Sometimes we get enquiries from people who know they want to live in Valencia and then tell us they are looking at Alicante too. It's an obvious mistake to make as Alicante is a part of the Valencian community but is not Valencia… it's Alicante. Equally this is true to the North of Valencia with Castellón, it's a part of the Valencian Community too but it's also a province in its own right. The thing that most people don't get is that if you haven't made that decision beforehand then you haven't done much research because you are comparing chalk with cheese when you compare Valencia and Alicante in general or indeed Valencia and Castellón.
Commonalities and Differences
Obviously they have similarities such as a long coastline, similar geographic features and vegetation and a similar climate but there are major differences too such as the most important one, the make up of the population, but also the type of towns and villages you can find, the sizes of the major towns and cities in the areas and their seasonality factor, along with the importance of the main city in each province. So today we are going to look at some of the major differences between the two places and we are going to concentrate most on demographics.
Six Years Ago
We first looked at the difference between Valencia and Alicante on this blog six years ago. You can read the article here. We pointed out the differences in nationalities buying in each province and the absolute numbers and what that means for the look and feel of the areas. Of course there have been six years since then of 40%+ of sales to foreigners in Alicante, even during the Covid years, and 17-23% of sales to foreigners in Valencia see the numbers below. That's a big difference.
When you consider that there are more sales made in Alicante each year by a factor of around 20% and that the population of Alicante province is only around 80% of that of Valencia you might well understand that the make up of the foreign population in the region is massively different and people move or sell more often as there are more holiday homes being bought and sold. Alicante, in fact, is the province with the highest proportion of foreign-born residents in Spain, and its foreign population is both large and highly visible in many towns. It currently stands at 23.3% at the end of 2024 and is expected to rise to 24.3% by the end of this year. In the coastal towns it is considerably higher as you can see below. In Valencia in contrast the number of foreign born residents is 12.7%.
In certain towns in Alicante the numbers on property sales are astounding. Teulada led the way with 87% of buyers not being Spanish. Yes 87%!! The Dutch, British, Belgians and Germans led the way here. Orihuela nearby was a close second at 84% of buyers being from abroad, and Orihuela is a big town with over 5000 property sales last year. The Brits, Belgians and Poles were the biggest buyers here. Calpe and Torrevieja at 78% and 77% were next with the latter being a hotspot for Poles and Ukrainians and as 18% of all sales in Alicante were in Torrevieja this increases the average over the whole province. Guardamar de Segura came next with 71.6% of purchasers being not Spanish and there are plenty of other towns with numbers over 50% including Santa Pola, Javea, Benissa and Altea.
Over 31000 sales were made to foreigners in Alicante which represents 20% of all sales to foreigners in Spain despite Alicante’s population being only 4.5% of Spain’s. Below we have a selection of towns where sales to foreigners over the years mean that now the population is largely foreign born.
Compare that with Valencia towns. The three highest percentage towns with foreign born populations are all near to Alicante in the south of Valencia province but don't even come close to the percentages in Alicante.
If you think that the character and feel of towns with such dominance of non-Spanish born people remains the same then you are wrong. Many Alicante towns feel "non-Spanish". Many, like Benidorm and Torrevieja have become almost Brit expat ghettoes with "All Day Breakfasts", "Happy Hour" for pints and cocktails and "Expat Supermarkets" abounding. The only clue you have at times that you are in Spain is the climate and maybe, just maybe, you can find paella, but it will be Mixta which is just rice with things!
Valencia City isn't like that and no towns in Valencia province are like that. However, remember that it's not necessarily a bad thing from the point of view of the foreign buyer, it's definitely not what I am looking for in living in Spain but for many people it works and works well and that's why these places are popular with a certain type of people. I'm not into Benidorm, some people think it's heaven on Earth. My opinion is more like it should be removed from the Earth but you know, each to their own.
City Size
Valencia is much larger as a city than Alicante without actually feeling like a large city because of its compact nature. Valencia's population of around 840,000 is almost two and a half times larger than Alicante's 360,000. Valencia’s metro area is roughly double the population of Alicante’s, 1,635,000 compared to 820,000, with a broad urban network connected up superbly by public transport including substantial adjacent towns (Torrent, Burjassot, Paterna, Mislata, etc.), while Alicante’s figure is for the combined “Alicante-Elche” urban region, includes Elche of course, a big city in itself with 230,000 people, and some smaller satellite towns.
This size influences lifestyle because there are more events, attractions, and cultural happenings in and around Valencia compared with Alicante. Equally, because of the less transient nature of the population having been born and raised here there are more recurring events each year supported by the local population. As an example you don't get too many traditional events in San Fulgencio, the place in Alicante where 65% of the population are foreign born, because the population just 35 years ago was under 1600. It's now almost 10,000 an increase of 600% in population.
One of the highest percentage of foreign born residents in Valencia is Paterna with 14%. The equivalent chart for Paterna shows a huge rise in population too from 40k to 75k but that's under 100% as opposed to 600% in San Fulgencio and as there was a decent sized population there back in 1990 there were traditions and cultural events already in place that the new people moving in bought into.
Extrapolating this to other towns in the areas being discussed I think it's pretty obvious thing to say that Valencia "feels" more "Spanish" than Alicante even though almost everywhere these days is less "Spanish" than it may have been in the past. Chain stores from around the World, franchises, a more international crowd tell you why. It's still the case that if you want to immerse yourself in Spanish life and culture then it's much easier to do that in Valencia than it is in Alicante just from demographics. Try to speak Spanish regularly in San Fulgencio and you may have a problem.
And speaking of demographics, there's the age thing…
This doesn't look as if there is too much difference but look behind the headline figures and towards some of the bigger towns, more popular with foreigners moving to the area, and you get the following.
These figures highlight how some coastal places become retirement hotspots, places like Torrevieja, Benidorm and Orihuela that have much older populations when we compare them with the rest of the province or indeed the national average. And remember that in Alicante the figures for retired people are the highest of any province in Spain just like they are for foreign born populations. By definition therefore the working age population and the population of children are higher in Valencia and elsewhere than in Alicante. The average age in Alicante is only going to get older as fewer children are born and more retirees move in.
Which Nationalities Are Living There?
If we take a look at who is buying property in Valencia and Alicante then we get a totally different answer for the two areas. Firstly, remember that the foreign born population is higher in Alicante than in Valencia. Then look at the nationalities buying and you can see a major difference. Italians were the top buyers in Valencia in Q1 this year for example. They don't appear in Alicante to any degree. The same is true of Romanians. The biggest representation of foreign buyers in Alicante is the more traditional UK and Dutch buyers and the average age of those buyers skews to older retirees.
Looking at the "Other" column shows you another thing. In Valencia there are far greater numbers of people buying from a lot of different countries all across the World and that is because of Valencia's international appeal and largely because of working opportunities being greater in Valencia than Alicante, which of course also suggests younger buyers. Many of the larger towns in Alicante, excluding Alicante itself and Elche, are seasonally based and work is in tourism which is also seasonal. The workers who come in for the summer season swell the numbers of people living in the area but they don't stay for the off season so in theory the population of a town such as Benidorm will essentially multiply by a factor of up to five in the summer months, from the permanent population of 70-75K up to 300-400K.
If we look at the trends from 2018-24 we can see that certain nationalities have grown exponentially in terms of buying property in both Valencia and Alicante. The first graph is for Alicante. We don't need to tell you why Ukrainian purchasers have risen so much. Only Norwegians have reduced the numbers of properties they buy in the last 7 years.
Valencia's trend looks very different. Especially that last column of Brits below. Brexit is the huge issue here but again this emphasises the difference between Alicante and Valencia. Brits in Alicante continue to buy holiday homes and new builds there are targeted towards the UK market and holiday homes because the Schengen visa allows Brits to be there for three months at a time. Younger people have been put off coming to Valencia where new builds are targeted towards the local population, largely because they want to become residents and live and work here and they can't do that easily now. The numbers of Romanians have dropped but they still make up a large part of the foreign buyers as can be seen above. Both Romanians and Italians are on average younger and come to Spain to work because they are part of the EU and feel they have better opportunities here.
So Valencia tends to attract younger foreign buyers, a wider range of nationalities, despite the absolute numbers being lower, and it continues to feel more Spanish than most of Alicante province.
And then we get to the up and comers. Americans still make up less than 2% of foreign buyers in both Valencia and Alicante but their numbers are rising quickly. They tend to buy higher end places with higher per m2 prices in the most sought after locations and these include Alicante where the American presence is more likely to be retirees looking for excellent quality of life. Altea, Denia and Javea are the most popular destinations in Alicante whereas Ensanche and the Old Town in Valencia City along with the suburbs of L'Eliana and Ribarroja and the rest of the "international school belt" are the destinations of choice in Valencia and the people coming, apart from retirees, are often remote workers and people who are sent here by big companies to work in and around the city. Oh and we mustn't forget "the refugees", people for whom living in the States has become so bad in terms of freedoms, fear of persecution and risks that they move here. LGBTQ groups, liberal thinkers, people with children of colour, Latinos and more are looking to Spain as a place of safety away from ICE, the Orange Sh*tgibbon and divisive rhetoric.
What This Means for Property Buyers
If you are looking to come and live in Valencia then you need to realise that despite the Valencian Community being one homogenous area on the map, Valencia and Alicante are very different.
If you want the convenience of living in the "Big City" with all its facilities and events to hand then there is only one choice and that is Valencia because it's the only "Big City" and even then the population numbers are more akin to Omaha in Nebraska or Fort Worth in Texas rather than New York or even Boston. Both Alicante and Elche are decent sizes and have plenty of things going on but they don't have the same feel as Valencia, Spain's third city. Valencia wins out in terms of facilities, communications, quality of life and the feel of really being in Spain and in the suburbs you really know that there is a big city with plenty of things to do just sitting waiting at your side.
If you are more attracted to whiling away your days on the beach and work is not the priority, a slower pace of life might be, then Alicante might be the better decision for you as the winter months mean the beach is likely going to be just for you, and it is totally useable, despite not being able to get near it in the summer months (especially in places like Benidorm). The area is well set up for retirees as there are so many and if you need to find a tradesperson who speaks your language then you have more chance there (But beware of the foreigner, "just off the banana boat tax"for any jobs needing doing if going down that route)
As I said before, each to their own. Valencia has its attractions and Alicante certainly has attractions too, I visit Alicante regularly but I base myself just outside Valencia in the suburbs. One of the things we do best here at Valencia Property is to prepare our clients beforehand so that they know that what they are looking for might well exist. If what they are looking for doesn't exist we let them know and point them in a different direction and at times that may be Alicante. If you want to work with us to find out more about Valencia and your future life here then click on the articles below or contact us at Valencia Property to arrange a call. Start your research early because research is key and it doesn't mean turning up out of nowhere on a two day visit expecting everyone here to drop everything for you just because you have a foreign passport. (This happened last week)
We've Moved
Last week was chaos and as a regular reader of these pages you might have realised. We moved servers, I wrote about the experience and more on our substack. Hopefully when you read this article the move is finally over and the website is working correctly again. (You should read the article by the way. It has a lot about affordability of living in Spain too.)
Property of the Week
We haven't listed anything new this week because of server limitations but expect a bunch of new properties in the next week as soon as the new server allows image uploads that don't just disappear into the ether. Keep an eye out for the following... A seventh floor huge apartment in the Cabanyal with sea views for 450k. Coming soon... (As soon as it's uploaded I'll link here)
Stepping Stone Rental of the Week
Welcome to the newest addition to Stepping Stone Rentals. This traditional Valencian home features classic tiled floors, high ceilings, and spans the full depth of the building, with windows at both the front and rear that fill the space with natural light throughout the day. Ideal for families, it offers spacious bedrooms and ample storage. Remote workers will appreciate the dedicated home office overlooking Calle Cuenca or head across the street to Valencia’s largest public library for a quiet retreat or a change of scenery. With Ángel Guimerà metro station nearby, the entire city is easily accessible. Sparsely furnished but that's good for the minimalists amongst us of course.
If You Liked This...
Then of course we have a lot more for you to read and listen to on our network of sites. There'll also be a new podcast coming up next week. Just click on the images to be taken to more stuff to help your own "research".
The blog today comes from our substack account as we are moving servers for the main websites (90% done at the moment) valenciaproperty.substack.com/p/the-unbear... We also talk about affordability and why Spain is so much more affordable than the UK and the USA for most big ticket items.
— Graham Hunt (@grahunt.bsky.social) November 24, 2025 at 8:48 AM
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Why You Won't Get A Mortgage in Spain And why you might and maybe should... buff.ly/3TYcqHH #Valencia #ValenciaProperty
— Graham Hunt (@grahunt.bsky.social) November 22, 2025 at 10:01 AM
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