Alicante

Alicante

The beautiful City and Province of Alicante

Alicante is the capital city of the province of Alicante. Popularly known as Alacant in the Valencian language, Alicante offers great nightlife, beaches and plenty of other activities for you and visiting friends and family.

Alicante is one of the most known and visited parts of Spain. With over one million visitors every year and over one hundred thousand foreigners living in this province of Spain, Alicante is up there with the likes of Barcelona, Madrid, the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands for tourism. Within the Alicante region there are the cities of Alicante, Benidorm and the Costa Blanca.

The province of Alicante and its surrounding area has been inhabited for over 7000 years and you could well be apart of the next generation of people who make Alicante the great city and province it is.

With a rich history, there is plenty to do in Alicante. You will never be bored, we can almost guarantee that. Alicante’s most famous and historic hotspot is the Castle of Santa Barbara. This Castle sites on top of Mount Benacantil and has stunning views over the city, marina and the beaches the coastal city has to offer. There are also many towers situated around the city including the Torre Castillo, Torre Ferrer and Torre Santiago. With each tower (Torre), comes a piece of Alicante’s history.

You are never far from many of the surrounding cities in Alicante. To get to the city of Murcia (Murcia Area) is will take you around an hour drive and the same on the train. Valencia is also never far away with a nice scenic 2 hour journey drive and 1 hour 45 mins train journey. If you ever want to explore the resorts down in Benidorm a half hour to an hour drive should get you there. Although you may need to expect some tolls on the way down. Barcelona and Madrid are quite far, so if you fancy any mini breaks, we would recommend planning an extra day or two to take into account the travelling.

There are many theme and water parks around the Alicante region. Many are in Benidorm so if you are coming from the city of Alicante you are never to far away from all the fun. Benidorm is home to one of the biggest water-parks in world called Aqualandia, it was also the first water-park to be built in Spain. You can also enjoy the thrills of roller-coasters in Benidorm at the Terra Mitica theme park. Other parks include the water-parks of Terra Natura and Aquopolis.

Heading out for dinner should be a very hard task as the province has over 3000 restaurants to choose from. Restaurants include many traditional Spanish restaurants, seafood, Indian and many steakhouses. An hours drive from the city of Alicante and past Benidorm is one of Europe’s best restaurants called Quique Dacosta. The restaurant specialises in evolution and design of food, creating dishes that look to good to eat. They have also received 3 Michelin stars. There are another 4 Michelin star restaurants in the province.

Alicante the City

The beach city of Alicante has many activities you can get up to. There is something for everyone. Alicante offers many city walks you can take and you can discover many of the musuems and monuments throughout the city. There are many restaurants you can visit and you can do access all your shopping needs. There are many sports facilities available for a wide range of sports and many festivals you can take part in or simply appreciate.

Alicante has 10 beaches near by for all your tanning needs and if you would like to take a small trip away, you can easily visit the Tabarca island. The most popular beach in Alicate is the San Juan beach. This beach is a 3km stretch of golden high quality sand. There is also a beach in the city centre next to the marin. It is called the Postiguet beach and means you will never need to go far for that tan. If youre planning a relaxing trip to the beach, you should visit La Almadraba beach. This is perfect to watch the sunset and is usually uncrowded making it the ideal relaxing location.

If art and museums are more your thing. There is the Contemporary Art Museum MACA and the Gravina Fine Arts Museum. Both are located in the city centre and are not long walks from the city hall. The castle on the hill, the fortress of Santa Barbara also holds the City museum. This museum tells you all about the city and the surrounding areas. There are many other museum’s that might interest you within the city.

There are many sports clubs situated all over Alicante that you can become a member of. You can take part in many water sports including diving, snorkeling and kayaking. You are also able to rent out jet ski’s to take out onto the water for a day. The prices for these various around different businesses. Overall there are two 18 hold golf courses in Alicante and another three nearby that you can be apart of. Surfing and boat racing is also massive in Alicante. They even have a boat racing museum. You can also get involved in tennis and other court games such as basketball. The biggest football team in Alicante is Hercules CF (Hercules de Alicante Club de Futbol). The last time they were in the Spanish biggest league was in the 2010/2011 season when they were relegated.

There are also many festivals you can take part in or enjoy witnessing. The Fogueres de Sant Joan Festival takes place every year in June and lasts for nine days. At this celebration one of the most important bull fight takes place nd the there is a fireworks display. Other festivals include the Carnival, Las Cruces de Mayo and Porrate San Anton. At these festivals streets are decoreted apporpriately with lots of colours.

Important Information

Throughout Alicante there is 8 hospitals. Most of them are public hospitals with 2 private hospitals and a university hospital. There is also n eating disorder clinic in Alicante and psychiatric hospital. A few medical centers and doctors are spread across the City and Province.  Throughout the province and city there are many police station, so you are never far from help if needed. There is a range of different schools and colleges in Alicante such as public and private schools and different language schools. Just outside the city of Alicante there is the University of Alicante.

Depending on where you’re coming from there are a lot of ways to arrive in Alicante. One of the main ways is to arrive into the Alicante airport. Flights from all over Europe arrive into the new terminal that was opened in 2011. There are many flights from the UK. Many flights from the UK are quite cheap. You can arrive in Alicante from Belfast (NI), Edinburgh (SCO), Cardiff (WAL) and many airports in England including Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and London. Usually flights per person are between £50-£120 but can find some even cheaper if you are lucky enough. There are also many flights that come from other parts of Europe and Scandinavia. If you ever need to head back home for a catch up with friends and family, finding a flight will not be difficult.

When you arrive at the airport in Alicante you can also rent cars from there. There are 7 car rental companies located outside the terminal, so it is not difficult to rent one.

If you are arriving in Alicante from other parts of Spain and France then a train, bus or car journey might be best depending on prices of bus and train tickets.

The weather

Alicante is an all year round destination for tourists. This means the weather is fantastic all year round allowing for you to enjoy the wonderful city and area all year round.

Overall the region of Alicante experiences 311mm (12.1 inches) of rainfall per year. Which is great if you are trying to get away from the rainy weather back home. During the winter, you shouldn.t expect to see any snow as the average degree’s outside is 16 with it reaching into the 30 and 40 in the summer months of June, July and August.  The warmest month is August which is great as iaround that time family might be able to come over to visit on their holidays.

The coolest month is January with October being the wettest month. The weather here is great as if you experiences bad weather for multiple days then you’re having a bit of bad luck.

Getting around Alicante

One of the best ways to get around Alicante is by car. If you have your own already to bring over to live with you, it may take a few days to be delivered. You also need to make sure the right people in your country know about your cars permanent move. If you’re are waiting for you car to be brought to you in your new home, it might be beneficial to rent a car for a few days. In Alicante you can rent cars for a cheap price of between twenty to thirty euros depending on which type of car you rent and the mileage you are allowed. You can also get rental cars with unlimited mileage.

One of the cheapest ways to get around Alicante and it’s surrounding areas is by bus. There are bus connections to all major places within the region and to the airport. Train services are usually a great way to connect to other major cities of Spain such as Madrid, Murcia and Barcelona. There is a bus station located in central Alicante.

You can also connect to other cities and town within the region by tram. This is a unique way to see the region and other coastal areas. This is also very cheap and you can get cards to make the journey even cheaper, if you would like to take this mode of transport regularly.

Bike hire companies are another way to get around Alicante as well as Segway tours. Over the past years many cities have started to offer segway tours as a unique way to see all the beauty of them.