The shopping experience back in the smaller towns tends to revolve around their thriving local markets (any tourist office will give you a list of market days for each town and village). Hundreds of stallholders will vie to sell you their freshly picked local produce – this is, after all, the part of Spain that supplies a large part of the fruit and veg sold in British supermarkets, though they do of course keep the tastiest and freshest for local consumption! But it isn’t just food – pots and pans, clothes, leather goods and plenty more are all on offer.

Talking of shopping, what will probably strike you about the town centres is that they are far less dominated by national chains than in the UK. Although there are plenty of big supermarkets, most shops are still family-owned and it’s easy to find the sort of jam-packed ironmonger or haberdasher’s shop that disappeared here years ago. Shoe shops, clothes shops, electrical shops – there are dozens, often well able to deal in English. (It’s quite common to hear, say, a Dutch resident or tourist happily chatting away in English with a Spanish shop owner.) It all makes for a rather jolly experience, even if (like me) you view shopping as an occasional but, regrettably, inescapable chore.

Which town should you choose? In a way it doesn’t matter, because all have their individual charms. Javea has perhaps the best villa choice, with plenty of fairly large, upmarket properties spreading well inland and up the slopes of Montgo, the mountain that dominates the view inland. It’s a very pleasant town with nice beaches, good restaurants and an old centre. Moraira is smaller and doesn’t have much of an old centre, but it’s a friendly yet stylish resort offering a choice of the main town beach or the smaller El Portet beach, which is quite narrow but backed by a fringe of restaurants which are great for lunch or watching the sun go down.

Denia is another town with a great beach and an attractive centre, though it seems less popular with British visitors than Javea. Inland lie small towns like Orba and Pedreguer, as well as the Jalón Valley, where there are both modern villas and plenty of old town houses that have been restored and refurbished for holiday use. Combining the quiet of the country with near-at-hand seaside, they are an increasingly popular choice with many holidaymakers.

Denia is almost the last gasp of the Costa Blanca, and the end of those limestone cliffs, because the next town to the north, Gandia, marks the start of the Costa del Azahar (‘Orange Blossom Coast’) in the province of Valencia. It’s surprising how quickly the coastline changes, as along most of the Costa del Azahar there’s a flat coastal plain (covered, unsurprisingly, in orange plantations) fringed by long, straight beaches.

Going back south, Calpe is an interestingly different town. By-passed both by the motorway and the old N-340 main road, it feels pleasantly out-on-a-limb, with no through traffic. Nevertheless, it’s a bustling place, serving as a shopping centre for many of the scattered villa developments in the area. It has two huge and several smaller beaches – the main town beach is much bigger than it used to be, thanks to cunningly designed stone piers – and long, traffic-free promenades that wind behind them.

Walk far enough along the town beach promenade and you reach the thriving fishing harbour. The Peñon de Ifach, that much-photographed hunk of rock that soars 1,000 feet vertically from the sea, towers above it. Also towering over Calpe, but dwarfed by the Peñon, are increasing numbers of high-rise apartment blocks. They’re not to everyone’s taste, but many provide superb views and are closer to the sea than most villas. Anyway, to compensate there’s a nicely restored old town.

From Calpe you can just – on a clear day – see the tower blocks of Benidorm, some 15 miles away. Before that, there’s Altea, a charming town with a particularly fine hilltop old centre. And after Benidorm, getting closer to Alicante and its airport, there’s a string of towns with attractive villas and old townhouses, including Alfaz del Pi, Villajoyosa and Campello.

Despite the non-stop building of the last 30 years or so, the Costa Blanca doesn’t, for the most part, feel over-developed or spoilt. Each of the towns and country areas has its own fans. If you don’t know the Costa Blanca, get out there now, hire a villa and car and prepare to explore – and enjoy yourself.