A century of tourism in Calpe, now on show in a free exhibition

Look down from the Peñón and you take in at a glance what a hundred years did to Calpe: tower blocks, a marina, urbanisations running up into the hills. Exactly how that change unfolded can now be read in the tourist office, where a permanent exhibition on a century of tourism opened this week. Entry is free, and it is one of the more enjoyable ways to understand why this coast looks the way it does.

What is on show

The exhibition is called simply 100 Years of Tourism in Calp and hangs in the tourist office on avenida de los Ejércitos Españoles. What you find is collector’s work in the best sense: travel guides, brochures, postcards, posters and municipal publications, largely gathered by Joaquín Vázquez Boronad. A QR code takes you to the accompanying website if you want to dig deeper.

The room’s status is notable. Calp has been taken up as room 23 of the Museo del Turismo, an international non-profit network documenting the history of tourism. That museum has no main building; it consists of more than a hundred real rooms spread across 23 countries, with contributions in twenty languages. A town on the Costa Blanca now sits on the same map as museums elsewhere in the world.

Six chapters, one hundred years

The story is divided into six phases, and that division is what makes it worthwhile. It starts around 1900 with an isolated Calp of some 1,800 souls, reachable by coach. Then in 1915 comes the Trenet de la Marina, the narrow-gauge line along the coast, and the Penyal d’Ifac is bought. In 1935 the Parador d’Ifac opens, the first hotel of any standing.

Phase four is the most enjoyable for readers of this site: in 1957 the brand name Costa Blanca is coined, and from that moment the coast has a face to sell. Then follows the building boom of the sixties and seventies, which produced the silhouette you now see from the rock. The final chapter is about correction and second thoughts: the nature park around the Peñón in 1987, and the crisis years between 2008 and 2020. The exhibition does not end in the present but looks ahead, with scenarios for 2030 to 2050.

From 1,970 residents to 102 nationalities

One pair of figures sums up the whole transformation. In 1950 Calp counted 1,970 residents, all of Spanish nationality. Today more than 28,000 people live there, from 102 different countries. That is no longer a growth rate, that is a different town.

For anyone who moved here or bought a second home, it works as a mirror: you are part of exactly the movement displayed in those cabinets. And it fits a broader picture, because almost a quarter of Alicante province now holds a foreign passport, the highest share in all of Spain. In Calp that share is above half.

Practical: how to visit

The exhibition is permanent, so there is no rush, but opening hours follow those of the tourist office: Monday to Friday from 8am to 3pm and Saturday from 10am to 3pm. Entry is free. Allow a short half hour if you read the panels, longer if you get lost in the old brochures.

Worth combining: the tourist office is within walking distance of the promenade, and a stroll to the harbour shows you straight away what remains of the fishing village. To make a day of it, the beaches are within walking distance; how clean the water is there is set out in our overview of the water quality along the Calpe coast.

About the authorMilo Schuijt

Milo Schuijt is an entrepreneur and DJ on the Costa Blanca. He writes about the places where he lives, works and plays: from beach bars to the housing market.