What to Do in Alicante When It Rains

Alicante gets relatively little rain — annual rainfall averages around 285 millimetres, well below the Spanish average — and what does fall tends to arrive as short, heavy storms rather than steady drizzle. When it happens, a large part of the coast's outdoor life stops working: beach terraces pack away their umbrellas, promenades empty out, and a castle with open ramparts or a hill village with sloping streets loses its point entirely. October is usually the wettest month; July and August the driest, sometimes going weeks without a drop. None of that makes rain a regular feature of a trip here, but it does mean a backup plan is worth having rather than improvising one on the day. This guide sticks to places that are genuinely under cover from the moment you walk in, not ones that depend on the rain stopping halfway through the visit or that only shelter part of the site.

The capital's museums, all indoors

Alicante city's three main museums sit close to each other and none of them depends on the weather outside. The MARQ covers the province's archaeology from prehistory through the Islamic period, in enclosed galleries with reconstructions. The MUBAG, housed in the former Palacio de Gravina, and the MACA are both free to enter year-round and only a few minutes apart, near the Plaza de Santa María.

The Mercado Central, a closed building since 1922

The Mercado Central isn't an open-air square but a closed two-storey building, built between 1911 and 1922 with a steel frame and exposed brick, on the line of the city's old defensive wall. It holds close to three hundred stalls spread across two levels — one of them a semi-basement, a result of the slope of the surrounding streets — under a domed rotunda at its southwest corner. It's one of the few places in the city where you can spend a full hour without stepping outside and still watch the real workings of Alicante life.

The covered halls of Castillo de Santa Bárbara

The Castillo de Santa Bárbara is mostly an open-air site, so a rainy day isn't the moment to walk its ramparts. But the fortress does hold five covered rooms making up the MUSA museum: the former Engineering Corps building, now a visitor centre with archaeological finds and a video on the city's history; the former hospital building, home to the exhibition on Alicante's relationship with the Mediterranean; the Long Hall, devoted to the city's history and characters; and the Renaissance cistern and the dungeons, both underground and covered whatever the weather. Head straight for these rooms and save the ramparts for a clearer day.

Craft museums in the inland and coastal towns

Outside the capital, several small museums explain local trades inside closed buildings, and they tend to be quieter than the big-name sights, which suits a rainy afternoon anyway. The Museo Valenciano del Juguete, in Ibi, traces the history of one of Spain's major toy-manufacturing centres. The Museo del Turrón, in Xixona, explains how the town's signature nougat is made, in a place that's still its leading producer. The Museo del Chocolate Valor, in La Vila Joiosa, sits beside the factory the Valor family founded in 1881 and keeps original production machinery on show. The Casa-Museo de Miguel Hernández, in Orihuela, is the poet's family home, its rooms kept as he described them in his own writing, a quieter stop than the city's larger museums.

The Casas-Cueva in Petrer are entirely underground: three dwellings cut into the castle wall, restored to recreate a mid-twentieth-century home, with displays on pottery, farming and shoemaking. They're only open on free guided visits booked in advance through the tourist office.

What to leave for another day

A day of heavy rain isn't the time to head down to the province's beaches or up to an open viewpoint, and in villages with steep, cobbled streets like Guadalest's old town, walking in the rain adds a real risk of slipping that isn't worth it. A castle courtyard or a coastal promenade might look fine on a map, but neither offers real shelter once the rain sets in, so it's better to commit to an indoor plan for the whole day rather than hedge between the two. If the plan changes and the sun's back the next day, what to do in Alicante in one day lays out the capital's essentials without depending on the weather.

Frequently asked questions

How many rainy days does Alicante get a year?

Few compared with the rest of Spain: average annual rainfall is around 285 millimetres, with October the wettest month and July and August the driest. When it does rain, it tends to arrive as short, heavy storms rather than steady rain.

Is Castillo de Santa Bárbara worth visiting in the rain?

Not for the ramparts, which are entirely open-air. But the fortress holds five covered rooms making up the MUSA museum, with exhibitions on the city's history, that can be visited without stepping into the rain.

Is Alicante's Mercado Central an indoor market?

Yes — it's a closed two-storey building put up in the early twentieth century, with close to three hundred stalls under one roof.

Are there indoor plans that work with kids?

Several of the museums in this guide, like the Museo del Turrón in Xixona or the Museo del Chocolate Valor in La Vila Joiosa, work well with children. What to do in Alicante with children sorts them by age.

What other museums are there if these don't fit?

Best museums in Alicante rounds up the rest of the province's museums, in and out of the capital.