Thought about living in the city of Alicante?

You might just wish you'd thought of this earlier...

Alicante’s got class! And an all-year-round climate similar to Los Angeles in a city half the size of Glasgow. (Average January temperatures between 6.7 and 17 degrees). But why get on the bus from Alicante airport to far away places like Torrevieja when a 24/7 bus whisks you to this amazing city in just 15 minutes?

Alicante offers cheap properties and a better lifestyle

Of course, buying in the plush centre you can expect to pay anything between 100 and 300k, but a short tram or bus ride to areas like Virgen del Remedio, where, in the narrow, shaded streets you might find a 3-bedroom apartment with a terrace from €30.000! If you think we're kidding… Contact Let’s Live Abroad now!

Pubs, clubs, restaurants or theatre. Alicante has everything

Relaxing by the marina in Alicante city

There are no ‘bad’ areas of this city. It boasts a diverse international community with low crime. The amount of time people spend talking with neighbours outside on hot summer nights seems to have a positive impact on community relations. And it could enrich your life too.

Flying kites on Alicante's Postiguet beach

Alicante has more. In the evening, wander from your apartment down to the old town, enchanting in the low lamplights as everybody sits outside and musicians play in the streets.

Eating out on warm nights in Alicante with friends

Calle Monjas in the narrow streets of Alicante's old town

Shop in El Corte Inglés, so big, the multiple-floored department store has separate blocks in different streets in the shopping area of the city. It’s a chance to eat and drink overlooking the marina, lined with restaurants, hotels and a shopping centre, listening to the creaking and tinkling of steel wires against the yacht poles.

A quiet day on Alicante's marina - it's January and 21°c!

Then take your visitors on one of the glass-bottomed boats offering daytrips along the coast to Benidorm or to the mysterious archipelago of Tabarca to sunbathe on its beaches, paddle in its harbour or wander round the narrow streets of the island’s town. (Take your goggles because you will want to dive into the clear warm waters in any one of its rocky coves or tidal pools to see an amazing array of tropical fish before stopping to eat them in one of the fresh fish restaurants that look dreamily out to sea).

Tabarca, a tiny island of rocky coves, restaurants and flowering cacti

One of the most beautiful moments you can spend in Alicante is watching the sun rise over Postiguet beach. Grab a coffee and an international newspaper and sit in one of the beachfront bars to read and watch the loungers being planted in neat rows in the sand for the day’s sunbathers. Or set your sites on seeing the castle of Santa Barbara.

Alicante's Santa Barbara castle from the marina

View of Santa Barbara castle rom the bars and restaurants round the marina

There's a quicker way of getting to the top. You'll find the entrance along the coast road at the back of the beach. Walk along the long orange tunnel and you'll find an elevator at the end.

Find the elevator to the top of Santa Barbara castle

Alicante airport is just a few hours away from most UK airports, so your home is always easy to get to. In both January and February temperatures are up there in the seventies. So, your home will be easy to get too, but much harder to leave.

Enjoying a meal overlooking Alicante's marina

With a train station in the heart of the city, the whole of Spain is on your doorstep! Madrid is a couple of hours away. And Valencia is just a one-and-a-half-hour train journey. Fancy going first class? You will be served a delicious meal complete with dinky cruets including mini labelled bottles of olive oil and vinegar. You can enjoy free newspapers, magazines and some headphones to watch films and an opportunity to enjoy a wide selection of drinks. The Spanish are rightly proud of their rail network and a ticket to Madrid costs only around £25, (or £17 if you travel second class). www.renfe.es.

The band plays on summer nights on the promenade

Plaza de la Santisima Faz

Plaza Portal de Elche

With a train station, bus station and trams you will have so much to discover. Take a tram from Luceros Plaza to San Juan beach, Benidorm, or all the way to Calpe and Denia.

Alicante trams offer superb views as you head up the coast

Take a 27 bus to Urbanova. It's a long sandy beach near the airport and lined by a promenade with bars and restaurants open in the summer, sandwiched between the Doggy Beach which has it's own beach bar and a nudist beach.

Urbanova

For a longer train journey, Madrid or Valencia should be at the top of your list. Stay away from the paella and beaches for a minute. This is Sci-fi city!

The Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia

The £220millon cracked melon in the centre of it all is the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia opera house. Its fine acoustics was the result of 14 years hard work for architect Santiago Calatrava and his team. In a world where opera-goers are dwindling, such a project was the ultimate status symbol for the city. You will need all day here to explore the fantastic IMAX planetarium, science museum, botanic garden, huge tropical bird cage and Europe’s biggest marine park. When they feed the dolphins, you’ll think you’re in Disney World and when you’re ducking under giant plaice swimming over you in a glass tunnel, you’ll wish you were!

City of the Arts and Sciences, Valencia

There are good tram connections from Alicante city to Benidorm and only 23km away on the tram is Villajoyosa which translates as the ‘joyful town’. You might not remember the name, but you always remember the row of brightly coloured seafront houses on picture postcards. They were supposed to have been painted that way to help the fisherman find their way home. This old fishing village is fascinating. The fancy doorway of the gothic church leads into the old walled town centre and a sixteenth century watchtower that once guarded against marauding Berber pirates. After you’ve finished in the bustling market, picking up armfuls of fresh citrus fruit for that healthy Mediterranean diet you’ve been promising yourself, drop by the famous Museum of Chocolate before you ask yourself, ‘err… what happened to the diet’?

The colourful fronts of the houses at Villajoyosa

This should all be enough to keep you going in Alicante when you can’t face another jazz festival, fiesta, market or live concert held along the promenade where the council provide seats for the elderly to play dominoes and listen to the band. Alicante has everything including an excellent Tourist Information shop in the centre of town helping make something very wonderful and exciting out of living in Alicante. Your friends just won’t want to leave.

Well... You can't have everything!

It's fiesta time in Alicante

Everyone takes to the streets when it's fiesta

Postiguet beach

This is San Gabriel beach, 5 minutes from the airport in the artists quarter and just before you get to the city centre. The 01 or C3 airport bus takes you here

While you are in San Gabriel, don't miss the beautiful El Palmeral park with its lake and coffee shop

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Thought about living in the city of Alicante?