by Victor Sesma

Victor Sesma is an Alicantinian living in London. He is a Software Engineer who likes writing about the city he was born.
Your Guide to Alicante [By an Alicantinian]
Agua Amarga is a beautiful raw beach In Alicante. It is not the most meticulously maintained beach in the city but it is the dog’s beach par excellence in Alicante: pets can enter all year around.
Agua Amarga is the only beach in Alicante that allows pets all year round. It is accessible by car and bus but pets are not allowed on Alicante’s busses. It is a 250 meters long raw beach in between urban areas. The beach is sandy with some rocks. Pets need to be watched as the area is not fenced. The car park has space for many cars but it gets busy during peak season.
It is a beautiful raw doggy beach with some services such as lifeguards. It is also right next to Urbanova beach so the promenade and services such as public toilets are 10 min walk away.
Agua Amarga is in between urbanized areas in Alicante city. That is a unique feature of Alicante’s city beaches as all the rest are situated in urbanized or semi-urbanised zones. Plus it allows pets to play on the sand and go for a swim all the year-round.
It is a 25 meters or 820 feet long beach with basic services such as a car park, bins, sand cleaning and lifeguards during peak season.
The beach is unprotected inside the wider Alicante bay, facing east. So it will suffer from weather changes as much as its sister’s beach Urbanova. The water temperature in summer goes from 19ºC as a minimum in June to 27ºC max in August and September.
There is a fenced area for pets to use as a toilet but it is currently destroyed.
The sand is slightly whiter than on other beaches. It is mixed with tiny bits of old shells and mixed with boulders rocks.
The sand grain is bigger than on other Alicante beaches but overall is good to be enjoyed and feels like a natural beach.
The doggy beach has some rules so dogs and owners can fully enjoy it. These rules only apply to Agua Amarga dogs beach and not to any other beach in Alicante.
Agua Amarga is one of the officially recognised beaches with the least services. This situation is very similar to San Gabriel beach. There are only basic services:
Basic cleaning service.
Note there are no foot showers at Agua Amarga Dogs Beach.
There are two main ways to get to the beach: by foot or by car.
Walking to the dogs’ beach is technically possible but it is far from the city centre. For example, the distance between El Postiguet Beach and Agua Amarga beach is 8km or 5mi (about 2h walk). Using the bike is not yet an easy alternative as the cycling line from the city centre to the beach is not finished yet.
In reality, the only way to get to the beach with your dog is by car as buses in Alicante don’t allow bigger pets like dogs.
The bus service going from Alicante to Agua Amarga dogs’ beach is line 27 (Urbanova).
The first stop in Alicante is Óscar Esplá 23. The bus stop for the dog’s beach is “DESALADORA“, which means “desalination plant”, as part of the water drunk in Alicante comes from the sea. The bus stop for the beach is near one of the plants.
Here is the line 27 page to understand where is better for you to get in/get off. The bus frequency is between 65 and 60 min.
The car is probably the best option for you and your pets. Agua Amarga and Urbanova are the beaches with the most car park spaces. Also, they are the worst connected with public transport.
There is neither a safe way to walk nor a finished cycle line to those beaches. The car park is here:
Note it is not a tarmacked car pack and it is compacted land instead. Also, note that there are plenty of parking spaces but it will get busy during peak season and peak time during the day.
The city hall performs only a basic cleaning of the beach. There are bins available.
It is safe and in peak months lifeguard services are available.
Yes! Agua Amarga is the only beach in Alicante that allows pets all year round.
Agua Amarga Allows dogs any time in the year. Other beaches allow dogs from November to March (source in Spanish).