Where to eat in Alicante

Eating in Alicante is easy if you know where to look. There are three basic rules that apply to almost everything:

1. What is on the Explanada costs double. It is not always worse (sometimes it is), but it is always more expensive. There are exceptions, and we mention them when there are.
2. Rice is eaten at midday. It is cooked to order (45 minutes) and at night only the leftovers are served, reheated. If they offer it to you for dinner on a touristy terrace, run.
3. Tapas are a neighbourhood thing. The best places are on side streets off the tourist zone: Castaños, San Francisco, Argensola, Carmen. Five minutes on foot from the centre and a different world.

By time of day

Morning (8:00–11:00). A neighbourhood café for toast, coffee and juice. Between 3 and 5€ per person. Some open at 7:30, others not until 9:00. The five best near Doctor Sapena.

Midday (13:30–15:30). This is when rice comes in, the set lunches (between 13 and 22€), and the fried fish if you head down to the port. The Alicante hour is 14:30, not 13:00. The six rices we stand behind.

Afternoon (18:00–20:00). Vermouth, beer, nibbles. Calle Castaños fills up with bar counters. Between 3 and 6€ per drink with a tapa included at most places.

Night (21:00–23:30). A late, Mediterranean-style dinner. Serious tapas at the neighbourhood spots, white-tablecloth restaurants for a formal dinner in the old town, seafood places by the port.

By budget

Under 15€: Mercado Central (the bars on the ground floor), neighbourhood tapas, eating at a bakery with an oven (much better than it sounds).

Between 15 and 30€: Set lunches with rice included at neighbourhood restaurants, a generous tapas dinner, any decent fried fish.

Between 30 and 60€: Rice cooked to order at a benchmark place, dinner at a à la carte restaurant, seafood at the port.

Over 60€: The two Michelin-starred restaurants (Monastrell, Govana), long meals with wine pairing, luxury seafood. Book days in advance.