Alicante is a truly Spanish Mediterranean city, with a sunny climate, green esplanades, out-of-doors cafés, a seafront promenade, and a calendar of pulsating fiestas. The city lies right at the heart of the popular Costa Blanca holiday resort district, so most tourists appear here for its sandy seashores – but since the locals know how to throw a good party, it’s well value timing your visit to include one of the big annual festivals.
Alicante Carnivals (Carnaval) February

alicante carnaval 2010Coming up in February there’s the lively 10-day Carnival, or else Carnaval, held every year around Ash Wednesday. In 2010, this free fiesta requires place from 11 – 21 February, with the action centred across the city’s main thoroughfare, the Rambla. Year-round, this is a pleasant avenue for a stroll, lined by palm leaves, ice cream stores with outdoor cafés. But during the Carnival the Rambla is a real feast for the eyes, by ornamented floats, dancing, with marching bands. One of many highlights is Saturday’s Sábado Ramblero, an elaborate carnival costume parade that  takes over the street like a grand masquerade ball.
Burial of the Sardine

On Ash Wednesday itself there’s the ‘Burial of the Sardine’, a bizarre happening that  involves different Carnival fraternities marching with the city in a Funeral Wake to ‘incinerate’ the sardine.
Las Fallas Valencia – March

If you are visiting this Spanish region shortly in March it is well worth owning automobile hire Spain arranged to drive to with stay in nearby Vallencia which holds a festival Las Fallas which guarantees fireworks galore!

Every day at 2pm firecrackers rip with the Plaza del Ayuntamiento in an loud happening known as la Mascletá. This concert of gunpowder is very popular and involves different neighbourhood communities competing for the best impressive volley, finish with the terremoto, (literally income “earthquake”) because many hundreds masclets exploting simultaneously. While this may not be for the frail otherwise faint-fainthearted, you understand how hearted, the Valencians got their valiant name.

Alicante Fire festival (Hogueras de San Juan) June

If you’re planning ahead for a trip later in the year, Alicante is probably even more famous for its yearly Fire or Bonfire event, known inside Spanish as Hogueras de San Juan (Bonfires of St. John). Since the first name suggests, this spectacular, fire-filled feast includes bonfires with fireworks galore. A palm-shaped firework is launched into the sky in the direction of mark the beginning of the event on 20 June, and partying continue until 24 June. The fiesta’s highlight is the collection of huge papier-maché and made of wood sculptures, similar to the artworks shaped for Valencia’s Las Fallas festival, that  are put on display around the centre – earlier than they are lastly burnt to the earth. Eventually the fires die down, but the partying carries on for more than a few days with nights afterwards, along the small alleyways of El Barrio with correct down to the beaches. Finally, there’s a competition to choose the next Belleza del Fuego (Beauty of the Fire), who is crowned the event’s ‘Queen’ along with six Ladies of Honour. Other Posts with thoughts for traveling to Alicante and Costa Blanca