What to Do in Benidorm When It Rains: The Complete Indoor Guide
Benidorm gets over 300 days of sunshine a year, which is exactly why a rainy day here can catch visitors off guard. The good news: when the clouds do roll in — usually in short, sharp bursts rather than settling in for days — this city has more indoor options than most resort towns twice its size. Between a covered market the size of a small village, escape rooms, bowling alleys, museums, a casino, and enough tapas bars to keep you dry for a week, a washout afternoon doesn’t have to mean a wasted one.
Here’s the full list of what to do in Benidorm when the weather turns, sorted by the kind of day you’re after.
Quick Answer: Best Rainy Day Options in Benidorm
- With the family: Indoor Market + arcades at C.C. La Marina + bowling
- For couples: Old Town tapas crawl + a museum + the Casino
- For a big group: Escape room + bowling + a long lunch
- On a budget: Museo Boca del Calvari (free) + the Indoor Market + a cinema matinee
- For culture lovers: Boca del Calvari Museum, the Maritime Cultural Centre, and a wine tasting day trip
Shop and Browse: The Indoor Market
Benidorm’s covered Indoor Market in Rincón de Loix is the single best rainy-day fallback in the city — it’s open six days a week, year-round, and large enough to comfortably burn a couple of hours. Beyond the usual clothing, leather goods, and souvenir stalls, you’ll find a butcher, a bakery, a currency exchange, toy stalls for the kids, and a handful of café stands where you can sit out the worst of a downpour with a coffee or a cold beer. It’s covered but naturally ventilated, so it stays comfortable even if the temperature outside hasn’t dropped much despite the rain.
(For the full rundown of days, hours, and what to expect at each of Benidorm’s markets, see our guide to Benidorm’s Best Outdoor and Indoor Markets.)
Shopping Centres: La Marina and Beyond
C.C. La Marina is Benidorm’s go-to shopping centre for a wet afternoon, with over 100 shops spread across three floors, a cinema, an arcade on the roof, and — a genuine surprise for a shopping mall — an indoor kids’ zone with mini-golf and go-karting. It’s an easy way to keep a family entertained for half a day without anyone getting a drop of rain on them. If you’re near Finestrat, the La Marina Finestrat shopping centre also has a modern multi-screen cinema with 3D screenings.
Escape Rooms and Arcades
If you want something more active than shopping, Benidorm’s escape room scene is small but solid. Lockdown Escape Rooms, in the city centre, runs a handful of themed rooms — think zombie outbreaks, haunted orphanages, and Cold War intrigue — built for groups of friends or family who don’t mind a bit of light panic while the rain hammers down outside. It’s a genuinely good way to fill an hour or two, and most rooms are suitable for small groups working as a team.
For something lower-key, arcades on the roof of C.C. La Marina and scattered around the city centre are an easy way to entertain kids (or bored adults) without needing to plan much.
Bowling Alleys
A classic wet-weather standby, and Benidorm has a couple of solid options. Ozone Bowling on Calle Gerona combines a bowling alley with an arcade, snack bar, and billiards tables, and it’s open daily well into the night — handy if the rain rolls in during the evening rather than the afternoon. Planet Bowling offers a similar setup elsewhere in the city. Neither is fancy, but both do exactly what you need them to do: keep you dry and entertained for a couple of hours.
Museums and Culture
Rain is the perfect excuse to catch the more low-key, cultural side of Benidorm that’s easy to skip on a sunny beach day.
- Museo Boca del Calvari — a small, free museum in the Old Town on the site of the former town hall, with rotating exhibitions on Benidorm’s history and contemporary Spanish art. Closed Mondays.
- Maritime Cultural Centre — naval models and nautical objects that tie into Benidorm’s fishing-village origins, a nice contrast to the resort town it’s become.
- Hort de Colón Museum — housed in a 19th-century mansion, now an exhibition hall used for temporary shows and events.
All three are compact enough to visit in an hour or less, so they pair naturally with a wander through the Old Town’s covered arcades and tapas bars.
Catch a Film
Cines Colci Rincón, in Rincón de Loix, is the pick for English speakers — it’s Benidorm’s main cinema showing films in their original language rather than dubbed into Spanish. It’s an easy, low-effort way to lose an afternoon when the weather won’t cooperate, and it’s right in the heart of the tourist area.
Get Lucky: Casino Mediterráneo
A rainy afternoon is as good an excuse as any to dress up a little and head to the Casino Mediterráneo, a short drive toward Villajoyosa. Expect slot machines, blackjack, roulette, and a poker room — it’s over-18s only, so bring photo ID. It’s a nice change of pace from bowling alleys and arcades if you want something with a bit more glamour.
Warm Up in the Old Town: Tapas and Wine
Benidorm’s Old Town is made for exactly this kind of day — narrow, covered streets where you can bar-hop between cosy tapas spots without an umbrella ever leaving your bag. Order warm croquetas and a glass of local red, take your time, and let the rain pass while you eat. If you want to go further, Bodegas Mendoza, a well-known local winery producing some of the region’s better reds, makes an easy half-day trip and a genuinely enjoyable way to spend a washed-out afternoon.
(Hungry for more? Check our guide to the Best Places to Eat in Benidorm for tapas bars and restaurants along and behind the Old Town.)
Pamper Day
Several of Benidorm’s larger hotels — including some along Levante and Poniente beaches — have spas and wellness centres that are open to non-guests for a fee, making a rainy day a legitimate excuse for a massage, a facial, or just an afternoon by an indoor pool. Worth calling ahead, as availability for non-guests varies by hotel and season.
(Deciding where to base yourself for your trip? See our guide to Best Hotels in Benidorm for area-by-area picks, several of which include spa facilities.)
Frequently Asked Questions
Does it rain a lot in Benidorm? No — Benidorm enjoys over 300 days of sunshine a year, and rain, when it does happen, tends to arrive in short, heavy bursts rather than settling in for extended periods.
What is the best rainy day activity for families in Benidorm? The Indoor Market combined with the arcade and kids’ zone at C.C. La Marina covers most bases for families, with shopping, food, and activities all under one roof.
Is the Indoor Market open every day? It’s open six days a week, typically Monday to Saturday, and closed on Sundays, making it a reliable year-round rainy-day option.
Are there free things to do in Benidorm when it rains? Yes — the Museo Boca del Calvari in the Old Town has free entry, and simply browsing the Indoor Market or walking the covered Old Town streets costs nothing beyond what you choose to spend.
Do I need to book escape rooms in advance? It’s recommended, especially on an actual rainy day when demand spikes, since slots for popular time windows can fill up quickly.
Final Word
A rainy day in Benidorm isn’t the holiday disaster it might feel like when you first hear thunder from your balcony. Between the Indoor Market, a solid museum or two, bowling, escape rooms, and an Old Town built for exactly this kind of weather, there’s enough here to fill a full day without ever getting properly wet. Keep this list bookmarked, check it if the forecast turns, and treat it as a good excuse to see a side of Benidorm the beach crowd usually misses.
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