Alicante, Spain
 

Anyone been to?

Lived there for 8 years until recently.. what do you want to know.

Cool,
considering a family trip, June-July, i have direct flights so thought it could
be a good place to spend 10 days at.

Pics look good to me:

http://aboattime.com/news/wp-content...35576661_M.jpg
http://myspanishadventure.com/wp-con...ante-spain.jpg

Alternatively it could be Porto Cristo or Port Alcudia at Mallorca...

Based on pics, this looks great

Where´s the first pic.. San Juan? or maybe cause of that rock at the end Calpe?
Second pic is benidorm.. the thing about benidorm is you either love it or hate it.

Alicante the city isn´t actually that touristy, but further up the coast you´ve got Benidorm, Altea, Calpe, Denia.. these are more holiday destinations.
Benidorms got alot of stuff for families. Teramitica.. big themepark, teranatura.. nice zoo and water park.. Aqualandia... great waterpark. But staying in Benidorm for a week may be a bit ahhhhhhhhhh!

If you just want a week on a decent beach that doesnt get packed, then San Juan isn´t bad, it´s right next to Alicante, so you can do a few city things aswell.

Cant really tell about pics they came up for Alicante search in google. Yeah, San Juan sounds about right, i dont do beach hardcire, 2-3 hours a day, then I want some siesta sleep, some strolling along the sea with kids, they love scooters. Definitely would love to eat some quality food, so a typical urban prefs near the beach :)

The flights land in Alicante airport, hope they have cabs to go to San Juan area where I could rent an apartment.

Yep you can cab it.. or not sure but they may have linked up the metro all the way to the airport, I know they were going to when I left 2 years ago.
SanJuans the closest to the airport. and the metro runs all up the coast, so if you fancy a themepark day just hop on the metro for 20 minutes and you´re there.

Alicante kicks off for the week ended 24th June. crazy town fiesta where they burn everything.

Whats your overall impression of living there?

It´s not a bad place to live but too much sun gets boring. Summers can be a fucker.
City´s starting to get a few problems with out of work immigrants, drugs etc.
But then for a city of it´s size. it´s still pretty safe.

Used to be a cheap city, but not so much now.

I spent 10 days in Italy in August, was hot like fuck, tho the sea and the air were nearly the same temp. I can imagine spending month under that hot sun can really get annoying :) like the snow i am currently fed up with.

Alicante is nice - I have a place just down the road a bit - Benidorm is fun but don't expect museums, galleries, local food etc. Its mainly N. Europeans getting drunk a lot...

South from Alicante (35mins) you have Torrevieja which is a bit run down these days and touristy - Just away from there you have places like Quesada and Los Montesinos (where I am) They are much smaller towns with a more Spanish feel but they have facilities for tourists. Also they are only 10 mins from the sea.

Guardamar is nice - It is just up the coast a little from Torrevieja - It has a nice town center and some nice Spanish eateries - Right on a great beach as well.

It gets pretty hot as the other guy said - I have done 2 full summers there and it drives you mad after a while...

Let me know if you decide on heading south from Alicante - I can point in the right direction...

Thanks for the input. I am deciding and making calcs. I am looking for 30C air and 28C water, July?

Air 30c ++

Sea I don't know - I hate the beach - I would guess it would easily be that though...

Do they have 3G coverage out there? Do they ask for passport if you want to buy a SIM card? Asking cus in Italy its like that.

Again, so do i but kids love it and its easier for me when the air and the water match LOL

Yep you need a passport/id for a simcard. Anti terrorist stuff they brought in a couple of years ago. Depending where you are you may be able to buy fast wifi access for a month. Some cities offer it.

Water may be a bit chillier than 28.. but it´s warm enough.

The pics look amazing.

We were in Barcleona for 12 days not long ago and took a cruise to the Canary Islands. I want to spend a month on Lanzarote.

That looks like a good destination though.

yeah top is calpe second is benidorm. benidorm, cyber city full of skycrapers and party places, in the season full of young people, mostly british, half of the city is british. if you like parties, go benidorm. if you like to have a break, choose altea or xavia or elx ... just from what i have found from half a year living in calpe :winkwink: have fun! :thumbsup

dont get fooled by the pics, thats benidorm, never seen so many rentals for rollators.

I guess it depends what youre going for. I took a model to Alicante to shoot some content when I launched her website, to shoot a bunch of updates. We had an apartment on a golf resort, about 10 minutes from airport and to the beach. If youre wanting to go to the beach/ waterparks etc i'd suggest hiring a car even if youre staying close to the airport. It was near impossible to get taxis out there even to just go to the nearest supermarket. Would have been fine walking if we hadnt bought so much stuff that we couldnt carry it back, but when we did get taxi's it worked out much more expensive than hiring a car so ended up going to get one a few days into the vacation! It can be a pretty place, and there's lots of beaches and things to keep the kids occupied, but its not as nice as those pictures lol.. then again places rarely are x

South of Spain is nice but during summer is too hot. Benidorm is a good resort for families. There are a lot of appartments to rent everywhere. Don't stay in Alicante if you don't want to get bored in 2 days. :)

I would like to visit this place :thumbsup

Thing with Alicante, you either love it or you hate it.

Can it be compared to Adriatic Italy?

Only two days in a summer trip in Spain, beautiful place. Benidorm is a great place too, if you like the beaches. If you like history and architecture, Toledo is amazing.

Going to Alicante in July can be too warm :)It was really hot last year, both outside and in water. But June,as I heard, was not that bad :) Good luck!

Thanks, as of now where I have snow, its hard to believe the summer is coming :)

I was there last summer, it was quite nice, not too many tourists, especially in the inner city. I was staying at a hotel 10 minutes outside of Alicante. The people are very nice, the only problem was that they couldn't really speak English, they knew enough for you to be able to shop and shit but that's where it stops. You definitely should go, you won't regret it :)

Edit: Those pictures are definitely not Alicante.

Thanks mate, did you come by plane? What airline?

Yeah, with RyanAir from Sweden, I'm not sure if you guys have RyanAir over there but I wouldn't recommend them, especially if you have kids with you. Pay a bit extra more $$ and get something more comfortable. I was staying at Alicante hills, which was very nice and not too expensive, but still good. The buses were stopping right outside and it was a lot more cheaper than taking a taxi to the inner city. :thumbsup

Edit: The weather wasn't too hot, I was there in July. It was around 30 Celsius, it was perfect, just enough to enjoy it

The top picture is 100% Calpe, I stayed in a little traditional village just outside called Jalon, you have moriria etc nearby all pretty cool with nice restaraunts, Try and coincide with the fiestas they have each year, Massive water fights in the towns, Massive lorry loads of Paella, Fireworks and bull runs. It is a amazing atmosphere.

The second is defo Benidorm that is the only Skyline like that in Spain.. It is great for a few beers with friends not where i would spend a week with the kids and family i have been on a stag do there and it was great.

Spain never fails I go every year and enjoy it each and every time

Watched few Benidorm nightlife and party videos and it looks like sausage fest

looks like overcrowded and overpriced place... but hey, I like Spanish girls....

If you are talking Benidorm then YES for overcrowded and NO for overpriced.

I´ve been there several times..but i love Calpe..is only few kilometers away from alicante.

Haven't been there yet...

I'd like to know, where do you live now? :pimp 8 years and left for greener pastures?

Northern Spain.. yep much greener pastures
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QG4aoprctE...riano+foto.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1eOam4CnZQ...re%2Bcopia.jpg

Got lovely beaches too.. just empty
http://www.holidaysasturias.com/wp-c...a-beach-19.jpg

That looks awesome, I was thinking about a place in Jalon Valley but that looks really nice.. Northern Spain is not as warm as Southern though is it?

nope, around 25-28 in the summer. but more humid. waters fucking freezing though.. it´s the Atlantic, and it rains alot.. that´s why it green.

think devon weather + a couple of c

I am visiting Salou in May hoping for it to be warm, i went to Benalmedena last April and it was pretty decent weather about 25 again the water was fucking Artic though lol. Hoping May will be a touch warmer..

April/May the waters still a bit chilly.
End of June it starts to warm up in the Med.