For drinking and the best nightlife experiences, the city is divided into three main zones: Barrio Santa Cruz, El Barrio and El Puerto each offering a different type of entertainment. Around the cathedral and Plaza del Carmen in the old town lies the Barrio Santa Cruz, where often small and smoky bars often have a 4am curfew. However, if you pass into El Barrio, you can find yourself surrounded by a mirriad of various clubs and pubs often playing jazz in the afternoon and house, dance, funk or rock music throughout the whole night. The third area, El Puerto, tends ot draw a smarter crowd, with the bars most often open until 7am at weekends.

One of the most important fiestas in Spain, giving way only to Valencia’s Las Fallas, is Las Hogueras and takes place in June during the summer solstice. The celebrations last throughout the whole week and ignite a series of pyrotechnic and firework competition between companies situated on the Playa del Postiguet. Another, Fiesta de Moros y Cristianos (Festival of the Moorish and Christian people) takes place in Alcoy, a town close to Alicante. It lasts three days around St.Georges Day during which breathtaking processions and mock battles at the castle culminate in the astonishing intervention of St.George himself—a legend commemorating the the Battle of Alcoy (1276) when the town was attacked by a Muslim army. New costumes are made each year and prizes are awarded for the best, that are then sent to the local museau, Museu de la Festa de Sant Jordi.