.

TravelTips24 : Europe : Mediterranean Europe : Iberia : Spain : Eastern Spain : Valencia : Alicante (province) : Alicante

Alicante

For other places with the same name, see Alicante (disambiguation).

Alicante [1] is a popular city with tourists in the Alicante Province in the Valencia Region of Spain.

Travel to Alicante & Visa Requirements

Flights and airtickets to Alicante

The Alicante Airport (ALC), connected by many international airlines, is located 11 km (6.8 miles) south of the city.

Bus No C-6, departing every 45 minutes from Bus stop No 30, takes you to the city in about 30 minutes for €1.20. Ask the driver to notify you when to get off, for example the Train Station, Estacion de trenes. Bear in mind that this bus follows a circular route and takes about 40 minutes to get from Alicante back to the airport, the extra 10 minutes can make all the difference in missing your check-in time.

Alicante is served by Monarch[2],Iberia, Germanwings, Spanair, Aerlingus[3], Air Berlin, Finnair, Thomsonfly[4], Sterling[5], easyJet and Ryanair. And Transavia.com

By train

Trains run by RENFE [6] from Madrid, Sevilla and Barcelona daily go to Alicante Train Station, located in the city centre.

By boat

Direct ferry links exist between Alicante and Ibiza, and Palma de Mallorca. It is best to book early to avoid disappointment.

Tours & Getting around Alicante

One of the best ways to go sight seeing and enjoying is by a car. The roads are good, and the town can be better explored with the freedom that a car brings. Many tourist rent a car for their holidays in Alicante. Often you can book the car with the flight booking before arrival. Many companies like Europcar also sit at the Airport.

Buses to Alicante

The main bus station is located close to the harbour at Calle Portugal 17

By tram

Alicante has a modern and still-expanding tram system [7]. Trams now cover many areas of the city and also travel along the coast to Benidorm where you can connect with a line running further along the coast to Altea, Calpe and Denia.

Alicante attractions and sightseeing

Visit the Santa Barbara Castle (Castillo de Santa Barbara) for an amazing sight of the town and harbour. There is an elevator that starts near the beach (Playa del Postiguet).

Alicante city tours

The sandy beach is popular during the day and fairly busy during the evening when it's illuminated by sodium street lights. These give the beach and breaking waves a surreal effect.

Alicante souvenirs & shopping

You can still buy commemorative plates of General Franco from some souvenir stalls!

Alicante Restaurants: cheap, moderate and expensive

Try a paella from one of the sea-front restaurants, they're less than €10. Some of the smaller restaurants in the side-streets will do a 3-course meal for about the same price. Restaurant El Flamenco in c/. San Francisco 12 does a 4 course meal for only 9 euros.

Traditional delicacies will commonly include dishes with fresh seafood or rice. Alicante also counts with its own regulatory wine council [8].

Alicante nightlife, bars, clubs & pubs

Keep a lookout for the Irish pubs - they're run by Spaniards who don't speak English but they serve draught beer which is hard to get anywhere else.

Alicante cheap and luxurious hotels, youth hostels & lodging

The cheapest place to sleep is on the beach! The police don't seem to move people on and in the summer mini hippy colonies spring-up. This seems to typify the easy going attitude in Alicante.

If you fancy something a bit more luxurious, NH has two hotels in Alicante:

  • NH Alicante Mexico, 18 (esquina Rosa Chacel), 03008, Tel: +34 96 5108140 Fax: +34 96 5110655 [9] NH Alicante Hotel is situated in the new commercial zone, 5 minutes away from the city centre. There are some superb holiday villas to rent in Alicante [10]
  • NH Cristal Tomás López Torregrosa, 11, 03002, Tel.: +34 96 5143659 Fax: +34 96 5206696 [11] Close to the 'Rambla de Méndez Núñez' and 'Esplanada de España', In the heart of the city's commercial and service district, it is close to the Historic Centre and Town Hall.

Get out

This page was last edited at 12:51, on 31 October 2008 by Mark Sheffield. Based on work by Stewart Bryant, David, Marc Heiden and fiach_reid@hotmail.com, Wikitravel user(s) Rodericoco and WTDuck2, Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel and others.

Content on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0 license