Punta Prima is an up and coming location just south of Torrevieja town centre. It comprises large residential areas and excellent commercial centres that are already well developed and brand new, under construction developments that are currently being established. It is a part of the Costa Blanca on Spain’s Eastern coastline.People relate to this locality as being the most northerly part of Orihuela Costa, when in fact it is actually controlled by Torrevieja Town Hall, Torrevieja being just a 5 minute drive away. It’s a easy walk to Torrevieja too and you can do it while avoiding the traffic on the road. Punta Prima is quite easy to find, close to La Zenia, Cabo Roig and Villamartin and is very well serviced by two International Airports – Alicante-Elche (approximately 45mins – 48 kilometres -29 miles) and Murcia-San Javier (30 mins – 27 kilometres – 16 miles). A taxi journey to Alicante airport will run you less than 50 euro but our friend Brian Kiernan from Cabo Roig (via Sligo) runs a bus service for ten euro door to door.
The beach front has one small and one large fine golden sandy beach with safe family friendly bathing. These Mediterranean beaches are facilitated by beach bars/chiringutos with the added safety of life guards patrolling during the summer period. This area of beach is named Rocio del Mar and it has been awarded blue flag and “Q” status for fantastic tourist quality. One of the chiringutios (this word means little bar I suppose!) is aptly named Sunrise Beach which is a wonderful place to sit with a drink maybe to enjoy the rising of the sun in the morning as you look to the east and also the setting sun in the evening to the other direction.
This stretch of beach has a wonderful promenade to the right connecting Punta Prima to Playa Flamenca and later La Zenia to Cabo Roig. Here a person could take a stroll along the coast purely at their own leisure and, maybe, if one was feeling a little adventurous take a look inside the rocky coves and amble over the cliffs. There is lots of surfing, snorkling and paddle boarding along the route. This walk continues on to the Paseo Maritimo which eventually meets up with the N332 (main road to Torrevieja).
There are two restaurants on this walkway/road one overlooking the sea called Restaurant Punta Prima (www.restaurantepuntaprima.com) which is a large restaurant serving Spanish food and tapas. It has a truly beautiful restaurant with stunning sea views from the glass fronted dining area. Alternatively you can sit outside on the terraces overlooking the sea taking advantage of the table service. This restaurant is used regularly for weddings and parties and is spot on for a romantic evening. If you carry on up the road towards the N332 you will come across El Capitan restaurant (www.elcapitan.info), which is next to the water tower and tennis courts – Another place worth stopping at, with their specialities – night time BBQs.
Next to El Capitan is Asturias which used to be on the other side of the road towards Playa Flamenca. Here food is based on local rice dishes including different types of paellas, pizzas, tapas and meat dishes.
As an alternative if you walk to the north side of the beach you will come to the newly refurbished Restaurante Nautilus which is in a great cliff-side, beach front location – Here you can really enjoy a vino or a meal in the open air or inside the dining area looking out at the beautiful clear deep blue Mediterranean Sea. The food served is typically Spanish with some European dishes (www.restautantenautilus.es)
The area next to the Nautilus is a Natural Park of Cala Ferris, so a person could take a stroll this way watching out for the runners in the early mornings and evenings. It’s lovely here for kids too.
Returning back up towards the main road where the N332 Punta Prima roundabout is situated, still keeping to the beach side location of the main road looking towards the right is a Gym with a Spa called fit4all (www.gimnasiosentorrevieja.com) and next to this is the hotel Torrejoven (hoteltorrejoven.com).
We’ve talked about the gym. Fit4all previously – If keeping fit is your thing, this is the place to do it!! The Spa area is super relaxing and well priced.
Looking towards the left before the roundabout there are also a number of different businesses. This area is known as the Punta Prima Strip which houses Hairdressers, Café Bars (Marco Polo serves fresh coffee and comes highly recommended), various Banks, (Santander, SolBank) Indian (www.restaurantegandhi.com), Chinese and Italian Restaurants, Hardware Stores, Newsagent, Laundry and a Car Dealer business. If you are buying a car in Punta Prima, make sure to check the paperwork with Spanish Solutions before you hand over any money!
On the opposite side of the N332 there are two Commercial Centres. The larger one of the two is called Punta Marina which houses on the ground floor Consum Supermarket, Milar Electrical (for white goods and televisions etc), Druni for perfumes, The Card Place best place for cards, English papers and sending your English post and JYSK the furniture shop(www.jysk.es).
Then upstairs in this same Commercial Centre there are a number of eating places ranging from Subway Sambos, Captain’s Table (Fish and Chips) (www.thecaptaintable.es), Chinese, La Piazza 11 Pizzeria/Italian, Timeless Fashion Shop selling ladies English clothes and some accessories (this shop organises fashion shows at different parts of the year).
Adjacent to the above complex on the main N332 road is a McDonalds, another Car Dealership and then a restaurant called Patio Andaluz which is a traditional Andaluzian Spanish restaurant with regular live flamenco nights.(www.elpatioandaluz.net). Patio Anduluz was the only place to be seen in 1999 when I bought my first home in Spain – I’m well overdue a revisit!
On the other side of the roundabout is Dinastia Asian Restaurant (www.dinastia.es) then further along on this same side is situated another Commercial Centre named La Campana. The ground floor is taken up by a large furniture store Stylehouse (www.stylehouse-ng.com), Repair Garage, Beer Keller Bar, Banks, Hairdresser, American Restaurant and a Coffee Shop. Whilst on the upper floor Prima Dentist (www.primadental.eu) is located next to a Solar Energy Supplier.
CAUTION – You have to be careful crossing the N332 as this is a very busy road, it is advised that people on foot use the foot bridge that has been built over this road as a safety measure. We often see people generally after a few beers play chicken with the traffic on the road there – never a good idea!
Conclusion on Punta Prima.
Punta Prima was a traditional old Spanish area with one entrance in, one out. That’s changed and it’s now a super trendy region. The property market is hot here – both for new builds and resales. Rents are higher here than in many areas along the coast and purchase prices are rising too for property sales. This is a well located area within the Costa Blanca which is possibly the best serviced region in terms of shopping, dining, and bar hopping. The range and selection is great, it’s safe here, the scenery is good and you really need not to take my word for it, but to come and have a look for yourself!
