When the Spanish Mediterranean coast comes up, the mind usually goes to packed beaches and hotel complexes. But the Costa Blanca, the stretch south of Valencia, hides a string of towns where the sea still smells of fish, not of suntan lotion. Here are six worth the detour.

Altea is the first postcard - a white old town crowned with a church and its blue dome, and eight kilometres of beaches, coves and rocks below it. A little further north, Jávea guards some of the most beautiful coves in the region, among them Cala de la Granadella, with a route of viewpoints looking straight out to the open sea.

Villajoyosa surprises with the colourful facades of its old fishermen's quarter and a tradition of chocolate-making that stretches back to the 17th century. Calpe, meanwhile, is dominated by the Ifach rock - at 332 metres the largest coastal rock on the Mediterranean - and boasts as many as three Michelin-starred restaurants in such a small place.

Moraira offers seven beaches and a five-kilometre coastal path with a view you don't forget, plus a white historic centre of the kind a Balkan visitor remembers from old Adriatic holidays. And Dénia closes the list with a castle of Muslim origin, a living fishing tradition and a cuisine led by the big name Quique Dacosta. Six towns, one lesson: the most beautiful spots on the Mediterranean are rarely where the buses full of tourists take you.