Some friends and I (40ish year old American men) will be attending an event near Alicante Sept 7-10th (Thur-Sun) 2023. None of us have been to Spain before and we don't want to make the long flight only for that event, so we are looking for ideas on how to spend some amount of time (probably 3-4 days) either before or after the event, in Spain.
While we will probably be travelling separately we are also discussing the best way to get there from the US. We are thinking of flying into Madrid or Barcelona and then either taking a train or renting a car and driving to Alicante. We are pretty sure we will want a car in Alicante, as the event is 11km outside of Alicante.
Our interests are all varied enough that we aren't looking for a history tour or an art tour or anything specific like that, just some things for people that have never been, and may never be back, to Spain to see and do efficiently in that sort of time frame.
Thanks!