# Retiring to Spain



## Sky Marchant (Mar 14, 2013)

My husband and I wish to retire to Spain next year, around May or June. To qualify our situation, we have lived in Spain before, in Santa Pola during 1988 and 1989. We had our own business importing and selling, this was when Spain were not even full members of the EU so you can imagine the red tape and paperwork. It was incredibly hard work and a real wake up call, that said, it was one of the most enriching and happy times of our life.
We made the most incredible Spanish friends, who we still have, and loved the lifestyle, people, food, weather, social life, culture etc.. During our two years there we didnt spend any time at all with British people, and integrated fully into Spanish life. Learning the language and learning about their culture.
We visit Spain at least 4 times each year to see our Spanish friends and are keen to move permanently as its all we have wanted for years now.
We are looking for a villa, as comfortable as our own home, so something 3-4 bedrooms, detached, nice garden, pool if possible, driveway and garage, that kind of thing, and search regularly on the internet. We are financially very secure and just want to now hang our boots up and live where we have always felt comfortable, spending time with our Spanish friends and their families, who have literally grown up with us over the years. 
For this reason we do not wish to live on an urbanisation which only has predominantly British people, we also do not neccessarily which to live near the coast and would not mind being inland by about no more than a half hour drive. In fact, thats possibly better (more property for our £'s) Our Spanish friends live in El Altet so we wouldnt want to be more than about a half hour drive away from them. 
We want to live somewhere quiet, clean, with facilities, bank, post office, shops, doctor, dentist etc nearby...or at least not miles away. With international neighbours, obviously Spaniards, but Dutch, English, Swedish etc.. that would be pleasant. We are not naive about the pitfalls of living in Spain,, we know it doesnt suit everyone and some people end up moving back to the UK (we saw it such a lot when we lived there before) I think people have an ideal, a dream of what they THINK it should be like..and when it isnt ..reality hits home.
We wish to live in Spain, for what we think, are all the right reasons, to be with the friends we made 25 years ago, to live in a healthier environment (we currently reside in the Industrial North West of the UK) to embrace the culture, the fiestas, the holy days, the food, the people. 
So given all the above info, any suggestions? We have looked at a few places we quite like the look of but until we actually visit this year and see the places, get a feel for them, its impossible to know from pictures. Obviously because we lived in the Alicante area back in the 80's we are very familiar with lots of the towns as far North as Denia and Javia down further southt to Torrevieja and La Mata.
All view and suggestions welcome, we WILL be moving and by asking all you experienced folk already living there, we hope to get some helpful advise.
Just as a footnote, we know there are plenty of people less than happy with their Spanish life, and I really value honest and upfront responses, but.. please dont use this as a way of being negative about Spain and its people, we will be unmoved in our plans, that said all constructive critisism is most welcome, thanks in advance


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Sky Marchant said:


> My husband and I wish to retire to Spain next year, around May or June. To qualify our situation, we have lived in Spain before, in Santa Pola during 1988 and 1989. We had our own business importing and selling, this was when Spain were not even full members of the EU so you can imagine the red tape and paperwork. It was incredibly hard work and a real wake up call, that said, it was one of the most enriching and happy times of our life.
> We made the most incredible Spanish friends, who we still have, and loved the lifestyle, people, food, weather, social life, culture etc.. During our two years there we didnt spend any time at all with British people, and integrated fully into Spanish life. Learning the language and learning about their culture.
> We visit Spain at least 4 times each year to see our Spanish friends and are keen to move permanently as its all we have wanted for years now.
> We are looking for a villa, as comfortable as our own home, so something 3-4 bedrooms, detached, nice garden, pool if possible, driveway and garage, that kind of thing, and search regularly on the internet. We are financially very secure and just want to now hang our boots up and live where we have always felt comfortable, spending time with our Spanish friends and their families, who have literally grown up with us over the years.
> ...


I can't think what advice people will be able to give you!
You've already lived in Spain and say you are frequent visitors, so you must be aware of how much things have changed in that time and what today's Spain has to offer you.
You know what you want and where you want to be (no more than half an hours drive away from El Altet, isn't it?) You know what kind of house you want...
You need to dedicate your visits to looking at houses in the area you've decided on, so come on down, and good luck with the house hunting!
PS Yes, there are some people not happy with their life here, but on the forum there are very few. Negative comments, AKA real life advice, is usually reserved for people who are looking for work here, especially those with no language skills, no work skills, or skills that are not transferible.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Sky Marchant said:


> My husband and I wish to retire to Spain next year, around May or June. ...............


:welcome:


wow - I can't see anything wrong with your plans at all - you are in the best possible position to move here

what are you waiting for??


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## Sky Marchant (Mar 14, 2013)

We will retire next year, April, we just are open to suggestions for anywhere people may feel is appropriate for us, any suggestions welcome


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## Sky Marchant (Mar 14, 2013)

Thanks, appreciate your reply, I suppose there are so many possible places we could consider , we cant visit them all, so I thought a post here might bear some fruit so to speak


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Sky Marchant said:


> Thanks, appreciate your reply, I suppose there are so many possible places we could consider , we cant visit them all, so I thought a post here might bear some fruit so to speak


I'm a bit further north, and more than half an hour from where you want to be - otherwise I'd say that my town would pretty much fit the bill - it's VERY international - yet all my immediate neighbours are Spanish & I can walk or cycle to the doctor, dentist, post office, shops, beach, bars, restaurants etc


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## Sky Marchant (Mar 14, 2013)

where are you living?


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Sky Marchant said:


> where are you living?


wonderful Jávea/Xàbia 

Portal Turístico de Xàbia - Ayuntamiento de Xàbia


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## Sky Marchant (Mar 14, 2013)

Ah of course, sorry, didnt realise it already said on the screen...doh  Yes our Spanish friends brother has a restaurante there, lovely place of course, but we didnt really want to be that far away, but will probably consider it now, you have planted a seed lol


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Sky Marchant said:


> Ah of course, sorry, didnt realise it already said on the screen...doh  Yes our Spanish friends brother has a restaurante there, lovely place of course, but we didnt really want to be that far away, but will probably consider it now, you have planted a seed lol


the more the merrier 


which restaurant is it, do you know?


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## Sky Marchant (Mar 14, 2013)

Sorry I cant remember the name of it, its years since we have been, his brother is retired now I think and his sons run it, wonderful food


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

Why don't you rent at first, you can then, at your leisure, have a good look round for something suitable.


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## fergie (Oct 4, 2010)

Hi Sky Marchant,
It will totally depend on what type of countryside you like. We started off in Spain with a three bed town house in Senor de Roda, near los Alcasarez, we bought and used it as a holiday home for our own use, it had a nice communal pool, which was used by absolute slobs sometimes in holiday season.
There was not that much around us, a flat and un interesting Mar Menor, and a few shops and restaurants, the landscape was very arid. If we had to do any major shopping, other than food we had to travel to Torrevieja.
We were near retiring, and decided we would like a more private place, a big enough villa, for our children to visit, and must have private pool, and bigger grounds, and be in a prettier less arid place.
We did a lot of research, found we couldn't get a decent size villa any where near where we had a holiday home. 
We looked at the Kyero website, and found lots of places we wanted to view, from Albatera to our present home in Montgo Javea.
Albatera had a lot of cheaper, some quite huge places, but not much else around ie shops just one medium size supermarket, although it did have its own medical centre. Many of the nice properties we saw were isolated.The large snake basking on the roof of one of the places we viewed put me right off.
As we were considering retirement and advancing age, we wanted somewhere with a lot more going for it, not on a giant urbanisation, and with a choice of lots of shops within an easy drive.
We viewed lots of places in and around Javea, and finally chose the place we now live in, and it is so lovely, green and sheltered by the Montgo. We are just far enough from the beautiful beach, and the old town, to enjoy them when we want to go, and avoid the crush in main tourist season.
We have some very nice, mixed nationality run restaurants in town, beach, and on the Montgo, so always have somewhere nice to eat.
We joined the Montgo residents association, and they are a very nice group of mixed nationalities, Spanish, Dutch, German, Swiss, French, Swedes etc and English of course. 
There are two Spanish health authority clinics in the town, and many good private doctors. 
There is a great choice of supermarkets, and a weekly market in the town square. Javea has an International Food Fest every year, with a vast array of cuisine from all over the world I think they have 80+ nationalities this year , I think it lasts 3 days, and also has a stage set up where local groups play music, and children dance.
There is certainly so much going on in this little town, which still attracts a lot of Spanish people from Madrid for holidays, so still keeps it Spanish identity, which is lovely, and blends with the vast international community who live here as well.
I love Javea, and it really feels like home now I have found my way about.


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

i cannot give you advice on where to go, but having just come back from a looky see trip, don't be surprised if you start to change your mind about what you want. We had a definite idea when we left on the 23rd Feb by the 3rd March we had a different scenario which is why we intend renting initially


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

cambio said:


> i cannot give you advice on where to go, but having just come back from a looky see trip, don't be surprised if you start to change your mind about what you want. We had a definite idea when we left on the 23rd Feb by the 3rd March we had a different scenario which is why we intend renting initially


we were the same really

we thought we wanted a private villa with a view & a pool - so that is what we rented

we nearly bought one in fact until we'd been renting it for a few months & suddenly in September the sunny terrace was permanently in cloud & the house was so damp we all got sick

we moved into an apartment on an urb with a communal pool, more or less in town & eventually realised that that sort of property suited our lifestyle so much more 

we're still renting more than 9 years later - now we're exactly where we need to be - walkable/cyclable to pretty much everything we need - a small private garden & several balconies & a communal pool that I don't have to look after


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## Sky Marchant (Mar 14, 2013)

Thank you so much, a really helpful and informative response


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