Alicante Travel Guide | 59 Alicante Travel Tips for Vacation Itinerary
Written by: Sini Hietaharju, Master of Tourism Research & Slow Traveller
In this guide, I tell the best Alicante tips for your Alicante vacation.
How do I know about that? Glad you asked, I have lived over 3 years in Alicante, and I still call this beautiful Spanish town my hometown.
At the end of the article, you can download Alicante Travel Guide PDF and save all my favorite spots to Google Maps.
10 BEST HOTELS
Pic of me at the rooftop of Hotel Port Alicante (please note this hotel is in San Juan, 7kms from Alicante) Below linked the best hotels in Alicante centre.
These are the loveliest hotels in Alicante Centro to have a cozy stay.
You'll have a nice room, great breakfast and city and beach nearby your accommodation in all of these three options.
The 3 Best Price-Quality Choices for accommodation in Alicante
These hotels are offering great comfort, but with a smaller budget compared to the iconic hotel choices above.
Choosing one of these, you can be sure your stay will be comfortable and still in a central location.
If you would like to read more about best areas to stay in Alicante and detailed reviews about the best hotels in Alicante, check out the article:
17 THINGS TO DO
Here you can find, in my opinion, the 17 best things to do in Alicante, Spain. Browse by categoy and choose the most resonating ones to your Alicante travel itinerary.
1. Castillo de Santa Bárbara
This historic 9th-century hilltop castle offers panoramic views over the city and beach.
You can reach it by a foot or by taking an elevator from Postiguet Beach.
Best of all, entry to the castle grounds is free.
Unusual, cool thing to do in Castillo de Santa Barbara: Book a Vine Tasting (It's only 26€)
2. Photograph or simply enjoy the Explanada
This iconic promanade surrounded by palm trees is lovely for evening walks.
The restaurants at explanada are quite touristy though. Only restaurant I can recomment at the Explanada is the Indian New Delhi.
3. Mercado Central
Mercado visit is a typical but nice activity for a daytime. It's open Monday through Saturday and is perfect for an affordable picnic or a guided food tour.
4. Relax by the Postiguet Beach
Well, obvious, but I must mention this Alicante tip. What I love most about Alicante is that you have the beach right near the city, so you can easily pop by for some sunbathing.
For drinks, I recommend walking all the way to the end of Postiguet to Chiriguito Amor Amar ,as the places closer to the centre are touristy and not so nice.
You can also book a private yoga class in English in postiguet Beach.
Local's tip: If you want a longer, bigger beach, head by tram 7kms north from Alicante to San Juan. There is a long sandy beach.
5. Barrio de Santa Cruz
Although a bit touristy, this old town area of Alicante is a vibe.
Thw narrow streets, cute places to "tomar algo" (=to drink some, to eat some tapas) are great for an evening in Alicante.
One of my favorite cafés of Alicante is there as well: Madness Café
1. Do a boat tour to Tabarca Island
There is a small island in front of Alicante, where you can go for a day trip.
The island itself offers mostly relaxation, swimming and sunbathing, but it's a nice activity for a day.
I recommend purchasing tickets beforehand online, you can do it here: Buy tickets to Tabarca Island Boat Tour
2. Do a tour to see waterfall and beautiful lake Guadalest
It would be shame to miss the stunnign natural sights surrounding Alicante. If you are not renting a car, I recommned booking a tour to see some sights.
With this tour you can see cute village Altea, Algar Waterfalls and Guadalest lake
3. Go kayaking or SUPping
Especially a little bit outside of Alicante there are stunnig spots for watersports. Turquoise water and caves in the sunshine is a great activity.
4. Do a tour to see waterfall and beautiful lake Guadalest
It would be a shame to miss the stunning natural sights surrounding Alicante. If you are not renting a car, I recommend booking a tour to see some sights.
With this tour you can see cute village Altea, Algar Waterfalls and Guadalest lake
5. Visit Winery and do Wine tasting
Did you know Alicante is the oldest wine regions in Europe?
You should definitely do a wine tour in Costa Blanca.
You can check, for example these two great tours:
Small-Group Countryside Wine Tour with 4 Tastings (rated 4.8)
6. Go see a Sunset from Parque Ereta
If you are not that much into wine, you can stay in Alicante and enjoy a lovely evening watching sunset by Parque Ereta. It is a walking distance from centre, and you can walk there through the beautiful old town, aka Barrio de Santa Cruz.
7. Do a TukTuk Tour
I know this is a touristy activity, but actually it's pretty fun.
Quite recently we got TukTuks in Alicante, and if you are too lazy to walk all day, explore with a TukTuk.
1. See Flamenco Show
Although the roots of Flamenco are in Andalusia, there are some great flamenco shows in town to see. The rhythm, the movement and the guitar is a nice show.
2. Go to a Spa
Are you really on a relaxing holiday, if you don't visit a spa?
You can choose from these options:
Halo Spa - Luxurious Spa in a hotel
Zenit Spa - Lovely place for relaxation
Beer Spa - Yes you read correct, this is an unsual thing to do in Alicante.
3. Go Indoor Climbing
This is a bit extraordinary activity and maybe not for everyone, but in Alicante there's a great indoor bouldering place.
It's just 15€ including shoe rental, you can find it here.
4. Visit museum of Illusions
I am not much of a museum person myself, but this Museum of Illusions in Alicante is actually pretty cool place to visit. You can buy tickets directly from their website, here.
5. Try the best cheesecake
I am getting ahead of myself, as next I will list you the best restaurants in Alicante for brunch, lunch, dineer and coffee. But this cheesecase place called Las tartas de Julita is a must-try.
18 BEST WELLNESS EXPERIENCES
8 BEST SPAS AND MASSAGES IN ALICANTE
I always want to inspire to make the travels more mindful, relaxing and rejuvenating. That's why wellness experiences and services play an important role on this Alicante travel blog.
Coconut body club - Nice wellness treatments
Japanese Head Spa Alicante - Relaxing treatments in a nice location
Alicante Thai Massage - In my opinion, the best massage place in Alicante
Lotus Spa - Great Spa treatments in central location
Active Recovery Sports Massage Therapy
5 BEST YOGA AND PILATES STUDIOS IN ALICANTE
I love testing different yoga and pilates studios during travels. These are the ones you should check out in Alicante.
Please note that some of the places do classes only in Spanish, but I would say it's easy to follow along with the visual demonstrations. To join a class, best way is to reach out for the places over Instagram, or sending a mesage on Whatsapp.
BeYoga
Stylish yoga studio that offers also English classes
Good machine pilates studioCosmopolitan Gym & Spa
This is the gym I go to, you can buy a day pass to join group classes, gym and spaSinimalism Studio
Private yoga classes in English in Alicante.
Pilates studio in central location, also machine pilates
5 BEST RETREATS IN ALICANTE
Costa Blanca in Spain is a great area to join a yoga retreat, as nearby Alicante there are all year around many fantastic retreats organised.
9 BEST CAFÉS
These are my favorite cafés in Alicante.
All are places that you can also sit in, instead of having only takeaway coffee.
Below cafeteria you can see the best brunch places.
Pic from JevoleCoffee
9 BEST CAFETERIAS IN ALICANTE
Madness Specialty Café
Sip and Wonder
Swallow Specialty Coffee
Martisano
Santagloria Coffee & Bakery
Espacio Elemental
Mon Sucree
Liaopastel
Tres Texturas
JevoleCoffee
9 BEST BRUNCH PLACES
Pic of Madness Specialty Coffee Brunch
9 BEST BRUNCH PLACES IN ALICANTE
Eat My Trip Specialty Coffee
Brunchit (located in San Juan)
Maldita Gloria (better one in San Juan, but there's one also in Alicante centre)
Dolci Garipier (located in San Juan)
Blueloop (located in San Juan)
Cafeteria Baker & Co (located in San Juan)
Martisano
Sip and Wonder
Madness Specialty Coffee
16 BEST RESTAURANTS
In this part, I will list you the great lunch restaurants and places to dine in Alicante.
You can also get all of them directly to your Google Maps for easy exploring. See the link below for free download.
6 BEST LUNCH RESTAURANTS IN ALICANTE
El Cup
Good lunch place with a daily menu, aka Menu del díaBoddhigreen
Great vegetarian restaurant
Asian Mediterranean Fusion restaurant. Remember to make a reservation.Urban Poke
Good poke bowls in the centreEl Corte Inglés Alacant Edifici Moda
Versatile meals to choose from at the rooftop restaurant of the department storeSaona
Nice daily menu for lunch (remember to reserve a table)
10 BEST DINNER RESTAURANTS IN ALICANTE
These are my favourite restaurants in Alicante, or something I recommend trying during your stay here.
Not to only trust my opinion, these 13 restaurants in Alicante were voted the best on many online listings, and these results kept on repeating on social media as well.
At the end of this article, you can download all of these to Google Maps as saved places to go. This makes it easy to navigate around and see locations on Alicante map.
Casa Mia Italia
Amazing italian restaurant. Remember to reserve a table.
Spanish food, but a bit more fineSteki Restaurante
Mediterranean with a twist of mexican and greek, located in old town Barrio.Creative dining with affordable price
Good Quality Alicantean cuisine.Cheragazzi
Really good italian restaurant at Rambla
Michelin-starred restaurant in Alicante centreGood, mediterranean restaurant (located in Albufereta, you can access it by tram from Alicante)
Zagalico
Bar and restaurant with Spanish food and cocktailsKyoto
Sushi buffet in the centre
GET ALL THE RESTAURANTS DIRECTLY TO YOUR GOOGLE MAPS
Best Restaurants in Alicante
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6 BEST SITES TO BOOK YOUR TRIP
Accommodation
Booking - Best for hotels and accommodation in general.
Activities
Getyourguide - best for guided tours, bucketlist activities and ticket booking
Transportation
Local bus and tram - You can simply buy a ticket on the bus
Omio for Trains, buses and flights within Spain
Discover cars for rental cars
Clothes and yoga gear
GET ALL THE PLACES FOR GOOGLE MAPS
Navigate easily to all the places I recommended in this Alicante Itinerary Guide.
I have listed all of them in Saved places on Google maps to make it easy for you.
Enjoy it for free (for now!) and bring it along to Alicante!
GET ALICANTE TRAVEL GUIDE IN PDF
Want these tips accessible offline?
You can download for free the Alicante Travel guide PDF here.
WRITTEN BY
Hey there, I'm the Author
I'm Sini, a digital nomad and an enthusiast in slow traveling, yoga retreats, travel as self-growth journey and rubbing dogs.
This is your go-to slow travel corner of the internet.
I'm here to share my best travel tips, the dreamiest places to go to and photographs from my journeys.
I happen to be kind of a professional in this as well, as I have my Master's degree in Tourism Research, and both my master's and bachelor's theses are about wellness travel.
I want to share the hidden gem hotels, dreamiest retreats and mindful destinations, as well as some deeper travel stories and thoughts on what mindful travel actually is.
With my job as a content creator for wellness travel brands, I have some great places to share with you on this beautiful globe.
Welcome to dive into your most meaningful journeys - join the newsletter if you want monthly slow travel inspiration.
You can read more about me here.
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