Alicante
Spain
A working Spanish city on the Costa Blanca, with a castle on the rock over a city beach and a tram up the coast
Photo by Joseph Corl on Unsplash
Photos by Anthony Ingham, Cale Weaver and Paulo Cardoso on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Spain
April to June, and September to October — high summer is hot and the beaches are full, and the Hogueras bonfires end the spring
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 52mm in Oct
Where it is
38.35°N, 0.48°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Several days- Take the lift up to the castle and walk back down through El Barrio
- Get the tram to San Juan beach rather than staying on Postiguet
- Eat arroz a banda at lunch, which is when rice is eaten here
- Take the boat to Tabarca and stay for the afternoon after the day crowds leave
- Come for the Hogueras if you can face the noise
Alicante travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Spain
Mid-rangeCards everywhere, the tram ticket machines included. Market stalls and the smallest bars in El Barrio are where coins help. Refuse the conversion when a terminal offers to charge you in your own currency.
ATMs & cards
Use CaixaBank, Sabadell, BBVA or Santander machines. The Explanada and the streets behind Postiguet beach have independent machines that push conversion.
Avoid these
- Euronet
- the independent machines along the Explanada and behind Postiguet beach
Use these instead
- CaixaBank
- Sabadell
- BBVA
- Santander
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Spain
SafeSafe and relaxed, with the usual city-beach petty theft on Postiguet and along the Explanada in high summer. The Hogueras de San Juan festival ends in a night of bonfires and fireworks in the streets, and the crowds and the noise are part of it rather than an incident.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- Postiguet beach in high summer — crowded, and bags left on the sand while everyone swims
- the Explanada on summer nights — busy, and the usual pickpocketing in the crowd
- the Hogueras — the crowds, the fireworks and the street bonfires are the point; keep children close and phones zipped
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Spain visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Spain
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date (MMR, tetanus, polio)
Getting treated
EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodRice is the thing here rather than paella: arroz a banda cooked in fish stock, and arroz con costra with an egg crust baked on top, from Elche and Orihuela. The Mercado Central is the place to start. Turrón comes from Xixona in the hills. Lunch at two, dinner at ten.
Travel tipsNightlife
A proper Spanish city evening: tapas from nine, El Barrio packed from midnight, and the port and San Juan beach for later in summer.
- El Barrio — the old quarter under the castle, bars in every lane
- Calle Castaños — the tapas street, for the start of the evening
- the port — bars and clubs along the marina for after two
- Playa de San Juan — beach bars in summer
Closing: El Barrio to 03:00, the port clubs later; in Hogueras week the whole city is up until dawn.
Getting around
Easy- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- CabifyWorks here
- FREE NOWWorks here
- Against a taxi
- About level with a metered taxi, and where a city sets a flat airport fare the taxi usually wins.
Several cities cap private-hire licences hard, so at peak the app may simply have nothing to send.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Madrid — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
eSIM
A data eSIM for Spain, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:
Works here
Works hereRevolutIn the app
Must-see
Travel tipsNearby day trips
Travel tipsSay a few words
Spanish
- HelloHolaOH-la
- PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
- Thank youGraciasGRA-thyas
- Yes / NoSí / Nosee / no
4 more phrases
- Excuse mePerdónper-DON
- How much is it?¿Cuánto cuesta?KWAN-to KWES-ta
- The bill, pleaseLa cuenta, por favorla KWEN-ta
- Cheers!¡Salud!sa-LOOD
Religion
Catholic
Nominally Catholic and deeply secular in practice. Churches are working buildings as well as sights, and Semana Santa is taken seriously even by people who never attend Mass.
Travel tipsDo's and don'ts
Do
- Eat late — lunch from 14:00, dinner rarely before 21:00
- Greet with two cheek kisses, right cheek first, between women or a man and a woman
- Stand at the bar to drink; it is cheaper than sitting and more sociable
- Say buenos días on entering a small shop, and adiós on leaving
Don't
- Do not expect anything to be open between 14:00 and 17:00 outside the big cities
- Do not order sangria in a serious restaurant — it is a tourist drink; ask for tinto de verano
- Do not tip heavily; rounding up or a euro or two is normal
- In Barcelona, do not assume Catalan and Spanish are interchangeable — the distinction matters to people
Where to stay in Alicante
No Holistay rentals in Alicante yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Alicante on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Alicante–Elche ALC
30 minfrom the airport· 10 km as the crow flies
C-6 bus to the centre, about 30 min.
Also worth pricing: Valencia VLC — about two hours by train or road, worth pricing on some routes.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
