Alicante Spain: Tourist information

“Alicante: much more than beautiful beaches”

Alicante: from sun and beaches to museums and fiestas, from archaeological sites to modern architecture.

Alicante is dominated by the two castles of Santa Barbara and San Fernando. From the top of their rocky peaks, they seem to keep an eye on the city, whose houses are spread over the hills, gently sloping towards the sea, the harbour, the beaches and the coves: San Juan, the Albufereta, Cocó, Postiguet and Saladar beach to the South.

Places to visit in Alicante

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Santa Barbara Castle, one of the largest medieval fortresses in Europe, the City Hall, San Nicolas Cathedral, the Bonfire Museum, the Crib Museum, Archaeological Museum (MARQ), the Gavina Palace, a variety of 18th century manor houses and the seafront.

If you go up the top of the hill of the Santa Barbara Castle, you will discover an unforgettable panoramic view of the most important monuments in Alicante: the church of Santa Maria, the Cathedral, the Town Hall façade, the monastery of Santa Faz, the San Fernando Castle and much more.

Seeing all these magnificent monuments from above will invite you to go down the hill and walk among them. Along the streets, you will come across large and small palaces, as well as traditionally painted white, yellow and pink houses. Everything in Alicante is illuminated by the blue light of the Mediterranean Sea and encourages you to continue walking around and discovering places: You can find the old Mercy House, the Asegurada House, where nowadays the Contemporary Art Museum is situated, the Marquis del Bosch palace, the Quijano Pantheon, with its romantic garden, the House of the Witches or the Alberola House. The widest avenues, such as La Rambla or Doctor Gadea will lead you to Alfonso X el Sabio (Alfonso the wise) Street with the Luceros (Creole fish) on one side and the Central Market on the other, just in front of the School of Spanish. This area of Alicante city centre including Maisonnave Street, is the most commercial part of the city, where you will see many people shopping.
After so much walking, you will be ready to sit at one of the many outdoor cafés. You can also relax on the benches of the oceanfront promenade or sit on the chairs in the Explanada (forecourt) de España and watch the masts of the boats in the harbour, the constant movement of the waves on the beach, the people going to and from...

Wonderful beaches and mild climate

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El Postiguet, San Juan, Almadraba, Saladares, Albufereta, Cabo de Huertas... Very few cities can boast of such fine, white sand beaches with such pure water. Sunbathing may not be your number one priority in Alicante, but with miles of beaches on your doorstep and a superb year round climate you may want to set aside sometime to work on that tan!

Costa Blanca enjoys over 2,800 hours of sunshine throughout the year, with an average annual temperature of about 19.3ºC, giving its microclimate ideal characteristics for living in Alicante and Costa Blanca region all year round.

The numerous clear, sunny days make the province of Alicante an excellent place for leisure and holidays, because it is possible to enjoy the fresh air every day of the year.

The Alicante weather is well known for a very mild climate amongst the cities at the Costa Blanca. Covered in the north by small hills and further north by rather high mountains (about 1600 m high), the area keeps the Alicante weather in a kind of microclimate. This limits the rain days per year to just about 20 per year. The average temperature even in winter time does not fall below 16° C.

Charming festivities and Variety of cultural activities

The beauty of its monuments along with the charm of various festivals and cultural events held throughout the year add to the appeal of Alicante. Students will get an overview of the “fiestas” in the Bonfire Museum. If you take part in the Alicante fiestas and festivities you will enjoy truly magic moments.



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Among the Alicante fiestas, we recommend the pilgrimage of Santa Faz or the processions of Moors and Christians, the Porrate of Saint Anthony around the 17th of January with its stands in the streets, the processions of Saint Nicholas, or the Carnivals.

June is a very special month in Alicante: On June 24th, the eve of San Juan, or Saint John, traditional bonfires are lit all over Alicante and the streets filled with music, celebration and fireworks. Huge papier-mâché; monuments are consumed by the flames during the purifying rituals of this magical night.

And these are only some of the most significant fiestas in Alicante. There are many others celebrated throughout the year.

All year round Alicante offers you an extensive cultural programme. You can choose among a variety of concerts, conferences, theatrical productions or a medieval market at the end of June.

Typical Mediterranean cuisine

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Fish and seafood from the Mediterranean sea, with vegetables and fruits from the orchards, accompanied by the inland wines, make up the main part of a healthy and natural cuisine, whose basic ingredient is the rice.

All these flavours of mediterranean sea and land are mixed together in the delicious rice “a la alicantina”, the cauldron, the black rice or the salt pork.

To finish your meal, try the fruits and the ice cream and, above all, the typical universal dessert —the “turrón” with its varieties from Jijona (soft) and from Alicante (hard), accompanied by “fondillón”— old wine.

Surrounding cities

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The city is surrounded by beaches as well as by many first class tourist centres. We should not forget the smaller villages in the region of La Marina with towns like Benissa, Javea, Dénia or the white Altea. Castles, fortresses and towns like Elche and Orihuela embellish the fertile inland, full of orange and lemon groves.

The largest city is Valencia, with the architecturally impressive City of Arts and Sciences, only an hour and a half away; Elche, where you can walk around the largest palm tree forest in Europe; and Villajoyosa with its Chocolate Museum. Jijona and Altea are also cities not to be missed.