What’s on in Alicante this week: 26 June – 3 July 2026
What’s on in Alicante this week feels rather different from last Friday. The Hogueras monuments have gone, the streets are no longer quite so full of brass bands, and most of us are still recovering from several days of smoke, fireworks and questionable sleep patterns. Alicante, however, does not exactly slip quietly into a cardigan and call it a night.
This week, the city moves from Hogueras mayhem into full summer mode. As well as the long awaited reopening of the famous Peret kiosk on the Explanada, the International Fireworks Competition continues on Postiguet Beach, Spain and England both have World Cup matches to keep the bars busy, Muelle Live has concerts down by the port, and there are some excellent cultural options too, including a guided tour of Lucentum and a special anniversary concert at the ADDA.
There is also the small matter of the summer sales starting at El Corte Inglés, which means anyone claiming they are “just going in for air-conditioning” should be treated with deep suspicion.
Here is our guide to what’s on in Alicante this week, from Friday 26 June to Friday 3 July 2026.
International Fireworks Competition on Postiguet Beach
The big event this week is the International Fireworks Competition, which runs from 25 to 29 June.
This year’s fireworks are being launched from Postiguet Beach, near the Paseíto Ramiro area. We saw the set-up on the beach ourselves, and local reports also confirm the move back to Postiguet for 2026.
The fireworks begin at midnight each night, and this is not just a casual post-Hogueras flourish. It is a proper competition between professional pyrotechnic companies. Each display must last at least 15 minutes and use a minimum of 350 kg NEC — Net Explosive Content — which is the technical measure of the explosive material used. In less technical terms: quite a lot of boom.
The 2026 line-up is:
- Thursday 25 June: Pirotecnia Zaragozana, from Zaragoza
- Friday 26 June: Pibierzo, from León
- Saturday 27 June: Hermanos Ferrández, from Beniel, Murcia
- Sunday 28 June: Pirotecnia Alto Palancia, from Altura, Castellón
- Monday 29 June: Fuegos Artificiales del Mediterráneo, from Vilamarxant, Valencia
Friday night should be one of the busiest nights of the competition. It is a Friday, most people are not working the next morning, and Spain play Uruguay in the World Cup at 2am Spanish time. In other words, quite a few people will watch the fireworks and then drift towards bars showing the football. Sleep, as Hogueras has already taught us, is sometimes treated in Alicante as a vague lifestyle suggestion.
The best viewing places include Postiguet itself, the marina, the Explanada end nearest the port, and the lower slopes around Santa Bárbara Castle. If you want to be on the beach, arrive early. If you want to escape more easily afterwards, consider watching from the marina side instead.
This is Alicante tip: Postiguet gives you the most dramatic view, but it is also the hardest place to leave when everyone moves at once. The marina or the western end of the Explanada can be a much more civilised option, especially if you are planning to carry on for the Spain match afterwards.
Spain v Uruguay: Friday night into Saturday morning
Spain play Uruguay in the World Cup in the early hours of Saturday morning, with kick-off at 2am Spanish time.
Spain’s group has been more interesting than expected. After drawing with Cape Verde and then beating Saudi Arabia, this Uruguay match should have plenty riding on it. It also lands perfectly — or dangerously, depending on your age and tolerance for 2am football — after the Friday night fireworks.
If you are planning to watch in Alicante, the usual sports bars are your safest bet. Try:
- Red Corner Sports Bar (Centro)
- The Little Duke (Centro)
- Austin’s (Old Town)
For this match, it is worth checking ahead with the venue, as 2am kick-offs are not quite the same as a gentle 6pm Sunday game. For a public screening on a large screen go to Centro de Tecnificación / Pabellón Pedro Ferrándiz, up at Monte Tossal. (in the San Blas Barrio) If you are in the centre its about 15 minutes by cab. No alcohol allowed and its open 1 hour before kick off.
England v Panama: Saturday night
England are also in action this weekend, playing Panama on Saturday 27 June at 11pm Spanish time.
That is a much more civilised kick-off than Spain’s Friday night marathon, and it should be a good one for English-speaking residents and visitors in Alicante. England drew 0–0 with Ghana earlier in the week, so this final group match will matter.
Again, the usual places to watch are:
- Red Corner Sports Bar (Centro)
- The Little Duke (Centro)
- Austin’s (Old Town)
Guided tour of Lucentum
For something calmer, and considerably older than the World Cup, there are guided tours of Lucentum, the archaeological site at Tossal de Manises, near Albufereta Beach.
Lucentum was the Roman city of Alicante. Long before the modern city grew around the port and the castle, this was one of the most important ancient settlements in the area. The site includes remains of streets, walls, houses, baths and public spaces, giving visitors a glimpse of Alicante’s Ibero-Roman past.
It is located about 3 km from the city centre, in the Albufereta area, and is easy to combine with a beach walk or a tram ride.
Tours are listed as available in English, which makes this a particularly good option for visitors who want something more meaningful than simply saying, “Oh look, old stones,” and then going for lunch.
Guided tour of Lucentum
Date: Friday 26 June
Time: 10:30
Location: Lucentum / Tossal de Manises, Calle Zeus, Alicante
Language: English tours available
Booking: via Alicante Turismo / MARQ listings
This is a strong choice if you want to understand Alicante beyond the beach and the bars. It is also a useful reminder that people were already arguing about roads, neighbours and local politics here roughly 2,000 years before Facebook groups made it easier. Then, if history is your thing, why not try a visit to MARQ (Alicante’s Award Winning Archeological museum)
https://alicanteturismo.com/en/events/guided-tour-of-the-lucentum-archaeological-site
Óscar Navarro at the ADDA
On Saturday 27 June at 7pm, the ADDA hosts the Concierto XX Aniversario – Óscar Navarro.
Óscar Navarro is a composer and conductor from Novelda, in Alicante province, and this concert celebrates 20 years of his artistic career. He will conduct the Óscar Navarro Symphony Orchestra in what should be a special evening for anyone who enjoys orchestral music, film-style composition and large-scale concert performances.
The ADDA is one of Alicante’s best cultural venues, and this is exactly the kind of event that can easily pass under the radar of English-speaking visitors and residents. It should not. Navarro is one of the province’s most successful contemporary composers, and a home-province anniversary concert at the ADDA feels like a proper occasion.
Óscar Navarro XX Anniversary Concert
Date: Saturday 27 June
Time: 19:00
Location: ADDA, Auditorio de la Diputación de Alicante
Tickets: from around €33–€42, depending on availability
Muelle Live: music by the port
Muelle Live continues its summer programme at Muelle 12, in the Port of Alicante. A small language note: muelle means dock in Spanish, so Muelle Live is, quite literally, live music down by the dock. It sounds better in Spanish, admittedly.
The venue sits by the waterfront and has become one of Alicante’s main summer music spaces, with concerts, DJs, food, drinks and a sea breeze doing its best to make everyone look more relaxed than they actually are.
Looking ahead, two Muelle Live dates are worth flagging now:
Rosario
Date: Thursday 2 July
Location: Muelle Live, Muelle 12, Port of Alicante
Rosario Flores was born in Madrid into a famous Spanish family of artists. She is the daughter of Lola Flores and the sister of Lolita and Antonio Flores. Her music blends pop, rumba, and flamenco.and this should be a popular summer concert on the waterfront.
DJ Symphonic
Date: Friday 3 July
Location: Muelle Live, Muelle 12, Port of Alicante
This is the one that may interest a lot of readers. DJ Symphonic combines DJs with live orchestral musicians, bringing together dance music and symphonic performance. Great anthems of pop, electronic, and rock music are brought to life through stunning orchestral arrangements and spectacular audiovisual production. With a repertoire that includes hits from Queen, Coldplay, Avicii, David Guetta, and Daft Punk, DJ Symphonic transforms each concert into a true collective celebration, where classical and contemporary sounds merge to thrill audiences of all generations.
This weeks smaller hidden discovery: Poetry Slam Alicante at Las Cigarreras (Spanish Language Event)
One smaller Friday Radar find this week is Poetry Slam Alicante at Las Cigarreras.
The event takes place on Friday 26 June at 8pm and is part of the 2026 Poetry Slam Alicante tournament. It may not be the most obvious choice for visitors, but Las Cigarreras is one of Alicante’s most interesting cultural spaces, and poetry slam events tend to be lively, unpredictable and much less solemn than people imagine when they hear the word “poetry”.
Poetry Slam Alicante
Date: Friday 26 June
Time: 20:00
Location: Centro Cultural Las Cigarreras
This is exactly the sort of event that can be missed if you only look at the main tourist calendar, so it earns its place here as this week’s hidden discovery.
https://entradium.com/events/final-poetry-slam-alicante-vii-edicion
Summer sports activities begin in July
Alicante’s municipal summer sports programme starts in July, with activities including swimming for children, aquagym, padel, G.A.P. and Nordic walking for adults.
This is more useful for residents than short-stay visitors, but it is worth mentioning because places can go quickly and it is one of those practical city things people often hear about too late.
The programme is organised through the Concejalía de Deportes and includes activities across municipal sports facilities.
Summer sports activities
Dates: July 2026
Activities: swimming, aquagym, padel, G.A.P., Nordic walking
Booking: through Alicante municipal sports channels
El Corte Inglés summer sales
The El Corte Inglés summer sales have started, running from late June through August.
In Alicante, this means the two city-centre stores on Avenida Maisonnave and Federico Soto will be busier than usual, particularly during the hottest part of the day when shopping suddenly becomes a form of climate-controlled tourism.
Expect discounts across fashion, homeware, sports, children’s clothes, perfume and more. It is a useful little addition to the week if you need beachwear, smarter summer clothes, gifts, or simply a legitimate excuse to stand under refreshing air-conditioning for 45 minutes.
El Corte Inglés summer sales
Dates: from 25 June to 31 August
Locations: Avenida Maisonnave and Federico Soto, Alicante
Astrotourism and stargazing
Alicante Turismo continues to list astrotourism and stargazing activities around the end of June and early July, including sessions linked to Cabo de las Huertas and Tabarca.
These are worth checking if you are looking for something different from the standard beach-and-dinner evening. Cabo de las Huertas is already one of the best places in Alicante for a sunset walk, and an organised stargazing event gives you an excuse to stay after dark without pretending you are simply “watching the sea thoughtfully”.
https://alicanteturismo.com/en/events/stargazing-on-tabarca-island
Visit the museums while the city cools down
If the heat starts to bite, this is a good week to make use of Alicante’s museums.
The MACA, Alicante’s contemporary art museum, has its permanent collection and the temporary exhibition Colour in Art / Coloramas listed during this period. The MUBAG continues its permanent 19th-century collection, and the MARQ remains one of the best places in the city to understand the province’s history properly.
These are not necessarily headline-grabbing events, but they are good options for late morning or early afternoon, especially when the beach has moved from “pleasant” to “human frying pan”.
Good options include:
- MACA – contemporary art near Santa María Basilica
- MUBAG – fine arts on Calle Gravina
- MARQ – archaeology and Alicante province history
- Lucentum – the Roman city near Albufereta
Take the This is Alicante self-guided walking tour
If you want to explore the city at your own pace, our This is Alicante self-guided walking tour is available on VoiceMap.
The tour takes you through Alicante’s history, streets, plazas and stories without the need to follow a raised umbrella or pretend you can hear a guide from 20 metres away. You simply use your phone and headphones, and the commentary plays automatically as you walk.
It is a good choice this week because the city is calmer after Hogueras, the streets are easier to move through, and the evenings are perfect for walking once the worst of the heat has passed.
You can find the tour here: Spain’s City of Light: Alicante’s History and Highlights.
Looking ahead: Cirque du Soleil returns to Alicante
This is not technically within this week’s date range, but it is big enough and close enough to mention now so that you can start your planning.
Cirque du Soleil returns to Alicante from 16 July to 23 August with KURIOS – Cabinet of Curiosities.
The show will be performed under the Big Top at Playa de San Juan, giving Alicante nearly six weeks of one of the major cultural events of the summer. KURIOS is a family-friendly Cirque du Soleil production, running around 125 minutes including interval.
If you are planning to go, it is worth looking at tickets sooner rather than later. Alicante in summer has a habit of pretending it has plenty of availability until suddenly it does not.
Cirque du Soleil: KURIOS – Cabinet of Curiosities
Dates: 16 July – 23 August 2026
Location: Big Top, Playa de San Juan, Alicante
Final thoughts
So, what’s on in Alicante this week? Quite a lot, even after Hogueras has officially ended.
The fireworks competition keeps the festival atmosphere alive for a few more nights, football gives the bars another reason to stay lively, Lucentum offers a glimpse of ancient Alicante, ADDA brings serious music to the weekend, and Muelle Live is settling into its role as one of the city’s key summer venues.
Add in the sales, museums, stargazing possibilities and a few events tucked away in cultural listings, and Alicante has slipped very neatly from fiesta season into summer season.
The bonfires may have gone, but the city has not run out of things to do. It rarely does.
Something more…
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in Spain? or more specifically, Alicante?
We’ve put together a small series of blog posts to give you a fee for life here in Alicante. Mostly written by Anabel (who actually works as an Estate Agent here in the city). We’ve lived right here in the centre of Alicante for over 5 years and we love are loving it. Moving to the city centre was the best decision we could have made.
Read the series here: Living in Alicante
If you have any questions about what its like to live here or the process of buying a house pop in to see Anabel at Vende Mi Vivienda in Mushroom Street.
