be checked and booked on 12Go if you would rather skip the car.
7. Sanxenxo, Galicia — cold water, warm welcome
Galicia is the outlier here, and the one I would push hardest at families who find August in the Med unbearable. The rías are sheltered inlets with sandy beaches; the water is Atlantic-cold, the air rarely oppressive, and the seafood is the best in Spain by a distance. Sanxenxo and neighbouring Portonovo have the beach infrastructure, and A Lanzada beach nearby is a long open sweep. Ryanair's Santiago de Compostela route from Stansted is the usual way in, with the city itself worth a night.
Prices in Galicia hold up in the Spanish August fortnight but fall away sharply in June and September. Sanxenxo and Portonovo apartments on Booking.com tend to include parking, which matters because the ría road is narrow. Add a night in Santiago's old town at the start or end, and use the Santiago to Pontevedra and Sanxenxo bus and rail connections on 12Go to get down to the coast without hiring.
Know before you go: the six decisions that keep you under budget
Book flights before accommodation, not after
Flight prices move faster and further than apartment prices. Fix the flights, then find the stay. Filtering for free-cancellation rooms gives you a hedge if a better fare appears on a different date — free-cancellation family apartments on Booking.com let you hold a place while the flight side settles.
Avoid the first fortnight of August
This is when Spain itself goes on holiday. Coastal prices peak, restaurants queue, and beach parking becomes a competitive sport. Late June, the first ten days of July, and the whole of September are the value windows. October half-term still delivers swimming weather in Almería, Cádiz and Huelva; it does not in Galicia or Catalonia.
Budget airline extras are the hidden line item
Two hold bags and four allocated seats on a low-cost carrier can add more to the total than a night's accommodation. Travel with cabin bags where you can, wash mid-week — hence the insistence on a washing machine — and only pay for seating if you have a child under twelve, in which case most carriers must seat them beside an adult anyway.
Insure before you fly, not at the gate
A GHIC card covers state medical treatment in Spain but not repatriation, cancellation or a lost pushchair. Families travelling twice a year — half-term plus summer — usually come out ahead on an annual multi-trip policy: compare AXA family travel insurance options before you commit to a single-trip policy. If your week involves surfing at Conil, paddleboarding on the rías or anything mildly adventurous, check the activity list carefully — AXA's cover details set out which water sports are included as standard.
Know your delay rights before you need them
UK261 and EU261 rules still apply to flights departing the UK and to UK/EU carriers flying home. If a Ryanair or easyJet service to Alicante or Santiago runs three hours or more late, or is cancelled inside fourteen days, cash compensation may be due on top of duty of care. You can claim yourself for free, or hand it over: check a delayed or cancelled flight with AirAdvisor if the airline stalls. Summer air-traffic-control strikes in France and Spain are the usual culprit — a strike by the airline's own staff does not exempt them, and AirAdvisor's eligibility checker is a quick way to see whether a claim stands. Keep boarding passes; claims can be made retrospectively for several years.
Eat where the town eats
The menú del día, served weekday lunchtimes, is the single biggest saving available to a family in Spain. Three courses, bread and a drink, priced for local workers. Eat your main meal at two in the afternoon, keep the evening light, and the food budget halves. Avoid any restaurant with photographs of the dishes outside.
Common mistakes that push the trip over £700
- Booking a hire car you do not need. Dénia, Torredembarra and Peñíscola are all walkable-plus-bus towns. Insurance excess and airport parking add up fast.
- Flying into the obvious airport. Faro for Huelva, Valencia for Castellón, Seville for the Cádiz coast — the cheaper airport is often not the nearest one.
- Leaving the apartment search to the last month. Family-sized units with two bedrooms are the first stock to go in any small Spanish resort. Check <a href="https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101714245-17344163-1787872843000?utm_source=familymilesguide&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=spanish-beach-towns-family-stay-under-700&utm_content=spanish-beach-towns-family-stay-under-700" rel="nofollow sponsored" target="_blank">two-bedroom apartment availability across all seven towns on Booking.com</a> early, even if you cancel later.
- Ignoring the tourist tax. Catalonia charges a per-night levy; most other regions on this list do not. It is small, but it is not in your quoted rate.
- Paying for airport transfers on arrival. Pre-booked coach and rail seats are cheaper than taxis nearly everywhere; <a href="https://www.jdoqocy.com/click-101872474-17115158-1763170502000?utm_source=familymilesguide&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=spanish-beach-towns-family-stay-under-700&utm_content=spanish-beach-towns-family-stay-under-700" rel="nofollow sponsored" target="_blank">compare Spanish intercity routes on 12Go</a> before you assume otherwise.
Search family apartments in all seven towns
Which town for which family?
If your children are under five and you want zero logistics, take Dénia or Torredembarra. If you want the best food and do not mind cool water, Sanxenxo. If you want empty Atlantic sand and a car, Isla Cristina. If you want heat in October half-term, Mojácar or Conil. And if you want the picture your friends will ask about — the castle standing in the sea, floodlit, with your children eating churros on the sand below it — Peñíscola wins on that alone.
Frequently asked questions
Is a week in Spain for a family of four really possible under £700?
Outside the August peak, in the towns listed above, with a low-cost carrier, cabin baggage only and a self-catering apartment, yes — the combination is achievable. In the first fortnight of August, on the same routes, it generally is not.
When should I book flights for the best fare?
For summer travel, the sweet spot is usually January to March, when the low-cost carriers release capacity and the seat maps are empty. For half-term, book as soon as the school calendar is published, because UK demand is concentrated into a single fortnight.
Do I need a hire car in these towns?
Not in Dénia, Torredembarra or Peñíscola. Yes, in practice, for Isla Cristina, Conil's outlying coves and the Galician rías. Mojácar sits in between — you can manage without, but the surrounding province rewards a car.
What happens if our flight is cancelled the day we travel?
The airline owes you rerouting or a refund, plus meals and accommodation while you wait. Separately, fixed-rate compensation may be payable depending on cause and delay length. Keep receipts, and run the flight through AirAdvisor's claim tool if the airline rejects a valid claim.
Is travel insurance worth it for a short beach week?
For a family, yes — chiefly for cancellation and medical repatriation rather than lost luggage. Single-trip and annual AXA policies can both be quoted in a couple of minutes before you finalise the booking.
Sources / Prices checked
No specific flight or hotel prices are quoted in this article.
Last reviewed by the Family Miles Guide editorial team. Airline routes, airport services and regional tourist taxes change; verify current details with the operator before booking.
