Alicante City Information
Facts: Alicante is located in the east part of Spain along the Mediterranean coast and is the capital of the province Alicante that forms part of the community of Valencia. The town has a population size of about 300.000 people and is located within 2-4 hours drive from the biggest cities of Spain, Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. Alicante has two official languages - Spanish and Valenciano - although most people in this area speaks traditional Spanish as their first language.
The province of Alicante is a very popular tourist destination and within 30min from the capital you can find popular resorts like Benidorm or Denia. Apart from the many nice beaches the area is popular due to its special micro climate which gives nice temperatures all year around with an average temperature in the winter of approx 16Cº and during the summer approx 30Cº.
History: The area of Alicante has been inhabited for about 7000 years, first by early tribes and later by Greeks, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Visigoths and Moors.The Carthaginian were the first to build a fortress where Alicante town is located today and thereafter the Romans started to expand the town which they ruled for nearly 7 centuries. During the decline of the Roman empire the Visigoths took over the town but this rule only lasted half a decade as Spain and Alicante was invaded by the Moors. Alicante was conquered in 1246 by the Castellan king Alfonso X and in the 15-16th centuries the town grew in size and importance benefiting from the gold coming in from South America. During the 17th to the mid 20th century Alicante was mainly know as an agricultural province but the tourist boom in the 60s has made the city a modern capital with good infrastructure.
Attractions: Alicante has lot of interesting attractions both for people interested monuments and museums and for people interested attractions like amusements parks and shopping centres. Of interesting cultural attractions can be mentioned the Castillo de Santa Barbara (a castle dating back from medieval times) or the Museum Asegurada, a beautiful building from the 17th century where you can find works of famous painters like Gris, Miro, Picasso and Dali. The seafront promenade (Paseo de la Explanada) from 1957 build with more than six and a half million small tiles can also highly be recommended to experience a typical Mediterranean atmosphere and we can also recommend the big amusement park Tierra Mitica only 30 hour away from Alicante if you are interested this type of activity.
Going Out: The nightlife in Alicante offers nearly everything one can ask for, from nice restaurants, cosy bars or clubs where you can dance to the early morning. There are mainly two areas to go out in Alicante, the old centre or the harbour. The harbour area has recently been expanded and the idea of the town hall was to gather most of the nightlife in this area as the people living in the old centre had been complaining about the noise. In the harbour you can find all types of restaurants, bars and clubs and they are open to the early morning. In the old centre you can still find many restaurants or bars and is a good place to start the night as they tend to close earlier.
For further information about Alicante please see Alicante Guide or if you are looking for accommodation in Alicante take a look at this site where you can find further information about renting apartments in Alicante.
