Where to eat in Torrevieja and Punta Prima: seafood, caldero, tapas and the harbour terraces

Within walking distance of the villa

• Punta Prima Restaurante, Avenida del Mar, 4 minutes, right by the beach. Breakfast, grilled fish, rice dishes and sunset drinks. Our default when nobody wants to cook.
• Nautilus, Calle del Acantilado, Rocío del Mar, 12 minutes along the coast path. Seafront terrace over the rocks, fish and rice, book for dinner.
• Punta Marina centre, 9 minutes: a cluster of casual places, pizza, tapas and international, easy with children.
• Sunrise Cocktail Bar, Alameda del Mar, 13 minutes: terrace for an evening drink.

Torrevieja harbour and seafront

The marina and the promenade south of Playa del Cura hold the restaurants with the view. Look for the places where the menu is short and in Spanish first: grilled dorada and lubina, fried calamari, gambas rojas, and the rice dishes cooked to order (allow 30 minutes). The fish restaurants around the port and Calle Pedro Lorca serve the morning catch; several do an excellent weekday menú del día.

What to order

• Caldero: rice cooked in a stock of rockfish and ñora peppers, served with the fish and alioli. The dish of this coast.
• Arroz a banda: the same idea, rice first, fish after.
• Gambas rojas de Guardamar: red prawns, grilled, expensive, worth it once.
• Pulpo a la brasa: charred octopus.
• Mojama: salt-cured tuna, sliced thin with almonds.
• Paella: Sundays, lunchtime, never dinner, never from a photo menu.

Tapas, families and a change from Spanish food

Old-town bodegas around Calle Ramón Gallud and Calle Caballero de Rodas do a free tapa with a drink and octopus worth the trip. For families the beachfront restaurants and the Punta Marina bars are relaxed about noise and high chairs. La Zenia Boulevard, five minutes from the villa, has sushi, burgers, Italian and steak until midnight, and Cabo Roig’s strip has the Irish bars and Sunday roasts. Nightlife covers the bars.