Alicante

A bustling port and resort town, Alicante is popular above all with Spanish holidaymakers. The airport may be one of the cheapest points of arrival for thousands of British tourists heading for the Costa Blanca, but the town itself is unmistakeably Spanish, and built on a grand scale. Here traditions can be enjoyed to the full. The Hogueras San Juan fiesta (20-24 June) celebrates the saint's day and the summer solstice with huge papier-mache effigies set alight in the streets and fabulous firework displays fill the skies the last weekend in June. The evening paseo here is vibrant any time during the summer as everyone promenades along the Paseo Explanada, taking in the balmy Mediterranean air, and the town also has excellent tapas bars, many restaurants and a relentless nightlife.

Alicante Hotels

Hotel Sidi San Juan - Playa San Juan - Alicante 03540 - Spain Phone: 965 161 300 Fax: 965 163 346
Hesperia Alicante Hotel - Avenida de Las Naciones - Alicante 03540 - Spain Phone: 34 965268600 Fax: 34 965268242
Amerigo Hotel - Rafael Altamira, 7 - Alicante 03002 - Spain Phone: 965146570 Fax: 965146571
Melia Alicante Hotel - 3 Plaza Puerta del Mar Postiguet Beach - Alicante 03001 - Spain Phone: 96 5205000 Fax: 96 5205000
Holiday Inn Alicante Playa De San Juan Hotel - 20 Avenida Cataluna - Alicante 03540 - Spain Phone: 34 965156185 Fax: 34 965153936
Tryp Gran Sol Hotel - 3 Rambla Mendez Nunez City Centre - Alicante 03002 - Spain Phone: 965 203000 Fax: 965 211439
Eurostars Mediterranea Plaza Hotel - Plza. del Ayuntamiento, 6 - Alicante 03002 - Spain Phone: 965210188 Fax: 965206750
Hotel Mediterranea Plaza - 6 Plaza Del Ayuntamiento Postiguet Beach - Alicante 03002 - Spain Phone: 96 521 0188 Fax: 96 520 6750
Maya Hotel - Calle Canonigo Penalva - Alicante 03002 - Spain Phone: 34 965261211 Fax: 34 965261976
Hotel Leuka - 23 Segura Street City Centre - Alicante 03004 - Spain Phone: 965 202744 Fax: 965 141222
Hotel Castilla - 7 Avenida Paises Escandinavos San Juan Beach - Alicante 03540 - Spain Phone: 965 16 20 33 Fax: 965 16 20 61
Hotel Europa - 133 Avenida Denia Vista Hermosa - Alicante 03015 - Spain Phone: 965 269 581 Fax: 965 150 593
Abba Eurhotel - 31 Pintor Lorenzo Casanova City Centre - Alicante 03003 - Spain Phone: 965 130 440 Fax: 965 928 323

The Castillo de Santa Barbara careers high above the town, clinging to the craggy Mount Benacantil, Alicante's most dramatic sight. Below it the old historic quarter is rather small, a little shabby at the edges, and offers interesting explorations by day. Good beaches surge right up to the heart of the town and ferries to the Balearics and to small islands nearby operate from the harbour. If you want to combine a beach holiday with a distinctly Spanish scene, Alicante is a great place to head for.

GETTING YOUR BEARINGS

The Pasco Explanada de Espana is the key to getting your bearings in Alicante. A fine, broad walkway with an avenue of tall palms, it runs along the seafront beside a marina of yachts. It's the grandiose setting for the evening paseo; restaurants and cafe-bars provide terrace seating where you can watch the world parade by and an entertaining market keeps going till late in the evening. Towards the east end of the Paseo is the tourist office at Paseo de Explanada, 2; beyond this is Placa Puerta del Mar, and just beyond this lies Playa del Postiguet, the city's beach.

Calle San Fernando and Calle de San Francisco (the latter pedestrianized) run immediately behind, and roughly parallel with, Paseo Explanada, offering some of the best of the city's bars and restaurants. Both head into the old quarter to the east, the heart of which is the Ayuntamiento and Placa Sandsima Faz right behind it.

Above Calle de San Francisco, the city extends on a grid pattern that quickly increases in scale: the farther away from the seafront you go, the bigger (and less attractive) the blocks of buildings become and the greater the distance between streets. Soon modem high-rise buildings take over. Placa de San Cristobal is particularly impersonal, with characterless modern blocks all around; the only reasons to come here are the Vaya Vaya disco and the Chinatown restaurants above it. Cutting up through all this from roughly the centre of Paseo Explanada is Rambla de Mendez. It's a noisy, busy road as well as a bold, traditional, palm-lined rambla, and not at an the social focus the name suggests.

Alicante Attractions

The Old Quarter

An hour or so spent strolling around the small old quarter offers a sense of the town's character beyond the cafes, dubs and beaches. It's best explored during the daytime; in the evening it can feel a little unwelcoming.

Start at the Placa Ayuntamiento, a small colonnaded square with cafes to sit out at and a dignified 18th-century Baroque Ayuntamiento. The town hall is open on request (MondayFriday 9.00 -15.00), so call in and ask to see the elegant salons, the paintings and the chapel inside.

From here, follow Calle Jorge Juan and then take the steps off it up to Placa Santa Maria, a shabby cobbled square, home to the quiet, dilapidated grandeur of Iglesia Santa Maria. An alarming crack runs through the church from top to bottom, but none the less it remains an attractive building: a joyous Baroque portal with tubular twisting columns and flamboyant statuary is flanked by two plain square belltowers. The rocky mass of Mount Benacantil and the castle overlooks the whole scene. The Museum of 20th-Century Art is also on this square: see below.

From here head down Calle Villaviej a and then Calle Mayor to Placa Santisima Faz, a pretty little square with tall palms, several restaurants and a good bodega. Continue straight along Calle Mayor (pedestrianized) and take the second right up Calle Munoz to the Cathedral Church of San Nicolas de Bari. A severe facade is matched by a similarly cold, plain interior with a vast, vacant dome and silent walls. In the dour gloom shines a huge, gilt altarpiece, a vision lighting up the darkness. After a look inside, wander away from the front of the Cathedral down Calle San Jose until you hit the main road. Turn round and look at the Cathedral again for a good view of its distinctive azure glazed-tile roof glinting in the sunlight.

Paseo Explanada

The traditional paseo along this marine-side esplanade is a lively, colourful affair. Sit out at a cafe beneath the elegant tall palms in the early evening and soak up the scene; as light falls, wander beneath a canopy of lights and exotic palm fronds and explore the late-night market stalls; barter for anything from a snakeskin bumbag to a clockwork ostrich. Sample the scented ice creams and gofres - waffles covered in hot, gooey, melted chocolate, Grand Marnier or Cointreau.

Castillo de Santa Barbara

(Take the lift from beside Playa del Postiguet, or drive up. Open October-March 9.00-20.00, April-September 10.00-20.00.) Entrance 200 pesetas. Visit this castle for excellent views over Alicante. The first fort here was built by the Carthaginians in 3 BC; most of the complex that stands today dates from the 16th century. It includes battlements and embrasures, high parapeted walls and dungeons, stores and ovens, magazines and soldiers' quarters. The castle museum holds an intriguing collection of puppets and floats rescued from the flames of Alicante's annual fiestas.

La Asegurada: Museum of Contemporary Art

(Free. Open October-April Tuesday-Saturday 10.00-13-00 and 17.00-20.00, Sunday 10.00-13.00; May-September Tuesday-Saturday 10.30-13.30 and 18.00-21.00, Sunday 10.30-13.30.) This extremely likeable gallery displays work by an impressive list of art names, on the whole represented in prints rather than paintings: Robert Rauschenberg, Dali, Francis Bacon, Max Ernst, Giacometti, Braque, Chagall, jean Arp, Picasso, Victor Pasmore, Jim Dine, Christo, Claes Oldenburg.

BEACHES

Playa del Postiguet

Alicante is an important Mediterranean resort and of course there's a big beach here. It's long, sandy, very busy and backed by high-rise hotels. A stone's throw from the town centre, there are plenty of places to buy as much seaside paraphernalia as anyone could desire. Great fun despite the crowds.