VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
A cobbled street of painted houses in Old San Juan, San Juan
San JuanA cobbled street of painted houses in Old San Juan

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; San Juan by Mohan Nannapaneni, Pexels License.

Alicante or San Juan?

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
  • day trips

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

Choose San Juan for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on San Juan’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, San Juan 84: San Juan leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, San Juan 66: Alicante leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, San Juan 64: San Juan leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, San Juan 70: San Juan leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, San Juan 74: San Juan leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, San Juan 52: Alicante leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, San Juan 58: Alicante leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, San Juan 38: Alicante leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, San Juan 50: San Juan leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, San Juan 38: Alicante leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, San Juan 55: San Juan leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante and San Juan are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and San Juan.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Alicante
59match

Wins on getting around and prices with your weighting.

San Juan
57match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts 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

San Juan in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
153 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteSan Juan

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). San Juan: 1991-2020 normals, San Juan / Int., Puerto Rico (12.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteSan Juan
Official languageSpanishSpanish, English
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-4
Emergency number112911
Elevation3 m3 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsLuis Munoz Marin International Airport (SJU)12 km from centre59 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteSan Juan
City population366,221342,259
People per km²1,8192,847
Museums within 10 km818
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 San Juan 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.