Public Holidays and Opening Hours

Public holidays in Alicante

  • Monday 3 January (New Year)
  • Thursday 6 January (Epiphany)
  • Friday 22 April (Easter Friday)
  • Monday 25 April (Easter Monday)
  • Friday 29 April (Royal Wedding)
  • Monday 2 May (In lieu of Fiesta del Trabajo)
  • Thursday 5 May (Santa Faz - Local)
  • Friday 24 June (San Juan - Local)
  • Monday 15 August (Assumption)
  • Wednesday 12 October (Spanish National Day)
  • Tuesday 1 November (All Saints Day)
  • Tuesday 6 December (Constitution Day)
  • Thursday 8 December (Immaculate Conception)
  • Monday 26 December (in lieu of Christmas day)
  • Tuesday 27 December  (in lieu of Boxing day)

Unlike in England, many supermarkets and shops will close for public holidays.

What time is it in Spain? 

The peninsula and the Balearic Islands are one hour ahead of Britain and the rest of northern Europe, namely Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) plus one hour in winter or two hours during the summer. In the Canary Islands they are one hour behind the Peninsula and Balearic Islands and in the same time zone as Europe.

For energy saving, in Spain changes the time in summer and winter. In the last weekend of October the clocks go back an hour (at 3.00 it goes back to 2.00 and the last weekend of March, the clocks are put one hour ahead (so 2am becomes 3am). 
 

Timetables

Generally speaking, breakfast is from 8am to 10am. Lunch, at restaurants, is from 1pm to 3.30pm. Dinner is served from 8pm to 11pm hours. Many bars and cafes will serve food throughout the day although you may have to settle for a snack or some tapas.

Cinemas tend to have flexible screening times starting between 4.30pm and 5pm with a final screening at 22 hours. In  large cities there could be morning viewings too. The theatres tend to start at 8pm.

Nightlife tends to start very late. The pubs, bars and nightclubs usually stay open until 3 or 4 in the morning particularly in holiday resorts or at the weekend and in the bigger cities many places stay open until dawn. Many bars offer live music but this may not get going until midnight or even later!