Playa de San Juan y Albufereta

North of the bay, Alicante's coastline changes character: the harbour and the old town give way to a long, open stretch of beach. Albufereta is the first stop, a smaller, more sheltered cove that lends the district its name and marks the shift from the compact city to the built-up seafront that continues north. The TRAM — the tram-train that links the centre with the coast — has several stops here, and it's the usual way to get out this way without a car.

Between Albufereta and Playa de San Juan sits Cabo de las Huertas, a rocky headland running more than three kilometres of coast, with small coves — Cala Cantalar among them — separated by low cliffs. A coastal path runs the length of the cape from end to end, and at its tip stands a 16th-century watchtower converted into a lighthouse in 1856. It's a much quieter stretch of coast than the beaches on either side of it, all rock coves and clear water rather than sand.

On the far side of the headland, Playa de San Juan unfolds as a continuous strip of golden sand — nearly three kilometres of it within Alicante's own boundary, continuing north into Muchavista for more than six kilometres combined. It's the city's big beach for anyone after space and a full day in the sun away from the crowds at Postiguet, Blue Flag-certified, with a seafront promenade that fills up through the summer months.

On a small headland by the sea, right in the Albufereta district, the ruins of Lucentum survive — the Roman and Iberian city that gave rise to modern Alicante. Declared a historic-artistic monument in 1961, the walled site still holds much of its original street plan, visible between the housing developments that now surround it — a contrast that sums up this whole stretch of coast rather well, where the ancient and the contemporary sit side by side with barely any friction.