Day Trips from Alicante by Ferry, Rail and Car
Alicante’s day trips split cleanly by how you get there, and that matters more for planning than the destination itself: a boat trip runs on tide and wind, a train runs on a timetable, and the mountains only really work by car.
By boat: Isla de Tabarca
Cruceros Kontiki catamarans leave Puerto de Alicante for Spain’s smallest inhabited island in 50 to 60 minutes, for around €23 to €25 round trip on an open return. The walled 18th-century village, built to house Genoese families ransomed from Tunisian pirates, still stands, and the surrounding waters were declared Spain’s first marine reserve in 1986; wear reef shoes if you plan to snorkel the rocky coves. Lunch is traditionally caldero tabarquino, a two-course fish and rice dish, at a seafront restaurant near the dock. A guided Tabarca cruise with lunch included removes the planning entirely.
By train: Elche’s palm groves
Elche’s Elx Parc station sits 25 to 30 minutes away on Renfe’s Cercanías C-1 line, with fares from €2.05 to €2.60. Elche holds dual UNESCO status: the Palmeral, Europe’s largest date palm oasis with more than 200,000 trees planted under Moorish rule, and the Misteri d’Elx, a sacred drama staged every August in the Basílica de Santa María. The Huerto del Cura garden, home to a rare eight-armed palm, charges around €6.00 entry.
By TRAM: Villajoyosa and Altea
TRAM Line 1 reaches Villajoyosa’s rainbow of painted fishermen’s houses in 45 to 50 minutes for a two-zone fare of €2.80, with a free tour and tasting waiting at the Museo del Chocolate Valor factory. Continuing to Altea’s blue-domed hilltop church takes about 75 minutes total via a same-station transfer to Line 9 in Benidorm, a separate resort city the TRAM simply passes through on the way.
By car: Guadalest and the inland mountains
Guadalest, the mountain fortress entered through a tunnel carved into limestone rock, sits about an hour inland by car via the CV-70. The Fuentes del Algar waterfalls near Callosa d’en Sarrià, with natural swimming basins, charge €5.00 and require a reservation in July and August. A Guadalest and Algar Waterfalls day tour covers both without needing to navigate mountain switchbacks yourself.
Before you go
Check the forecast before any Tabarca crossing; sailings are the first thing cancelled when easterly levante winds push the bay into rough water. For an overnight version of the Tabarca trip instead of a same-day return, see our romantic getaways guide .