NH Alicante

NH Alicante suits you if you want a proper city hotel rather than a resort built around a beach timetable. The building has 106 rooms across seven floors, with the practical feel of a place designed for short stays, city breaks and business trips as much as for a few days by the Mediterranean.

The mood is modern and fairly straightforward. You get somewhere to eat, a bar for a drink, a gym, a spa area and a rooftop pool for the warmer months. English, Spanish and French are spoken by the hotel team, which makes the first conversation about check-in, dinner or a taxi pleasantly uncomplicated.

The port and the sea appear in the room decoration, with references to palms, sky and maritime Alicante rather than a full nautical theme. In other words, the diving connection is there, but it does not take over the hotel.

You find the hotel at México, 18, on the corner of Rosa Chacel, in Alicante, Spain. It sits in a residential part of the city, away from the noise of a central tourist strip while remaining close to Alicante city centre and the airport by car.

A public beach is nearby, and the surrounding area gives you several ways to fill a non-diving afternoon. Cactus d'Algar, Playa de San Gabriel and the Arniches Theatre are among the nearby places of interest, while the city’s main attractions can also be reached by public transport.

This is a useful base if your holiday needs both sea and city. You can return from a day out to a hotel with its own pool and spa facilities, without having to spend the evening in the middle of the busiest streets.

The standard double rooms keep things practical for two: air conditioning, heating, a minibar, a safe, television, Wi-Fi, a desk and a private bathroom. That gives you somewhere to cool down, charge yourself back up and deal with the day’s accumulated paperwork, whether that means emails or deciding where dinner is happening.

If two separate beds suit your trip better, the standard twin option does exactly that. For a little more outdoor space, the Superior rooms with terrace are the natural choice, particularly if you like to sit outside with a coffee before the city gets properly busy. They also add coffee-making facilities and toiletries.

The junior suites are the rooms to consider when a view or a terrace matters more than keeping the room choice simple. Double and twin arrangements are available across the room categories, with private bathrooms and toiletries. The decoration takes its cue from Alicante’s port, sea, sky and palm trees, while the overall set-up stays firmly functional: air conditioning for warm returns, heating for cooler nights, and a minibar for the small necessities you want close at hand.

The main restaurant serves modern Mediterranean food indoors, with breakfast, lunch and dinner on the menu. The kitchen works with fresh seasonal produce and adapts what it serves to what is available, which is a more useful detail than a grand promise about local flavours.

Breakfast comes as a buffet with fresh fruit, pastries, cold meats and cheeses. It is the sort of spread that lets you choose between a quick coffee and something substantial before heading out for the day. Breakfast can also be served in your room.

There are two bars. The main bar offers light meals such as salads and snacks, so you can eat without turning the evening into a formal operation. La Vuit Rooftop is the seasonal option, open during August and on weekends in July, with views over the surrounding area. The hotel also offers a snack bar and picnic lunches, while the exact meal arrangement depends on the room booking you choose.

The rooftop pool is the main piece of leisure space, open seasonally from June to September. It gives you somewhere to cool off without leaving the hotel, with views towards Santa Barbara Castle from the rooftop. No complicated programme is required: swim, find a spot in the sun and let the day become less ambitious.

For a slower recovery session, the spa area brings together a jacuzzi, sauna, massage treatments and a solarium. That combination is well suited to the familiar post-dive plan of saying you will only sit down for five minutes, then discovering that half an hour has disappeared.

There is also a gym with fitness equipment if you still have energy to spend. The hotel can arrange excursions through its tourist assistance service, giving couples or non-diving companions a route into Alicante beyond the pool and restaurant. A rooftop swim, a sauna or a city outing covers most sensible alternatives to another day in the water.

The reception operates around the clock, with lift access throughout the building. Wi-Fi is free across the hotel, and there is air conditioning in the property. Parking is available, including nearby parking, and electric-vehicle charging is also available. Parking cannot be reserved in advance, so this is worth bearing in mind if you are arriving by car with a tight plan.

The hotel offers luggage storage, concierge assistance, laundry, dry-cleaning and ironing services. Car hire is available, and the hotel can help with excursions and tickets. The building has accessible facilities and wheelchair access, while the rooms and public areas are non-smoking.

Check-out is at midday. Early arrival and later departure can be arranged on request, subject to the hotel’s conditions. The hotel is close to the airport and city centre by car, but no airport shuttle service forms part of the hotel’s listed services. Dogs and cats are accepted, with guide dogs treated separately.

The accepted payment methods include Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB, China UnionPay, Diners Club and cash. That list is useful at the end of a long day, when discovering that a card is not accepted is a particularly poor form of entertainment.

Solar photovoltaic panels have been installed for the hotel’s own consumption as part of its decarbonisation strategy. The panels are a concrete energy measure rather than a decorative statement, quietly working in the background while you use the hotel’s rooms and facilities.

There is no need for this to become a lecture. For you, it simply means that the building is taking a practical step towards reducing its reliance on outside energy supplies.