Alicante for a few nights

[goatron]

Has anyone been? I know several other Spanish cities would rank above this one, but we have done the ones with beaches already and don’t want to be too far inland where it will be hotter.

I have been looking in the map and there are a few restaurants in what looks like nice locations with poor ratings, can anyone make any recommendations please?

Also looking for a nice rooftop bar?

We will visit the market and the castle, but are there any other sights? We may have to tram to somewhere else for half a day so recommendations here too please?

I know lm asking a lot! Thank you

Loved Alicante! What type of food/ budget?

You can get the tram which runs along the coast to Benidorm ( the Old Town is quite nice ) . Really lovely views and stops at typically Spanish towns like El Campello ( lovely beach , great for surfing) & Villa Joyosa ( gorgeous multi coloured houses along the sea front , Velor Chocolate museum & good bars & restaurants ) .

Hotel Port has a really nice roof top bar. We stayed at the hotel and it had a rooftop bar which was lush

moat nights we just at on the Main Street next to the beach. Loads of reasonable places along there

We've been a few times. Love a weekend there as it's only 2 hours away.
We go with On the Beach.
Last time we stayed at The Melia, which was lovely but I preferred a previous hotel - Hotel Maya, it's at the foot of the castle. Much cheaper than The Melia, too.
We loved the castle ( take your own drinks, snacks - it's expensive up there). And the shopping centre is great.
We don't visit anywhere else but I'm told it's very easy - quick, cheap etc
Altea is lovely - you could definitely visit there.

Between a coastal city at 30-32 degrees plus 80% humidity and say, Madrid at 35+ degrees but only 20-30% humidity, I know which I’d choose. The latter. (I live in the former).

Be aware that Spanish coastal areas are incredibly humid and sticky during summer, even if the temperature looks lower. Alicante has a lot of outdoor things to see, I wouldn’t want to do that in the summer unless they open at 7am and I can get that done before the sun gets stronger.

Us Spaniards stay indoors with our shutters down from midday to 5-6pm. There’s a reason for that…

Alicante is fab for a short break, 2-3 days.
It isnt Brits abroad like other nearly places, but it is bustling and feels safe. City is about 20mins uber ride from airport, and we found flights from uk to be reasonable.
Along the promenade are some lovely restaurants, mainly serving paella and tapas, and off the main "Rambla" there are masses of restaurants along side streets, again mainly serving popular spanish food rather than pizzas and burgers everywhere.
The beach is pleasant and central, and we paid less than 3 euros each for the lift entry
to the castle area. There is a lovely cafe with beautiful views from the terrace at the castle. Don't miss the quaint streets of the old town with the house decked in flower pots for a great photo opportunity.
I also found the city incredibly reasonably priced for food and drinks.
If I were there longer I'd do some trips along the coast and inland, there seem to be some interesting places such as the palm tree grove and mountain villages.

We did a long weekend in Alicante last year and loved it.

It's really easy to get to the city from the airport - we took the bus which cost a couple of euros and took 20 mins.

First day we did a walking tour booked through WithLocals app. Second day we did the castle and walked back via some of our favourite areas from the tour. Another day we went shopping and on the last morning we went to the food market. There is also a beach though we didn't use it.

We stayed at Casa Alberola which was an amazing location. I can't remember the restaurants we ate at in the evenings but there is a lovely churros and coffee shop called Murrua that we went to twice. Also the Argentinian empanada shops were really good for lunch on the go (there's seats and benches everywhere).

We spent a day there before a flight home a few years ago, there's an interesting sailing museum (America's Cup type stuff) some lovely restaurants in the old town, and a nice, big ,cool shopping mall. DS was 9 at the time and still refers to it as the place with the seasick pavement, as the tiles on the promenade are a bit of an optical illusion!

One of the nicest friendliest places I’ve ever been. The vermouth bar in the market is amazing!!!