Beach restaurants

A chiringuito is a restaurant built on the sand, and Torre del Mar has ten of them along the promenade. This is where the town eats in summer.

The espeto

Sardines threaded onto a cane and grilled over a wood fire lit inside an old beached boat. It is the signature dish of this entire coast, and it comes with two conditions worth knowing: it is a lunchtime dish and a seasonal one, at its best from spring to autumn. Turn up in deep winter looking for espetos and many of the chiringuitos will have wound down.

Choosing where to sit

Look at the stretch before you look at the menu. Poniente, the western half, has the big beach clubs and the crowds, including the two most reviewed businesses of the whole seafront, each with more than 4,800 public reviews. Levante, to the east, is calmer. The difference in atmosphere between the two ends of the promenade is real.

Book in August and at weekends. These are tables on the sand in a town that multiplies its population in summer, and the front line fills at lunchtime.