Alicante guide · Alirena
What to see in Alicante (and what to skip)
The guidebooks show you the same things: castle, Explanada, MARQ, the market, basilica. They are not all bad, but some are traps. This is our column of the yes and the no.
Worth it
- Santa Bárbara Castle at sunset. Take the lift up through the Postiguet tunnel (3.40€ return) between 19:30 and 20:30 in summer. The view of the port and the city in evening light is the one image of Alicante you would set as your wallpaper. The four ways up →
- Santa Cruz neighbourhood. The little white lanes that climb the castle slope. Fifteen minutes on foot, with flowerpots, hand-painted façades and cats. Best in the morning before the group of headphone-wearing tourists fills it up.
- Mercado Central from the inside. A 1921 modernist building. Stepping into the fish floor at 11:00 is seeing Alicante as it works. You end up having vermouth at one of the ground-floor bars. Zero euros to enter.
- Explanada de España, on foot. Yes, it is on every postcard. Yes, it is worth walking the 500 metres of the floor with its three-dimensional mosaic, especially at sunrise or sunset. No, do not sit down for a drink on its terraces: twice the price.
- MARQ (Archaeological Museum). If you are into archaeology, it is well done. If not, skip it. 3€ entry, two hours inside, free on Sundays.
What you can skip
- Any organised tourist-bus tour. Alicante is a small city. If you walk, all the important spots fit into one day. 18€ to get on a bus that shows you what you can see free from the pavement.
- The Auditorium (ADDA). Unless you have a ticket for a concert, there is nothing to see. A good building, a bad tourist stop.
- The commercial "tapas routes". Five bars for 25€ with a tapa and wine. They sound good, but the route passes through the places no one from the neighbourhood would set foot in. Do it yourself for half.
- The "Nativity Scene tourist train" at Christmas. It is a painted bus. It is embarrassing.
- The Co-Cathedral of San Nicolás. If you like religious architecture, sure. If not, it is the same as any baroque church in a provincial capital. Not a priority.
What does not appear in any guidebook
- Walking up the Tossal in the morning and coming down through El Barrio. It is the east face of the castle hill; fewer tourists and the same view.
- Alicante Cemetery on a grey day. It sounds odd: it is one of the most beautiful in southern Spain, full of modernist mausoleums. Zero euros, almost always empty.
- Plaza de Séneca at sunrise. A minor square with three terraces that open at 7:00. Coffee, toasted bread, locals before work.