Alicante: Gateway to the Costa Blanca

About Alicante

Alicante beach

Alicante offers a lifestyle that includes everything you need, but the city is small enough to make it easy to get from one place to another.

With a population of just 300,000 Alicante is a major travel destination for many European tourists.

Over the years this has injected a cosmopolitan feel into the city, while retaining much of its traditional culture.

Both the city and the beach are absolutely beautiful. The city itself has a very resort feel to it. It has an amazing nightlife which starts in the downtown area around 11:30 at night(of course) and then moves to the water front around 3am.

Alicante has a decent number of shops for visitors, and you can easily spend a whole day walking the city centre shops, or you can visit the popular street markets where you will find just about everything: antiques, fresh fruit and vegetable produce of the Alicante region, florists, plant garden centres, etc.

Alicante Festivals

Alicante festivals

The most favorite Alicante festival is the St John´s Bonfires, it is a fantastic time to be in the city. Many people from all over the world come for this unique celebration.

Held in the last week of June, there is a daily firecracker display that shakes the buildings to the point that one might think they will crumble to the ground. The firecracker display is mostly for the noise, but as the week goes on you will find some firecrackers with colored smoke are being set off.

Another absolutely amazing aspect of the festival is that each neighborhood constructs a falla, which is a paper mache statue to be displayed for the week in the streets. During the course of the week, the statues are voted on and prizes are rewarded. Then on the very last night the statues are burned to the ground, as everyone watches in amazement.

Alicante Attractions

Alicante attractions

So what to do in Alicante? You will find many things to keep you busy all day (and night!) long.

Alicante offers many possibilities to enjoy your free time. If you are interested in art there are many fantastic museums to visit like the MARQ museum (Museo Arqueologico Provincial de Alicante).

Perhaps you prefer to spend your time in the open air in contact with nature, in which case it is recommended you go for a walk along The Esplanada to admire the beauty of the Mediterranean on El Postiguet beach or visit El Tossal Park with a football field, athletics stadium, sports pavilion, heated swimming-pool and gymnastics training centre.

You can also discover the Alicante countryside by horse, balloon, bicycle, canoe ..., the possibilities for having a good time are endless.

Theme parks, Water parks and Animal parks are some of the main entertainment options when planning a fantastic family day out in Alicante.

Most of the Parks are around Benidorm, just a 20-30 minutes drive from Alicante city.

Alicante Cuisine

Alicante paella

Known for its classical Mediterranean cuisine and simple Spanish dishes, restaurants and dining venues in Alicante are popular with both visitors and locals.

Almost every restaurant in Alicante offers some variation on paella, the city's most celebrated dish.

The traditional one-pan recipe pairs short-grained rice with so-called "poor" ingredients like rabbit, chicken, and snails. (The all-seafood version, often taken by outsiders to be the most authentic paella, is actually a later development).

Restaurants can range from the casual, inexpensive meals to the exquisite and exclusive, but dining in Alicante is definitely a pleasure with so many beautiful seaside and city center locations to choose from and typical Spanish charm and atmosphere to compliment the often mouth-watering dishes.

Alicante Beaches

The city is a first rate tourist centre thanks to the splendid Alicante beaches, excellent climate and well known facilities.

As one would expect of a sea-oriented city, the sea front (with its beaches, port and promenade) is the main characteristic of Alicante.

Playa del Postiguet is one of the classic Alicante beaches, envied by many other provinces, becasue of its size, its fine and almost white sand, and especially for where it is placed, in the middle of the city.

San Juan beach is located 8kms to the north of Alicante. This beach is a long, open beach of some 7kms in length and with an average width of 85m.

El Saladar-Urbanova beach is a long and well-equipped beach.

Little known to foreign tourists, it is therefore the quietest of them all.

La Albufereta beach is a cheerful beach with lots of vegetation in the shape of palms, other trees and cactus plants. This beach is located to the north of Alicante. A few tall buildings can be seen from the beach.

Additional pages on this website

Destination map

Latest News from this website

Xixona, Jijona
Xixona or Jijona is located about 20 Km inland from Alicante city, it is famous because the most traditional Christmas sweet, the Turron, is produced here and exported all over the world.
Alcoy, Alcoi
Alcoy or Alcoi is famous because of its Moors and Christians festival, which is the best in Alicante province and most known internationally. Alcoy is located north of Alicante (inland), and the journey from Alicante Airport takes about 35-45 minutes.
Villa Joyosa, Alicante
Villa Joyosa is located in Alicante province, in the district of Marina Baixa, 32 km northeast of Alicante city, and it has more than 34000 inhabitants. A city of great fishing tradition, now includes the chocolate and tourism industries in its economy.
Moraira, Alicante Spain
Moraira is a small fishing village dominated by tourism and is a part of the municipality of Teulada, located 4 km inland. Moraira is a small and very pleasant town with natural-sandy beaches and rocky coves.
Benissa
Benissa is a seaside town located north of Alicante, next to Calpe and Moraira. Only 70 km away from Alicante Airport, you will find magnificent beaches and coves to explore and many historical places and monuments to visit in Benisa.

Visit this website: www.alicante-city-insiders-guide.com

Report a broken link if the links on this page are not working, or if there are missing images.

The information above is copyright of www.alicante-city-insiders-guide.com, and cannot be copied without their permission.