VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The coloured houses stepping down to the sea, Positano
PositanoThe coloured houses stepping down to the sea

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Positano by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Alicante or Positano?

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
  • families
  • nightlife

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

Choose Positano for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Positano’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, Positano 77: Alicante leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Positano 40: Alicante leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Positano 22: Alicante leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Positano 22: Alicante leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Positano 80: Positano leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Positano 88: Positano leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Positano 28: Alicante leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Positano 35: Alicante leads by 31 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Positano 45: Positano leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Positano 10: Alicante leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Positano 15: Alicante leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Positano 45: Positano leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Positano.

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 families with your weighting.

Positano
42match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips 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

Positano in July

29 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AlicantePositano

Where the figures come from

Positano's temperatures are measured 25 km from the centre, at Capri.

Positano has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Positano's sunshine is measured 59 km from the centre, at Grazzanise.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Positano: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Capri (25.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicantePositano
Official languageSpanishItalian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation3 m142 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsNaples International Airport (NAP)33 km from centre131 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicantePositano
City population366,2213,729
People per km²1,819429
Museums within 10 km810
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km25
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alicante or Positano 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.