Alicante with Kids: Castle, Beach and Museum
A 200-meter tunnel bored straight into a mountain, ending in a high-speed lift that pops out onto castle battlements, is the kind of thing that makes an 8-year-old forget they are on a history trip at all.
Into the mountain, for free (mostly)
That tunnel starts on Avenida Juan Bautista Lafora, directly opposite Postiguet Beach, and rises 166 meters through Mount Benacantil to Castillo de Santa Bárbara . The castle grounds and battlements are free to enter; the lift itself costs €2.70 a ride, with children under 5 and seniors riding free. Once up top, kids get stone ramparts to walk, arrow slits to peer through, real bronze cannons, and the dark gunpowder magazines, plus a chance to spot the “Cara del Moro” rock profile from the right angle. On school-holiday weekends the castle sometimes adds sword-fighting demonstrations and craft stalls, though these are occasional rather than a daily fixture.
Down at the port, The Ocean Race Museum at Muelle de Levante is free to enter and built for exactly this age group: touch-screen games, a real round-the-world racing yacht on dry dock, and a sailing motion simulator that puts kids through simulated 40-knot Southern Ocean waves for a few extra euros. It is a genuinely hands-on stop, not a glass-case museum kids have to be dragged through quietly.
Beach and boat
Postiguet Beach has gentle, shallow water, lifeguards through summer, and shaded play frames right on the sand, all a short walk from the castle tunnel. San Juan Beach, reached by TRAM lines L4 or L5, adds mini-golf and wide paths for kick-scooters alongside its 3 kilometers of open sand. For something different, Cruceros Kontiki’s glass-hulled catamarans let kids watch fish and seagrass beds from a dry, submerged viewing deck on the way to Isla de Tabarca, useful for children who like the idea of the sea more than swimming in it. A Tabarca cruise with lunch bundles the crossing with a sit-down meal, useful when you would rather not manage a picnic with young kids in tow.
What to skip and where to go instead
Do not plan around renting rowboats at Parque El Palmeral: the boat dock there has been closed for years, whatever an older guidebook might promise. The park itself is still worth a stop for its palms, footbridges and play areas, just not for boating. And do not take a stroller up through Barrio de Santa Cruz expecting an easy climb; the route to the castle from there is hundreds of uneven stone steps with no elevator access, so use the beach tunnel lift or a taxi to the upper car park instead. Free admission also covers Museo de Hogueras at Casa de la Festa, where kids tend to like the oversized, cartoonish ninots saved from past bonfire festivals more than their parents expect.
For a bigger day out, Benidorm’s theme parks sit about 45 kilometers north and are reachable on TRAM Line 1: Terra Mítica covers ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome with rides for most ages, and neighboring Terra Natura and the water parks make it a full separate day trip rather than an Alicante city outing. Book theme park tickets before you go in July or August, since same-day lines at the gate can run past an hour. For more on reaching Tabarca and the coastal towns without kids setting the pace, see our day trips guide .