An earthquake has rocked parts of Spain, with the tremors felt by tourists and locals in a popular Costa Blanca resort.

Residents as well as Brits staying in Torrevieja for the Easter holidays described being ‘almost thrown out of bed’ when the tremors hit just after midnight.

A British ex-pat living in the Los Balcones resort just south of the Alicante town shared his experience of being awoken by the quake.

‘It was something else. The whole house was shaking. I couldn’t go back to sleep as I thought there was more to come,’ he wrote on social media. ‘This was the strongest and loudest I’ve experienced yet.’

Another person living in the area described the tremor as ‘the strongest quake I have ever felt in my life,’ Spanish Eye reports.

The epicentre was just five kilometres from the popular holiday hotspot and was registered at a magnitude of 3, according to the Instituto Geografico Nacional. 

A series of quakes was also registered off the coast of Barcelona, north of the Balearic islands, shortly after. 

Local Matias Web said on X that while he is ‘used to these types of events’, last night’s quake produced ‘a very loud noise, as if rocks had been breaking deep underground.’

‘We were probably very close to the epicentre,’ he added. 

One Spanish social media user wrote: ‘My whole house shook!’, while another simply said: ‘I’m terrified.’

‘In Orihuela Costa there was a lot of noise and vibrations,’ another said.

‘It was pretty noticeable, it was short but strong,’ one person described.

Another local said: ‘Well, an earthquake just woke me up here at home in Torrevieja… What an unpleasant feeling. I’m freaked out.’

A Brit in the area described the incident on a Facebook forum as a ‘big earthquake’, while another said: ‘It was also quite loud.’