← Back
Records & comparisons
Benidorm holds several height records in Spain, and some of the superlatives about the town do not stand up to scrutiny. Here are the figures that can be backed up, and the comparisons we have worked out ourselves.
The records in detail
187.1 m · completed 2021
Intempo: Spain’s tallest residential building
- Height (CTBUH)
- 187.1 m
- Floors
- 49
- Construction
- 2007–2021
- Rank in Spain
- 5
At 187.1 m, Intempo tops Benidorm’s ranking. Across Spain, the twin tower comes 5th according to the CTBUH. The four taller buildings are office towers in Madrid. That makes Intempo both Spain’s tallest residential building and the country’s tallest building outside Madrid. Construction took 14 years, from 2007 to 2021.
On completion, Intempo was also hailed as the EU’s tallest residential building. That depends on how you measure. The Złota 44 tower in Warsaw has been finished since 2016 and is 192 m tall, so higher than Intempo’s CTBUH height. Wikipedia does give 202.5 m for Intempo after an added roof slab. But the CTBUH has not confirmed this height.
Intempo →
Sources: CTBUH Skyscraper Center, 2026 · Wikipedia: Intempo, 2026 · Wikipedia: Złota 44, 2026
230 m · under construction
TM Tower: the next record holder
- Height
- 230 m
- Floors
- 64
- Completion
- planned for 2028
The TM Tower is to be 230 m tall with 64 floors. Handover is planned for 2028. Once completed, it would be the EU’s tallest residential skyscraper, 38 m and 12 floors taller than Złota 44 in Warsaw. In the CTBUH ranking for Spain it would come 4th, behind three Madrid office towers, and would be Spain’s tallest building outside the capital.
TM Tower →
Sources: Wikipedia: List of tallest buildings in Benidorm, 2026 · kb.pl, 2026 · CTBUH Skyscraper Center: Spain, 2026
186 m · opened 2002
Gran Hotel Bali: Spain’s tallest hotel
- Roof height
- 186 m
- with antenna
- 210 m
- Floors
- 51 above ground
- Opened
- 2002
When the Bali opened on 17 May 2002, it replaced the Torre Picasso in Madrid as Spain’s tallest building. It lost the title to the Torre Espacio, now the Torre Emperador Castellana; sources give 2007 or 2008. The hotel remained Benidorm’s tallest building until 2021. Then Intempo overtook it by 1.1 m.
The Bali is often said to be Europe’s tallest hotel. That is only true with a caveat: the Hotel Ukraina in Moscow, from 1957, is taller at 198 m, or 206 m with its spire. What is certain: in the CTBUH ranking for Spain, the Bali is the tallest building with hotel use. Next comes the Torre Sevilla at 180.5 m, an office and hotel tower.
Gran Hotel Bali →
Sources: Wikipedia: Gran Hotel Bali, 2026 · CTBUH Skyscraper Center: Spain, 2026 · Wikipedia: List of tallest hotels, 2026
Spain, Europe, the world
Benidorm in the rankings
- 150 m or more (CTBUH)
- 3
- 150 m or more (Wikipedia)
- 4
- over 100 m (Wikipedia)
- 33
- CTBUH rank in Europe
- 15
The CTBUH ranks cities by buildings of 150 m or more. According to the CTBUH, Benidorm has three: Intempo, Gran Hotel Bali and Torre Lúgano. That is enough for 2nd place in Spain after Madrid, 15th in Europe and 201st worldwide. English Wikipedia counts four, because it includes Sunset Sailors Tower 1 at 151 m. That height has not yet been verified.
At the 100 m threshold, Benidorm leads in Spain: Wikipedia lists 33 buildings, more than in Madrid. Before 2000 there were only three. The gap was even clearer in 2003: of 200 Spanish buildings over 75 m, 132 stood in Benidorm, 43 in Madrid and 18 in Barcelona.
Torre Lúgano →Sunset Sailors →
Sources: CTBUH Skyscraper Center: Benidorm, 2026 · Wikipedia: List of tallest buildings in Benidorm, 2026 · Arquitectura Viva, 2003
A superlative, fact-checked
The most skyscrapers per head?
- Benidorm, 100 m or more
- 42.7 per 100,000 residents
- Benidorm, 150 m or more
- 3.9–5.2 per 100,000 residents
- Hong Kong, 150 m or more
- 7.5 per 100,000 residents
Benidorm is said to be the city with the most skyscrapers per resident. The claim goes back to newspaper articles from 2011 and 2014, which give no method of calculation. We did the maths. At the CTBUH threshold of 150 m, Benidorm, with 3.9 to 5.2 towers per 100,000 residents, trails Hong Kong with 7.5 and Dubai with 5.9.
From 100 m upwards the picture changes: 33 buildings for 77,221 residents makes 42.7 per 100,000. Monaco reaches 13.0, Hong Kong at least 13. But there is no complete count for Hong Kong and Dubai. At this threshold the record is plausible, but not proven. Per square kilometre, Monaco is ahead of Benidorm in both cases.
Sources: Wikipedia: List of cities with the most skyscrapers, as of January 2026 · Alicante Plaza, 2025 (population, INE) · Wikipedia: List of tallest buildings in Monaco, 2026
From Coblanca to Intempo
The tallest towers through the years
- Torre Coblanca
- 94.5 m
- Torre Levante
- 120 m, 1985
- Neguri Gane
- 148 m, 2002
- Torre Lúgano
- 158 m, 2007
According to Wikipedia, the first record holder was the Torre Coblanca at 94.5 m. In 1985 the Torre Levante took over at 120 m. It was the town’s first building over 100 m, the tallest building completed in Benidorm in the 1980s and the town’s tallest until 2002. Then came the Gran Hotel Bali and, in 2021, Intempo.
The title of ‘Spain’s tallest residential building’ also stayed in Benidorm. From 2001 or 2002 it was held by Neguri Gane at 148 m. In 2007 or 2008 it passed to the Torre Lúgano at 158 m, which kept it until 2021. Since then it has belonged to Intempo.
Torre Levante →Neguri Gane →Torre Coblanca →
Sources: Wikipedia: List of tallest buildings in Benidorm, 2026 · El Español, 2022
116 m · 1993
Costa Blanca I: the slender slab
- Height
- 116 m
- Slenderness ratio
- 13
- Completed
- 1993
In 2003 the architecture critic Luis Fernández-Galiano called the tower Spain’s most slender structure. The structural engineer Florentino Regalado put that into figures: 116 m of height on 8.50 m of shear wall gives a slenderness ratio of 13. That is roughly double that of American classics such as the World Trade Center at 6.5 or the John Hancock Center at 6.7.
Costa Blanca I →
Sources: Arquitectura Viva, 2003 · Regalado, Revista de Obras Públicas, 2014
2 × 114 m · 2009
Gemelos 26: twins in 2nd place
- Height
- 114 m each
- Floors
- 33
- Completed
- 2009
The two towers of Gemelos 26 are each 114 m tall and have 33 floors. According to Spanish Wikipedia, they are Spain’s second-tallest twin towers. Only the Torres de Santa Cruz in Tenerife are ahead, at 120 m. Close behind come the Puerta de Europa towers in Madrid.
Gemelos 26 →
Sources: Wikipedia (es): Gemelos 26, 2026
158 m on an 82 m base
Torre Lúgano: the highest point of the skyline
- Building height
- 158 m
- Ground level
- 82 m above sea level
- Top
- approx. 240 m above sea level
Intempo is the tallest building, but not the highest point. The Torre Lúgano stands in the Rincón de Loix on ground 82 m above the sea. Its top is therefore around 240 m up; El Español gives 237 m. According to the newspaper, that is about 35 m more than the top of Intempo.
Torre Lúgano →Intempo →
Sources: El Español, 2022
Sport at 186 m
Stairs, wire and views: records at the Bali
- Stair-climb record
- 4:20 min (2016)
- Platform
- over 180 m
In the Bali’s stairwell, runners race for seconds. Paul Crake set the first best time in 2003 at 4:35 min; Ángel Llorens beat it in 2014 with 4:33 min. Since 2016 Christian Riedl has held the record at 4:20 min. In October 2010, according to Wikipedia, Mustafa ‘Danger’ rode a motorcycle along a wire more than 500 m long from the Tossal de La Cala to the hotel, at a height of around 150 m.
Things are calmer on the viewing platform. It sits more than 180 m up, just below the hotel’s roof. By the 25th anniversary in 2027, more than two million people are expected to have visited it, according to Alicante Plaza; that is a projection.
Gran Hotel Bali →
Sources: Wikipedia: Gran Hotel Bali, 2026 · Alicante Plaza, 2026