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Spain is a popular haunt for UK tourists, with Benidorm leading the way as one of the country’s most-loved destinations for Britons. On average, the resort attracted five million tourists
annually pre-Covid. However, it is also home to thousands of expats - much like Lauren Bates, who relocated from Leicestershire to the sunny hotspot with her partner in 2017. While the
pleasant temperatures and stretch of coastline are certainly some of the main draws of the resort, Ms Bates shared with Express.co.uk that one of her most loved features of the resort
actually lies within its “flaws”. “Benidorm is rough around the edges, and it has its flaws, but I love that it embraces them, it doesn’t shy away or pretend to be something it’s not,” she
said. “There’s something for everybody and it’s impossible to be bored in a city that offers so much. READ MORE: GOOGLE MAPS STREET VIEW: USERS BAFFLED BY 'MYSTERIOUS' NAKED MAN
Though Benidorm is famously a tourist haven, it is also tailored massively to expats, and is a worthy home away from home according to Ms Bates. “What makes it even better is all of this is
only a cheap, short flight away,” she continued. “With there being such a high expat population, it does mean that if you want to, you can find most things in your language and from your
home country, wherever that may be.” Though British expats make up a huge chunk of the overseas community, with an estimated 6,000 UK residents living in Spain as of 2019, they aren’t the
only ones attracted to its golden shores. Plenty of Germans, Belgian and Swiss expats also flock to the region yearly. Thanks to this, there really is something for everyone. “There’s
British bars, Swiss restaurants, Belgian bars, German bars, Spanish bars. There are clubs in all different languages. There’s entertainment in a range of languages,” Ms Bates pointed out.
“It also makes finding a job as an expat more accessible than other places where perhaps you might need to learn the language before you start.” The resorts “wonderful year-round climate” is
simply the icing on the cake for Ms Bates. Of course, there are some home comforts that are admittedly a little harder to come by. “I do miss the ease of getting British products,’ admitted
Ms Bates. “Although I’m a big advocate for the Mediterranean diet and shopping locally for our meats, fruit and vegetables, I did really enjoy the odd bit of British comfort food like a
Pepperami, Scotch egg or a bag of crisps! “We have a British supermarket local to us that is really struggling to access British products since Brexit.” Lauren has her own blog where she
offers up-to-date information on life in Benidorm. You can read it here.