What time do bars close in Benidorm?

Closing time in Benidorm depends on the licence a venue holds, not on what it calls itself. The regional order, published in the Valencian official gazette (DOGV) on 22 December 2025, sets opening and closing times for every category, and Benidorm, with well over 50,000 residents, falls in the large-town band for pubs.

In practice that means three closing times matter on a night out: 01:30 for an ordinary bar, 03:30 for a pub or karaoke bar, and 07:30 for a disco. For where to go once each of those shuts, see our Benidorm nightlife guide.

A Benidorm venue that trades past 04:00 needs a later licence category, such as discoteca or sala de fiesta, which may close at 07:30. You cannot tell a venue's licence from the street, but every venue must display its opening hours where they can be seen from outside, so check the sign by the door.

Venue guides report a wide spread of real hours. These are what the guides say, not legal limits, and they change through the season, so treat them as a starting point.

The council can also extend hours by one hour, town-wide or in set zones, for tourism or fiestas. We could not confirm whether Benidorm has such an extension in force for 2026.

A terrace can never stay open later than the bar it belongs to, and the council sets the actual terrace hours. So a terrace attached to an ordinary bar shuts at 01:30 at the latest, and often earlier.

Benidorm has not published current terrace hours that we could find. The only official notices online date from the 2020 COVID reopening, when terraces were allowed until 23:00 and then 01:00; those were temporary and are not today's rules.

When the terrace closes, the drinks have to go inside. Taking them into the street breaks the regional ban on street drinking, explained in our Benidorm stag do rules guide.

The order gives every venue extra time on a handful of dates. On New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, venues get 90 minutes beyond their normal closing time. On 5 January, 8 October, 24 December and 31 October, they get 60 minutes.

Separately, a council can add one hour for tourism, fiestas and similar reasons through a motivated resolution, and can declare beach and port areas where hospitality venues may open from 10:00 to 04:00. There is no general weekend or summer extension for bars; the only weekend and summer extension in the order is for gaming halls.

Big local occasions such as the November fiestas and the Fancy Dress Party only change bar hours if the council issues a resolution, so do not assume a later finish.

Article 12 of the order lets pubs, restaurants and cafés host live music only in the daytime period, which ends at 22:00. Where under-16s are present, concerts must end by 02:30.

Yet acts take the stage in Benidorm's show bars well after 22:00 every night. What a venue may put on depends on the licence category it holds, and a cabaret or show bar licensed in a later category is not bound by the pub rule. We have not checked each venue's licence, so we cannot say which category any individual show bar holds.

The live listings on this site show when each act is due on, in Spanish time; see our cabaret bars guide and live music bars guide for the venues.

A draft order for 2027 went to public consultation in August 2026 but had not been approved when we checked. It would stop councils stacking extensions on top of each other.

In towns over 50,000 residents, including Benidorm, the latest pub closing would be 04:30. Under the current rules, stacked extensions can take a pub to 05:00.

Most nights follow the licences: show bars and pubs on the Strip first, then clubs. Barceló's guide says the big clubs such as Penelope sit out on the N-332, known as La Carretera, and get busy around 04:00; a 2026 listing for Penelope shows entry at €15–25.

Agree how you are getting back before you go, because licensed taxis are the safe option late at night; our Benidorm taxis guide has the ranks and numbers. For club opening nights and entry, see our Benidorm nightclubs guide, and in winter check which bars close for the season.