British tourists are being warned they could get some “strange looks” if they don’t wear the outfit when they visit Benidorm next month.

Lucy Young, known as Benidorm Enthusiast, has warned that the seaside resort is gearing up for its “patronal festival”, with a week full of partying, music, dancing and parades coming soon. Lucy says the celebration in Benidorm was particularly “special” because thousands of British and Irish tourists flocked to the resort.

This year the celebration will last until November 13. But Lucy says the next day that tourists coming to the Spanish town should take this into consideration.

This, says Lucy, is because a local bar at the resort started British Fancy Dress Day and followed the festival as a way to celebrate tourists from the UK. He arrives as part of a massive street party to cap off the festivities.

Lucy explained: “Many years ago Sinatra decided to thank the British people for coming and celebrating the November festival with the Spanish people by having a giant paella made outside the pub, which they would then give away free of charge to everyone in fancy dress.

“This took place on the Thursday following the festival and over the years it has grown from just a few people to several hundred people and has now become Europe’s biggest fancy dress party, spilling over into the streets of the new city.

“Last year, approximately 40 thousand people participated, this year this number is expected to approach 50 thousand. Of course, it is not possible to feed 50,000 people at once with one paella, but to this day, giant paellas and free barbecues are held in the bars in the new town during the festival week.

“As for fancy dress day on Thursday, it’s just one big party. “There are stages and pop-up bars in the streets, there is a parade next to the bars, and if you don’t have fancy clothes you might get weird looks.”

Benidorm is hugely popular with Brits, with around 800,000 people thought to flock to the resort in 2023. This meant that travelers from the UK made up around a third of the 2,766,366 tourists it welcomed.

British Fancy Dress Day is thought to have first occurred in the 1990s.