Case study · Benidorm · city & beaches
Benidorm, street by street told out loud.
The Benidorm City Council deploys NaviLens on ceramic street plaques, squares, viewpoints and monuments across the old town so any visitor can hear the heritage in 42 languages.
Benidorm
Smart Tourism Destination pioneer city
Old town
Streets, squares and viewpoints signposted
Tourist Info
City Council city & beaches programme
42
Languages with voice readout
The client
Ajuntament de Benidorm
— Visit Benidorm city & beaches
Benidorm is one of Spain's leading tourist destinations and an international reference in smart tourism (DTI). Its City Council, through the Visit Benidorm — city & beaches brand and the Tourist Info network, manages the visitor experience across beaches, old town and viewpoints.
To strengthen the universal accessibility of its heritage, Benidorm rolled out NaviLens on ceramic street plaques, on monuments like the anchor at Plaça dels Armadors, and on landmarks such as Plaça de la Senyoria, Torre de les Caletes or Espai d'Art Urbà El Carrasco.
The rollout has been consolidated in three verified milestones: the launch of the system in the Old Town (benidorm.org), the new heritage signage announced on 27 March 2025 —77 directional posts, 27 panels and 7 lecterns with QR + NaviLens (Diario Información)— and, on 23 July 2025, the addition of NaviLens codes on the beaches to inform blind people about sea conditions, a pioneering system on the Spanish coast (elperiodic.com, benidorm.org).
§ The challenge
So anyone can read Benidorm.
- 01
A 365-day tourist city
Every year Benidorm welcomes millions of international visitors with very diverse profiles: senior tourists, families, travellers with visual disabilities and long-stay residents. Traditional signage —ceramic plaques and directional posts— does not reach everyone.
- 02
Old town with narrow streets
Carrer de Martínez Oriola, Sant Llorenç, Sant Vicent, Plaça de la Senyoria… navigating the labyrinth of the historic core is hard even with a map. Signage had to be audible and multilingual without harming the heritage.
- 03
Information without works or screens
Benidorm City Council was looking for an accessible layer compatible with its ceramic plaques, old-town directional posts and urban-art panels, without installing screens or altering the heritage image.
§ The solution
A code next to every ceramic plaque.
The City Council places a NaviLens sticker next to every ceramic plaque in the old town and on every promenade and viewpoint monument. Pointing the camera, the free NaviLens GO app reads the name of the street, square or landmark in the visitor's language.
The accessible layer respects the heritage signage, requires no works and also works for people who do not read Spanish or Catalan.
§ Timeline
From ceramic plaque to smart destination.
- 2022
Tourist Info rollout in the old town
The Benidorm City Council, through Visit Benidorm and the city & beaches Tourist Info, installs NaviLens codes next to the ceramic plaques of the streets of the historic core.
- Expansion
Squares, viewpoints and monuments
Plaça de la Senyoria, Plaça dels Armadors (with its monumental anchor), Torre de les Caletes, Espai d'Art Urbà El Carrasco… each tourist landmark gets its NaviLens code.
- Today
Permanent accessible layer
Benidorm keeps NaviLens as a free tool for people with visual disabilities, international tourists and residents. The NaviLens GO app reads the content with no reading required.
§ Walk-through
From the old town to Torre de les Caletes.
Street
Carrer de Martínez Oriola
Historic-core ceramic plaque with NaviLens Tourist Info “city & beaches” code from the Benidorm City Council. The app reads the street name in the user's language.
Square
Plaça dels Armadors — monumental anchor
The anchor monument at Plaça dels Armadors carries a NaviLens code on its pedestal with the Benidorm skyline: it identifies the place and reads the dedication to the shipowners.
Street
Carrer de Sant Llorenç
Ceramic plaque of Carrer de Sant Llorenç next to the iconic Bar Rumbo “British Pub”. The NaviLens code lets you hear the street name without reading the tile.
Street
Carrer de Sant Vicent
Another old-town street signposted with NaviLens Tourist Info: the app recognises the code from several metres away and narrates the information in 42 languages.
Viewpoint
Plaça de la Senyoria — Balcón del Mediterráneo
Residents and technicians scanning the NaviLens code next to the plaque of Plaça de la Senyoria, on the Balcón del Mediterráneo, overlooking the bay of Benidorm.
Corner
Corner of Carrer Martínez Oriola
Close-up of how the NaviLens code lives alongside the traditional ceramic plaque on an old-town corner, without altering the heritage.
Heritage
Torre de les Caletes
Directional post “Torre de les Caletes / Caletes Tower” with NaviLens code, next to the access stairway of the 16th-century coastal watchtower.
Urban art
Espai d'Art Urbà El Carrasco
Post and interpretive panel of “Espai d'Art Urbà El Carrasco” in El Carrasco, with a City Council NaviLens code narrating the urban-art route.
§ What they said
What they said from the City Council.
“NaviLens es una evolución de los códigos QR sobre la que vamos a implementar aplicabilidad universal. La información es leída por el terminal, la interpreta, la georreferencia, la amplía con la documentación que queramos destacar y la transforma en audio, en el idioma del usuario e incluso con un mensaje visual en lengua de signos.”
“Es un salto exponencial. Agradecemos al Ayuntamiento su escucha activa para poder ir mejorando en aspectos que nos facilitan mucho la vida diaria y favorecen la inclusión. Este sistema es parte de esa variable de lo que la Bandera Azul prescribe a la hora de identificar una playa como accesible, porque el valor diferencial está en todo aquello que tú tienes con respecto a los demás y, en este caso, Benidorm vuelve a estar a la vanguardia.”
§ Results
A tourist city for everyone.
0 works
Stickers over existing plaques and posts
Voice + 42 languages
Street, square or monument name read aloud
Smart Destination
Consistent with the City Council's smart-tourism strategy
§ And your destination?
Your destination can also guide in 42 languages.
Tell us about your routes, offices, monuments or galleries. We’ll show you how NaviLens would make your offer accessible —with comparable cases.
