Not to miss

MARQ (Museo Arqueológico Provincial)

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.

Iglesia de Santa María

Opposite the Museo de la Asegurada, the Iglesia de Santa María has a flamboyant 18th-century facade and an ornate gilded altarpiece. Both of these overwrought features contrast with the nave's Gothic simplicity of line.

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, reached by a footbridge opposite Playa del Postiguet, rises through the bowels of the mountain like a giant endoscope.

Long a symbol of Alicante, the Castillo de Santa Barbara, the stuff of fairy tales 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.