VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
Ca' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay, Sarasota
SarasotaCa' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Sarasota by Oleg Yunakov, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Alicante or Sarasota?

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
  • nightlife
  • prices

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

Choose Sarasota for

  • live music and the arts
  • wellness
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Sarasota’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, Sarasota 86: Sarasota leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Sarasota 44: Alicante leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Sarasota 45: Alicante leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Sarasota 28: Alicante leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Sarasota 55: Alicante leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Sarasota 50: Alicante leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Alicante and Sarasota are level on 68.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Sarasota 28: Alicante leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Sarasota 40: Alicante leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Sarasota 30: Alicante leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Sarasota 58: Sarasota leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Sarasota 45: Sarasota leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Sarasota.

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 nightlife with your weighting.

Sarasota
48match

Wins on live music and the arts and wellness 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

Sarasota in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
195 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteSarasota

Where the figures come from

Sarasota 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.

Sarasota's sunshine is measured 70 km from the centre, at Tampa International Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Sarasota: 2006-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sarasota / Ballentine Manor (6.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteSarasota
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 m7 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsSarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ)7 km from centre70 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteSarasota
City population366,22154,842
People per km²1,819840
Museums within 10 km83
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alicante or Sarasota 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.