Alicante is the Valencia region's second-largest town. The area around Alicante has been inhabited for over 7000 years, with the first tribes of hunter gatherers moving down gradually from Central Europe between 5000 and 3000 BC. Some of the earliest settlements were made on the slopes of Mount Benacantil, where the Castillo de Santa Barbara stands today. By 1000 BCE Greek and Phoenician traders had begun to visit the eastern coast of Spain, establishing small trading ports and introducing the native Iberian tribes to the alphabet, iron and the pottery wheel. By the sixth century BCE, the rival armies of Carthage and Rome began to invade and fight for control of the Iberian Peninsula. The Carthaginian general Hamilcar established the fortified settlement of Akra Leuke, where Alicante stands today.

Although the Carthaginians conquered much of the land around Alicante, they were in the end no match for the Romans, who ended up ruling Iberia for over 700 years. By the fifth century Rome was in decline, with Alicante more or less under the control of the Visigoth warlord Teodmiro. Neither the Romans nor the Goths, however, put up much resistance to the Arab occupation of the area, which brought oranges, rice, palms and the gifts of Islamic art and architecture. The Moors ruled Southern and Eastern Spain until the 11th century reconquista (reconquest). Alicante was finally taken in 1246 by the Castellan king Alfonso X, and the last Muslim rulers left Spain for North Africa in 1492.

After centuries of war, Alicante enjoyed a siglo de oro (golden age) during the 15th century, rising to become a major Mediterranean trading station exporting rice, wine, olive oil, oranges and wool. But between 1609 and 1614 King Felipe III expelled thousands of Arabs who had remained in Valencia after the reconquista. This act of intolerance cost the region dearly; with so many skilled artisans and agricultural labourers gone, the Christian feudal nobility found itself sliding into bankruptcy. Things got worse when in the early 16th century Alicante, along with the rest of Valencia, backed Carlos in the War of Spanish Succession. Felipe won, and he punished the whole region by withdrawing the semi-autonomous status it had enjoyed since the time of the reconquista. Alicante went into a long, slow decline, surviving through the 18th and 19th centuries by making shoes and growing oranges, and relieving its frustration with occasional attempts at rebellion.

The Mediterranean Coast gets a little more rain than Madrid but around Alicante are Spain's warmest waters, reaching 27°C (81°F) or so in August. Sunshine is always in abundance with 6 hours a day in winter and double that in summer. Alicante is generally not as uncomfortable on really hot days than further south but it can still get a bit sticky at times. Winters are fairly mild with fresh coastal breezes.

The heart of Alicante is so small you don't need much more than feet. As well as the buses that run from Plaza del Mar to the airport via the west side of the bus station, trams run from the Plaza del Mar past the Estación de la Marina and on to La Albufereta. Most of the big international rent-a-car services have outlets at the airport, but keep an eye out for the smaller and much less expensive local car rental companies.

Scheduled and budget airline flights arrive daily into El Altet International Airport, around 10km (6mi) from Alicante's city centre, from most major European cities as well as domestic destinations like Madrid, Barcelona and Ibiza. A bus service shuttles passengers from the airport to the Plaza del Mar, southwest of the city centre, or you can catch a taxi. Departure tax is factored into ticket prices.

Trains run from Barcelona, Valencia City and Madrid to Alicante's main Renfe Estación de Madrid, while the tram and trenet, a narrow gauge railway connect to smaller towns along the coast, including Denia, Benidorm and Altea. From the bus station there are more than ten motorway buses to Valencia daily, services to smaller towns and long-haul routes to Granada, Madrid, Barcelona and Almería. You can get to Alicante by car, on the A-7 motorway from the French border via Barcelona and Valencia City; the N340 is a very crowded alternative. Passenger ships also run to Algeria.

Castillo de Santa Bárbara

From the 16th-century Castillo de Santa Bárbara there are sweeping views over the city. Inside is the Collección Capa, a permanent display of contemporary Spanish sculpture. A lift/elevator can be reached by a footbridge opposite Playa del Postiguet, Long a symbol of Alicante, the Castillo de Santa Barbara, with its high walls and domed turrets, sits on the summit of Monte Benacantil, overlooking the city and the Mediterranean Sea. You can reach it by car or, better, on a passenger lift from Postiguet beach. The various parts of the castle date from medieval times to the sixteenth century and offer plenty of castle-type fun: drawbridges, stone passages, hidden tunnels, a real dungeon and - more surprising - a beautiful garden filled with works by Spanish master sculptors.

Hours: Apr-Oct 10:00am-7:30pm, Nov-Mar 9:00am-6:30pm

MARQ (Museo Arqueológico Provincial), Tel: 96 514 90 06

The Museo Arqueológico Provincial, or MARQ, was nominated as the European Museum of the Year in 2004 for its strong collection of ceramics and Iberian art. Exhibits are displayed to give the visitor a very visual, high tech experience. The only drawback is the lack of information in English.

Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00am-7:00pm, Sun 10:00am-2:00pm

MUBAG (Museo de Bellas Artes Gravina), Calle Gravina 13-15 Tel: 965 14 67 80

The Museo de Bellas Artes Gravina is an inspiring fine arts museum housed within a beautiful 18th-century mansion. Nearby, the Iglesia de Santa María has a flamboyant facade and ornate, gilded altarpiece, both contrasting with the nave's Gothic simplicity.

Hours: Mon-Sat 10:00am-2:00pm & 4:00pm-8:00pm, Sun 10:00am-2:00pm

Museu de Fogueres, Rambla de Méndez Núñez 29, Tel: 965 14 68 28

The new Museu de Fogueres (also known as the Museo de las Hogueras) has a great audiovisual presentation on the Fiesta de Sant Joan, with its fireworks and satirical effigies (Valenciano fogueres, Spanish hogueras) going up in smoke all over town.

Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00am-2:00pm & 5:00pm-8:00pm, Sun 10:00am-2:00pm

Spanish towns are famous for their festivals, often a mixture of solemn religious observance and rambunctious street party. Three times a year, in June, August and December, the Moros y Cristianos (Moors and Christians) festival commemorates the reconquista (reconquest), or defeat and expulsion of the Moors from Alicante in the 13th century. Hundreds of locals turn out for the parade wearing splendid period costumes. Alicante's key festival, however, is the Festival de Sant Joan, a week-long affair in late June. Neighbourhoods erect their own fogueres - huge, grotesque satirical figures and tableaux, large enough to block the street, made of wood, papier maché and, increasingly, polystyrene. The festival climaxes on the night of 24 June, the longest day of the year, with a fiery free-for-all consisting of a monstrous fireworks display, a raucous ceremonial burning of all the fogueres, and a public hose-down of the last of the ashes and the crowd by the fire department.

A week later, when you can still barely pick yourself off up the floor, it's time for the Feast of San Pedro at the start of July, with more processions, more effigies, more fireworks, and more drinking and dancing in and around makeshift wooden party enclosures known as barracas. The rest of the year is, thankfully for some, more subdued. September sees the annual theatre festival Alicante e Esena and the Alicante International Music Festival. In December puppets from all over the world gather for the International Puppet Festival and are thankful to leave town without being attached to fireworks or burnt.