People staying near Alicante for the first time are often surprised to find there are two San Juans. They are close, they share a name, and confusing them sends help to the wrong place.
Two places, one name
Sant Joan d’Alacant, in Spanish San Juan de Alicante, is a town and municipality of its own: 9.64 km² in the middle of the old Huerta de Alicante, about 26,800 residents, its own town hall on the Plaça d’Espanya and its own postcode, 03550. It has no coastline.
Playa de San Juan is a beach and a district of the city of Alicante. Spain’s official tourism portal lists the beach under Alicante, and the town of Sant Joan’s own tourism office describes the beach as about two kilometres away.
So an address “in San Juan” can mean either. A flat “at San Juan” let through a holiday website may well be at the beach, in Alicante.
Four ways to tell where you are
- The postcode. 03550 is Sant Joan d’Alacant. A different postcode on your booking or your post means you are somewhere else.
- The sea. If you can walk to the beach in a few minutes, you are almost certainly at Playa de San Juan, not in the town.
- The landmarks. The Hospital Universitario de Sant Joan, the UMH health campus, the Plaça d’Espanya and the shops along the N-332 are in the town of Sant Joan.
- Your phone. Open the map and drop a pin. The municipality name usually appears under the address.
Inside Sant Joan, the part of town matters too
The municipality is small but not simple. The N-332 runs between the centre and Benimagrell. The partidas of the old huerta, Lloixa, Salafranca and Fabraquer Nord, have houses along old camins, where a house name can mean more than a number. And Fabraquer is also the name of a district of El Campello next door, so say which side you are on.
The areas page lists every part of the municipality and what to say for each.
What to give on the phone
- The street and number, and the part of town.
- A WhatsApp location pin, which removes all doubt.
- Anything that helps from the road: a gate colour, a shop on the corner, the name of the house.
If it is a fiesta night, say so too: during the Fogueres and the Cristo de la Paz, streets fill up and cars park further out. Keys lost at the fiestas has more. And if it is the car rather than the house, keys locked in the car at the retail park is the one to read.