VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz
BiarritzThe Hôtel du Palais

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Biarritz by Lilipiapia, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Alicante or Biarritz?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Alicante for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Alicante’s own page.

Choose Biarritz for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Biarritz’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Alicante 82, Biarritz 68: Alicante leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Biarritz 62: Alicante leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Biarritz 33: Alicante leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Biarritz 36: Alicante leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Biarritz 74: Biarritz leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Biarritz 80: Biarritz leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Biarritz 62: Alicante leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Biarritz 58: Alicante leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Biarritz 42: Alicante leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Biarritz 30: Alicante leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Biarritz 38: Biarritz leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Biarritz 64: Biarritz leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Biarritz.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Alicante
Best match
59match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Biarritz
54match

Wins on wellness and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Alicante in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Biarritz in July

24 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
97 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteBiarritz

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Biarritz: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Biarritz (2.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteBiarritz
Official languageSpanishFrench
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation3 m0 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsBiarritz Pays Basque airport (BIQ)3 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteBiarritz
City population366,22126,206
People per km²1,8192,240
Museums within 10 km88
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alicante or Biarritz somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.