VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
Barlas Island in Honda Bay, Puerto Princesa
Puerto PrincesaBarlas Island in Honda Bay

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Puerto Princesa by Ray in Manila, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Alicante or Puerto Princesa?

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

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • nightlife

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

Choose Puerto Princesa for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Princesa’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, Puerto Princesa 58: Alicante leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Puerto Princesa 38: Alicante leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Puerto Princesa 22: Alicante leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Puerto Princesa 26: Alicante leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Puerto Princesa 80: Puerto Princesa leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Puerto Princesa 12: Alicante leads by 60 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Puerto Princesa 45: Alicante leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Puerto Princesa 30: Alicante leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Puerto Princesa 20: Alicante leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Puerto Princesa 78: Puerto Princesa leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Puerto Princesa 10: Alicante leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante and Puerto Princesa are level on 40.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Puerto Princesa.

Your match

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

Alicante
Best match
59match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Puerto Princesa
38match

Wins on prices 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

Puerto Princesa in July

29 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
216 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AlicantePuerto Princesa

Where the figures come from

Puerto Princesa has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Puerto Princesa: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureAlicantePuerto Princesa
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112911
Elevation3 m98 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsPuerto Princesa International Airport / PAF Antonio Bautista Air Base (PPS)2 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicantePuerto Princesa
City population366,221316,384
People per km²1,819133
Museums within 10 km81
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 Puerto Princesa 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.