Hotels in Alicante

Alicante has long been the workaday gateway to the Costa Blanca, its airport handling the bulk of package traffic bound for Benidorm and Calpe, but the city itself is worth more than a night before you move on. The Explanada promenade, tiled in wave-patterned marble and lined with palms, is a genuinely good place to sit with a drink, and the Santa Bárbara castle above town gives a sea view most resort towns can't match.

Its old quarter, El Barrio, has enough tapas bars and stone alleys to fill a couple of evenings without feeling manufactured for tourists. Be honest: the beaches in town, Postiguet especially, are decent but crowded and nothing special next to what's further down the coast, and much of the modern city is unremarkable apartment blocks. Stay near the Explanada or the old town rather than out by the airport, so you can walk to the harbor, the castle and the best bars.