VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Alicante or Fort Lauderdale?

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

  • getting around
  • prices
  • food and drink

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

Choose Fort Lauderdale for

  • shopping
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Fort Lauderdale’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, Fort Lauderdale 88: Fort Lauderdale leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Fort Lauderdale 47: Alicante leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Fort Lauderdale 28: Alicante leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Fort Lauderdale 52: Alicante leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Fort Lauderdale 62: Alicante leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Fort Lauderdale 58: Alicante leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Fort Lauderdale 66: Alicante leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Fort Lauderdale 32: Alicante leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Fort Lauderdale 52: Fort Lauderdale leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Fort Lauderdale 32: Alicante leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Fort Lauderdale 42: Fort Lauderdale leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante and Fort Lauderdale are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Fort Lauderdale.

Your match

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

Alicante
Best match
59match

Wins on getting around and prices with your weighting.

Fort Lauderdale
50match

Wins on shopping and beaches 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

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteFort Lauderdale

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteFort Lauderdale
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation3 m11 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre136 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteFort Lauderdale
City population366,221182,760
People per km²1,8191,829
Museums within 10 km86
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alicante or Fort Lauderdale 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.