Starting to investigate Alicante

I visited Alicante once, last year.  In the areas I explored, I would call them very much bicycle un friendly.  Unless it is an electric bike; as the areas are very hilly and thus more difficult than the flats we have in Valencia.
The trade off is that in many cases the views are really great (from your balcony).

I live in the San Anton neighborhood in Alicante, which is close to the city center. Generally speaking, apartments inctease in price the closer they are to the  city center or thr beach. As for "trendy" artsy areas, there is the Santa Cruz neighborhood which is located in the city center and extends up the hill where the Santa Barbara castle is located  Downside of Santa Cruz is there are no supermarkets in the immediate area and the slope of the streets us steep. Anyplace near the city center is a 15 minute or less walk from the postiguet city beach. The Tram has 3 lines that serve the beaches do a 15 minute or less tram ride can take you to any of the numerous beaches between Alicsnte and Campello. As far as the arts go, there are many places with free art exhibitions, the MACA, MUBAG, las Cigarreras, Centro 14, and la Lonja have regular exhibitions. The ADDA and Teatro Principal feature big name recording artists  orchestras etc. I saw Chick Correa and Al Di Meola at the ADDA. Las Cigarreras has lesser known artists. There is VOS cinema at the kinepolis, Arniches, Aana, and Navas theatres.  In short, there is a lot of entertainment, anda lot that is free. You might check the Benalua and Pla neighborhoods for less expensive aparments, still close to the city.

There are bike lanes throughout the city put in by a previous mayor  but they haven't been kept up in some places. There are a number of bikers that I do know that bike outside of the city. I tecommend contacting Norman at the Americans in Alicante site to find out more.