Meteo Alicante (Costa Blanca) in marzo

Regulars are direct that this month means Las Fallas, the mid-March festival Lonely Planet has ranked the second-best city festival in the world, packing the city with fireworks and crowds around March 15-19 specifically - worth building any visit around rather than being surprised by. Our row backs the mild, still-chilly-at-night read, 19.5C over 9C nights feeling 6C, with 67.7mm of rain across 8.4 days. Regulars describe days as bright and sunny but not properly hot, with evenings nippy enough that a real jacket is standard rather than optional, and the odd evening shower during the festival itself. The sea stays cold at 14.7C, not swimming weather yet. The record: humidity 67 percent, 9.3 hours of sun, a 19 kph wind and AQI 40.

Regulars are consistent this stays genuinely warm enough for the beach, water still comfortably swimmable, though the risk of rain climbs as the month goes on, arriving as occasional big downpours rather than a steady drizzle. Our row backs that warm, still-mild read, 26C reading as a hot 27C, over 16.1C nights, with 53.7mm of rain across 6.6 days and humidity at 74 percent. Regulars are specific evenings cool down enough to need a jacket or cardigan even on an otherwise warm day, a real contrast to the daytime highs still in the mid-20s Celsius. This remains a genuinely good month overall for a beach trip, long sunny spells the norm between any rain event. The sea sits at a warm 23.6C. The record: 9.4 hours of sun, a 12.8 kph wind and AQI 38.

Regulars describe May here as capable of rain that passes quickly before the sun returns, with late May specifically singled out as long, warm and largely dry - the better half of a month that starts more mixed. Our row sits closer to the cautious early-month read, 25.2C over 15.7C with 48mm of rain across 6.5 days, though by late May regulars report low-twenties air and a sea warm enough to swim in, our column reading 20.8C. Pools, they note, run a few degrees cooler than the sea itself at this point in the year, worth knowing before assuming a hotel pool will be the warmer option. The record: humidity 67 percent, 12.6 hours of sun, a 14.9 kph wind and AQI 44.

Alicante-forum threads on September weather describe early in the month as not quite as fierce as peak summer but still genuinely hot, sea temperatures staying warm and inviting throughout. A thunderstorm or two becomes more likely as the month progresses, most posters describing them as quick and isolated rather than settling in for a stretch, with plenty of sunshine still filling the days around them. By mid-September regulars call conditions close to perfect, warm days, warm water, and enough of a break from August's intensity to make sightseeing genuinely comfortable again. Rain, when it shows up, is consistently described as brief, rarely lasting more than a couple of hours even on an unlucky day. Evenings stay mild enough that shorts and a t-shirt remain entirely reasonable well after dark. The record: 29.2C days feeling like a punishing 32C, 20.1C nights, 69mm across 8.4 days, a 27.1C sea, 74 percent humidity and 10.7 hours of sun.

August on the Costa Blanca is hot, muggy and busier than July, and regulars describe any wind at all as welcome relief. Their range of about 22C to 31C sits just under our row's 23C and 32.2C, which reads as 35C once the humidity is in. The sun is almost always out - our row gives 4.3 precipitation days - and the compensation is the water, which they call lovely and warm for swimming and our row puts at 29.3C, among the warmest seas in this whole round. Two small local notes: mosquitoes come out in the evening, and air conditioning is worth checking before you book. The record: 20.9mm of rain, humidity 68 percent and 12.2 hours of sun.