Alicante (Alacant) fiestas: Hogueras, Santa Faz and public holidays

For almost everyone, Alicante’s fiestas mean the Hogueras. But there is more to the city’s fiesta year: a mass pilgrimage in spring, a Holy Week of National Tourist Interest, the patron saint and seven traditional neighbourhood fiestas. Here they are all together, seen from a kitchen elsewhere in the province: ours, in Aspe.

The Hogueras de San Juan in brief

The Fogueres de Sant Joan, from 20 to 24 June, are the city’s official fiestas, according to the City Council, and hold International Tourist Interest status as well as being an Intangible Cultural Asset (BIC). They are kept going by the committees of each foguera (the bonfire monument) and each barraca (the fiesta marquee): in 2026, 92 hogueras and 51 barracas were erected. Dates for each year, rules for committees and whether the 24th is a public holiday: all of that is on the page for the Hogueras de Alicante.

Santa Faz: the other great fiesta

The City Council calls the Santa Faz pilgrimage “the other great Alicante fiesta”, more intimate and calmer than the Hogueras and with almost five centuries of history. It falls on a Thursday, moves with Easter and is a local holiday: in 2026 it was 16 April and some 330,000 people walked to the hamlet. At the municipal “paraeta” (refreshment stop) on the way, 1,200 kilos of rollitos de anís (aniseed pastries) and 900 litres of mistela (sweet fortified wine) were handed out, and that same day it was announced that the pilgrimage will be an Intangible Cultural Asset. We will give the 2027 date when the City Council publishes it.

Holy Week

Alicante’s Holy Week is a fiesta of National Tourist Interest, and Turisme Comunitat Valenciana counts close to thirty brotherhoods and confraternities. As it depends on Easter, its date changes every year: in 2026 it ran from 29 March to 5 April.

Neighbourhood fiestas and the patron saint

Alicante’s patron saint is Nuestra Señora del Remedio, who in 1950 was given the insignia of honorary mayor by the City Council. And the municipal website lists seven traditional neighbourhood fiestas: Corpus Christi, Santa Cruz, Raval Roig, San Antón, Tabarca, San Roque and San Gabriel. Their dates change every year and here we only give them when there is an official programme.

Local holidays

In 2026 Alicante had two local holidays: 16 April, for the Santa Faz, and 23 June, for the Fogueres de Sant Joan. The 2027 ones depend on the DOGV (the regional official gazette) resolution, which usually comes out between November and December. Those of the other municipalities are in the working calendar for the province of Alicante.

For committees, peñas and neighbourhoods

For a committee’s dinner in June, a peña’s lunch (a peña is a friends’ social club) or a neighbourhood fiesta, we set up kitchen and bar in a marquee: see our catering for Hogueras and barracas and our service for local fiestas. What we do in the city is described in catering in Alicante, and to check a date, get a quote. More fiestas of the year are in the calendar.