Alicante/Alacant · Comunidad Valenciana
Alacant
Valencia's elegant second city — proper Mediterranean seafront paseos and healthy nightlife, unfairly lumped in with the brasher Costa Blanca resorts.
Living in Alacant
Alicante is Valencia's easygoing second city — a working provincial capital of 366,000 that wears its Costa Blanca setting lightly, with Mediterranean seafront paseos rather than a resort strip. The climate is the draw: winters average a mild 13°C, July and August highs reach the low 30s, and the sun is out for better than eight hours a day across the year. Just over seven in ten residents are Spanish-born, so despite the coast it reads as a Spanish city, not an expat enclave. It has its own beach and hospitals, San Vicente del Raspeig sits about ten minutes out, and the airport is under forty minutes away.
Alacant's Spainability Scores — by who's moving
Not our opinion: we ran the same scoring engine behind the quiz for six settler profiles across all 8,132 municipalities. Each score is Alacant's percentile for that group — 87 means it beats 87% of the towns we could score. How scoring works.
Higher than 97% of the 8,088 Spanish municipalities we could score for retiring couples.
Valencia's elegant second city — proper Mediterranean seafront paseos and healthy nightlife, unfairly lumped in with the brasher Costa Blanca resorts. A strong pick for a retiring couple — a hospital in town and a health centre close by.
- Winter average temp 13.1°C
- Drive to a hospital 0 min
- Surgical wait (region) 88 days
- Registered long-let rent €7.11/m²·mo
Higher than 97% of the 8,088 Spanish municipalities we could score for American retirees.
Valencia's elegant second city — proper Mediterranean seafront paseos and healthy nightlife, unfairly lumped in with the brasher Costa Blanca resorts. A strong pick for American retirees — a hospital in town and a health centre close by.
- Winter average temp 13.1°C
- Drive to a hospital 0 min
- U.S.-born residents 2.4 per 1,000
- Registered long-let rent €7.11/m²·mo
Higher than 72% of the 2,555 Spanish municipalities we could score for remote workers.
Valencia's elegant second city — proper Mediterranean seafront paseos and healthy nightlife, unfairly lumped in with the brasher Costa Blanca resorts. A strong pick for a remote-working couple — a settled international community and 365,586 people.
- 100 Mbps+ coverage 99%
- Drive to nearest airport 38 min
- Registered long-let rent €7.11/m²·mo
- Summer high (Jul–Aug) 30.9°C
Higher than 68% of the 2,555 Spanish municipalities we could score for families.
Valencia's elegant second city — proper Mediterranean seafront paseos and healthy nightlife, unfairly lumped in with the brasher Costa Blanca resorts. A strong pick for a family with school-age kids — 11 km from the sea and a settled international community.
- Schools in town 154
- PISA maths (region) 473
- Registered long-let rent €7.11/m²·mo
- Drive to a hospital 0 min
Higher than 58% of the 2,555 Spanish municipalities we could score for budget-first coastal settlers.
Valencia's elegant second city — proper Mediterranean seafront paseos and healthy nightlife, unfairly lumped in with the brasher Costa Blanca resorts. A strong pick for coastal living on a budget — a settled international community and 11 km from the sea.
- Registered long-let rent €7.11/m²·mo
- Net income per person €13,681
- Summer high (Jul–Aug) 30.9°C
Higher than 42% of the 2,555 Spanish municipalities we could score for heat-averse settlers.
Valencia's elegant second city — proper Mediterranean seafront paseos and healthy nightlife, unfairly lumped in with the brasher Costa Blanca resorts. A strong pick if you can't stand hot summers — 11 km from the sea and a settled international community.
- Summer high (Jul–Aug) 30.9°C
- Rainy days a year 35 days
- Summer water stress (WEI+) 154
- Winter average temp 13.1°C
What is the climate like in Alacant?
Alacant's reported winter average is 13.1°C, while July–August highs reach 30.9°C.
Climate
- Winter average temp
- 13.1°C top 4% of 8,131 towns 5.3°C above the Spanish average (7.8°C)
- Summer high (Jul–Aug)
- 30.9°C bottom 43% of 8,131 towns 0.7°C above the Spanish average (30.2°C)
- Rainy days a year
- 35 days top 3% of 8,088 towns 49% less than the Spanish average (69 days)
- Sunshine
- 8.2 h/day top 5% of 3,829 towns 14% more than the Spanish average (7.2 h/day)
- Summer water stress (WEI+) regional estimate
- 154 bottom 6% of 8,033 towns 97 above the Spanish average (56)
- River-flood depth (T=100, town centre) estimated
- 0 m top 1% of 8,129 towns 0.04 m below the Spanish average (0.04 m)
- River-flood risk score estimated
- 0 top 1% of 8,129 towns about the Spanish average (0)
- Wildfire burn rate (2010–23)
- 0.67 ha/km² bottom 22% of 8,132 towns 1.64 ha/km² below the Spanish average (2.31 ha/km²)
- Forest fires (2010–23)
- 9 bottom 12% of 8,132 towns 3 above the Spanish average (6)
- High fire-weather days (province) regional estimate
- 25.1% bottom 24% of 8,130 towns 2.2% above the Spanish average (22.9%)
The year, month by month
AEMET 30-year climate normals — what a January or an August actually feels like, not the annual average.
How good is healthcare in Alacant?
Alacant's nearest health centre is 2.1 km away, and the reported hospital drive is 0 min.
Healthcare
- Drive to a hospital
- 0 min top 1% of 8,132 towns
- Nearest health centre
- 2.1 km top 10% of 8,132 towns
- Surgical wait (region) regional estimate
- 88 days #6 of 17 regions, −15 days vs national 18% less than the Spanish average (108 days)
What are schools like in Alacant?
Alacant has 154 schools in town; the nearest international school is 6 km away.
Schools
- Schools in town
- 154 top 1% of 7,042 towns
- Nearest international school
- 6 km top 4% of 8,132 towns
- PISA maths (region) regional estimate
- 473 #10 of 17 regions, −6 vs national 8 below the Spanish average (481)
How much does it cost to live in Alacant?
Alacant's reported home price is €2,265/m², while registered long-let rent is €7.11/m²·mo.
Cost & economy
- Home price
- €2,265/m² appraisal (valor tasado) bottom 42% of 306 towns 3% more than the Spanish average (€2,208/m²)
- Asking price
- no local data
- Registered long-let rent
- €7.11/m²·mo
- Registered rent p25
- €5.44/m²·mo
- Registered rent p75
- €9.48/m²·mo
- Registered-rent yield
- 3.76% bottom 27% of 306 towns
- Net income per person
- €13,681 bottom 40% of 8,059 towns 6% less than the Spanish average (€14,495)
- Income growth ’18–’23
- 23% bottom 32% of 6,605 towns
Which languages are used in schools in Alacant?
the Valencia region has a co-official regional language, and public schools commonly use regional-language immersion or bilingual models rather than Spanish-only teaching. The exact classroom language depends on the school and programme, so confirm the current model before enrolling. See the the Valencia region region guide for the wider regional context.
What is the community like in Alacant?
Alacant's reported population is 365,586.
Who lives here
- Population
- 365,586
- Born in Spain
- 71.1% 17.7% below the Spanish average (88.8%)
- Born elsewhere in EU/UK
- 3.9% 0.1% above the Spanish average (3.8%)
- U.S.-born residents
- 2.4 per 1,000
How easy is it to get around Alacant?
Alacant is a reported 38 min drive from the nearest airport, with 97% fibre-to-home coverage.
Getting around
- Drive to nearest airport
- 38 min top 12% of 8,132 towns
- Fibre-to-home coverage
- 97% top 17% of 8,132 towns 18% above the Spanish average (79%)
- 100 Mbps+ coverage
- 99% top 20% of 8,132 towns 15% above the Spanish average (83%)
Numbers: Spainability town dataset, derived from INE, AEMET, Mitma and the Catastro. Registered long-let rent is SERPAVI declared-contract data; its p25–p75 values show the observed band. Registered-rent yield is gross, excludes costs and is never imputed. Percentile chips count only the municipalities that report the figure — the "of n" says how many. Region-ranked figures (PISA, surgical waits) compare Spain's 17 comunidades autónomas. A blank means no municipal-level figure is published — not a zero.
How does Alacant fit you?
These are the town's numbers. Whether it's your town depends on what you're optimising for — winter sun or mild summers, a city or a village, short medical waits, an easy flight home. The 3-minute quiz scores Alacant against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 11 min from Sant Vicent del Raspeig/San Vicente del Raspeig, if that's your anchor.
Take the quiz — rank Alacant for you →Questions to verify locally
- Ask whether current long-let rents match the registered-contract figure.
- Request recent comparable sales before relying on the appraisal figure.
- Test fibre speed at the exact address, not the town average.
- Visit local schools and confirm places for incoming families.
- Confirm health-centre registration and opening hours in person.
- Ask an insurer how the mapped flood or wildfire exposure affects cover.
Nearby towns
Other places we profile within easy reach.