There are no beautiful towns (in my opinion, of course) in the route from Alicante to Valencia. A number of them, Calpe, Altea, Gandía, Cullera, have nice beaches where you can stop for a swim, but none of them have nice sights or beautiful old towns. I wouldn't really know where to stop in that route...

hi bev,
i am in the midst of planning my trip there too.. but if you wanna see nice villages... I kinda think Bubion is nice .. its near granada but in the sierra nevada region-Alpujarras... I dont know if that is put of the way..but check it out.

White walled villages..similar to moroccan style kinda....

Thanks for all your help everyone. Leaving in about an hour. Will let you know about everything when I get back. Maybe I'll discover some hidden gems. I'll be in Madrid in about 10 hours. Hasta la vista.

Ended up staying in Benidorm, loved it, shops are a little tacky but the beach is nice. Had a great, cheap hotel on the beach, Hotel Brisa. Then went to Sitges, expensive hotel and not as tacky a town but didn't like it as much. Maybe cause the weather wasn't so good and we got lost going there and almost ended up in Barcelona a day early which wouldn't have been so bad since we really loved Barcelona.