# Relocating to Costa Blanca - Areas?



## tebear (Nov 12, 2012)

Hi, my wife and i are flying into Alicante soon, hiring a car and spending a few days driving around to begin sourcing the area we would like to relocate permanently to. We will probably rent to begin with while we find the right place to buy or build. 

We'd happily live inland as we are very happy to embrace the more Spanish way of life. If anyone can recommend good areas for us to check out that would be extremely helpful. The type of area we are looking for would be either a decent sized village within 10-15 mins of a larger town/city, or on the edge of a larger town/city. We will be looking for good schools (happy to educate through Spanish school system), good medical facilities (good hospital) and some sport/social facilities. Basically not too isolated, but not slap-bang in the centre of a large town either! Work-wise things are taken care of luckily. 

Also, i'm interested to hear any negatives about the Spanish lifestyle to keep my views balanced. 

Andy G


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

tebear said:


> Hi, my wife and i are flying into Alicante soon, hiring a car and spending a few days driving around to begin sourcing the area we would like to relocate permanently to. We will probably rent to begin with while we find the right place to buy or build.
> 
> *We'd happily live inland as we are very happy to embrace the more Spanish way of life*. If anyone can recommend good areas for us to check out that would be extremely helpful. The type of area we are looking for would be either a decent sized village within 10-15 mins of a larger town/city, or on the edge of a larger town/city. We will be looking for good schools (happy to educate through Spanish school system), good medical facilities (good hospital) and some sport/social facilities. Basically not too isolated, but not slap-bang in the centre of a large town either! Work-wise things are taken care of luckily.
> 
> ...


A question, what makes you think you have to go inland to experience "the more Spanish way of life".


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## DunWorkin (Sep 2, 2010)

Have a look at El Campello. 

It has some expats but is still very much a Spanish town. 
It is on the coast - wonderful beaches
It has great public transport 
It is about 30 minutes from Alicante airport

If you would like to meet up while you are here let me know


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## fishfearme (May 11, 2011)

Look at Denia and javea, excellent schools, beaches. Beautiful part of he country to live


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## fergie (Oct 4, 2010)

I live in Javea and love it here, we live in the Montgo area which is about 15mind car drive from the beaches, so never hassled by noise and holiday makers in main holiday season. The beach area is the Arenal which is a lovely sandy beach, the walkway has many nice restaurants, the promenade is at the moment being renovated, while it is quiet in winter. We also have a port area, with even more nice restaurants.
Javea has an historic old town, plenty of shops, and a weekly market.
There are many supermarkets nearer the old town,
The area is hilly and very green, lots of nice places to walk.
There are a variety of properties on the market at the moment.
Xabiachica the moderator also lives in Javea, she will best answer your questions about schools, as OAP's we don't need schools.
One thing about healthcare, it is not free, you have to pay into the Spanish social security system to qualify for it. You may need to look into some Private Health care.
The doctors here seem very good, I've seen both private and Spanish health system ones,
Most of the estate agents are around the Arenal Beach area, the estate agents we bought our house from are called Villalingo, we found them very helpful, honest and not pushy.


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## tebear (Nov 12, 2012)

DunWorkin said:


> Have a look at El Campello.
> 
> It has some expats but is still very much a Spanish town.
> It is on the coast - wonderful beaches
> ...


Hi DunWorkin, thanks for your reply. We will take in El Campello as part of our trip and check it out.
We would be very interested in meeting up and speak to a "local", that's a very kind offer. I know we'll have lots of questions. 
We arrive in Alicante tomorrow morning (thursday), strike permitting, and have 4 days. Would you be around maybe saturday or sunday in El Campello?
Regards
Andy


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## tebear (Nov 12, 2012)

Stravinsky said:


> A question, what makes you think you have to go inland to experience "the more Spanish way of life".


Just a phrase really  I was trying to explain things as concisely as possible in my initial post. We have a very open mind at the moment. I've had a lot of suggestions saying we'll find what we are looking for on the coast


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

tebear said:


> Just a phrase really  I was trying to explain things as concisely as possible in my initial post. We have a very open mind at the moment. I've had a lot of suggestions saying we'll find what we are looking for on the coast


I think that you will find any number of people saying that their area is the best or, at least, wonderful.


There really are so many factors that have to be taken into account - best bet would be to come and move around many times before settling on one location.


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## tebear (Nov 12, 2012)

fergie said:


> I live in Javea and love it here, we live in the Montgo area which is about 15mind car drive from the beaches, so never hassled by noise and holiday makers in main holiday season. The beach area is the Arenal which is a lovely sandy beach, the walkway has many nice restaurants, the promenade is at the moment being renovated, while it is quiet in winter. We also have a port area, with even more nice restaurants.
> Javea has an historic old town, plenty of shops, and a weekly market.
> There are many supermarkets nearer the old town,
> The area is hilly and very green, lots of nice places to walk.
> ...


will be spending time in and around Denia and Javea getting to know the areas, wish us luck and thanks for all the replies


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## DunWorkin (Sep 2, 2010)

tebear said:


> Hi DunWorkin, thanks for your reply. We will take in El Campello as part of our trip and check it out.
> We would be very interested in meeting up and speak to a "local", that's a very kind offer. I know we'll have lots of questions.
> We arrive in Alicante tomorrow morning (thursday), strike permitting, and have 4 days. Would you be around maybe saturday or sunday in El Campello?
> Regards
> Andy


Happy to meet up on Saturday to show you the area. Please bear in mind that neither DH nor myself can walk long distances. Having said that, I am sure we can give you a feel of the town of El Campello and surrounding areas. Hopefully also we can answer any questions you may have.

Where are you staying? What time would you like to meet? 

Carol (& Bob)


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## tebear (Nov 12, 2012)

Hi Carol, we haven't pre-booked accomodation so we can remain flexible about where we go and what we see. We will be in El Campello on saturday morning and park up if we haven't stayed overnight there. 
Is it best i give you my number perhaps? Is there a way of private messaging on this forum? I haven't found it yet.
Andy (and Larisa)


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

tebear said:


> Just a phrase really  I was trying to explain things as concisely as possible in my initial post. We have a very open mind at the moment. I've had a lot of suggestions saying we'll find what we are looking for on the coast


In that case, you may end up following the same path we did. We started in the south of the region and then worked our way up, ending in the Gandia / Oliva area. If you like beaches, there are are blue flag beaches. If you like the mountains and countryside, well weve got a lot of that with National Parks. We are an hour from Valencia ( around €6.50 return by train) and just over that from Alicante Airport. Lots of nice little "Spanish" villages around just inland ... and from what I keep reading on the forums it seems cheaper to live up here than further down in the South 

You can private message people by clicking on their name, and then you will see it in the drop down menu


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## DunWorkin (Sep 2, 2010)

tebear said:


> Hi Carol, we haven't pre-booked accomodation so we can remain flexible about where we go and what we see. We will be in El Campello on saturday morning and park up if we haven't stayed overnight there.
> Is it best i give you my number perhaps? Is there a way of private messaging on this forum? I haven't found it yet.
> Andy (and Larisa)


You can private message when you have made a certain number of posts (not sure how many).
/SNIP/
Look forward to meeting you

Carol


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## tebear (Nov 12, 2012)

Yep, south to north it is , thanks for your help


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

tebear said:


> Yep, south to north it is , thanks for your help


Good thinking.

Check out the areas surrounding Javea, Denia, Oliva & Oliva Playa, Pego, Potries, Villalonga & Gandia


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

DunWorkin said:


> You can private message when you have made a certain number of posts (not sure how many).
> /SNIP/
> Look forward to meeting you
> 
> Carol


I've snipped that off for your own protection - he needs 3more posts - shouldn't be TOO hard....


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## DunWorkin (Sep 2, 2010)

In case you need to contact me before you qualify for personal messages you can email me via our webpage (see signature)

Carol


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## neilmac (Sep 10, 2008)

tebear said:


> We'd happily live inland as we are very happy to embrace the more Spanish way of life. If anyone can recommend good areas for us to check out that would be extremely helpful. The type of area we are looking for would be either a decent sized village within 10-15 mins of a larger town/city, or on the edge of a larger town/city.


That's a similar criteria to our own when we first moved out to Spain.

We started looking at areas near to the coast because that's where we had spent holidays in the past but in our experience we found we had to look a little further inland to find the right 'real Spain' environment.

We bought a house in a village called Montichelvo, or Montitxelvo as it's spelt around here. With about 680 inhabitants it was a small enough village without being too small. Its got a school, 2 small supermarkets, a couple of bars, a hairdresser, a chemist so not too cut off. There are other larger villages/towns nearby with more of these facilities and its also within easy driving distance to the main local town of Gandia and its beautiful coastline.










There are loads of these small villages around some with a more friendly atmosphere than others - we feel very lucky to have found this place  and have enjoyed our 6 years here.


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

I'd agree with you there
The countryside around where you are is lovely ... been photographing up at Beniarres as well


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## Earnie (Nov 3, 2010)

Moraira area is probably the best but I think Javea has better schools. Any further south than Moraira and any further North of Denia I would avoid like the plague due to being quite downmarket.


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## DunWorkin (Sep 2, 2010)

Earnie said:


> Moraira area is probably the best but I think Javea has better schools. Any further south than Moraira and any further North of Denia I would avoid like the plague due to being quite downmarket.


Why is further south than Moraira downmarket  

I am sorry but I cannot agree with that. Have you been to Altea (Altea Hills is the most expensive property on the Costa Blanca)? El Campello? Playa San Juan? 

What is so special about the area between Denia and Moraira?


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Earnie said:


> Moraira area is probably the best but I think Javea has better schools. Any further south than Moraira and any further North of Denia I would avoid like the plague due to being quite downmarket.


How stupid! 

I would suggest that you haven't seen much of Spain. 

There are some fantastic inland areas as well as coastal ones.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

DunWorkin said:


> What is so special about the area between Denia and Moraira?


me 

I do agree though that narrowing things down to such a tiny area would be wrong - however, you couldn't pay me to live in Altea Hills


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## DunWorkin (Sep 2, 2010)

xabiachica said:


> me
> 
> I do agree though that narrowing things down to such a tiny area would be wrong - however, you couldn't pay me to live in Altea Hills


I didn't say I would like Altea Hills. The point I was making that no way could you call it 'downmarket'


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## neilmac (Sep 10, 2008)

Earnie said:


> .........Any further south than Moraira and any further North of Denia I would avoid like the plague due to being quite downmarket.


A broad and sweeping trolling statement don't you think?


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## Earnie (Nov 3, 2010)

neilmac said:


> *A broad and sweeping trolling statement* don't you think?


No, just an informed opinion. Whats the point in replying and pussy footing around and making out that everywhere is amazing and nice up and down the costa blanca when it isnt. For scenery, culture, standards, beaches, schools etc I dont think you can go far wrong from what ive said Moraira to Denia, Costa Blanca is a huge area and im narrowing it down the original poster based on my own experiences and opinion. 
I know a lot of people who live round here would agree.


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## jules 123 (Apr 26, 2011)

If relocating to the Costa Blanca, then it's worth noting that Denia is the most northerly town.


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

for what its worth I have stopped asking peolpe where the "best place" is. At the moment our search covers a wide area from the alpajurras/ jaen down to Cadiz and other places.as well.

What other think as a great is not always what i like, when i see an area that i like then I look at climate , house prices etc. The only way we will now for sure if it is for us is to be there and live 24/7.


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## Goldeneye (Nov 12, 2011)

Having just returned from scoping out the Costa Blanca we have narrowed our search to between Denia and Moraira and 25 mins inland of these areas...

I have to agree with xabiachica ~ You couldn't pay me enough to live in Altea hills... 

It's all down to personal choices it's what *you* want in or around a town. For us we don't want to live in a town but have easy access to one with a larger centre within 25 -35 minutes away. My sister flew in from England and met us in El Campello she happens to love this area and vacations here often. I think she was hoping it would be the place for us ~ with San Juan beach being close and it's long stretch of beach.. It just wasn't us ~ but for her it's perfect. She's a beach lover and would spend her days either on the beach sunbathing or walking along the long stretches of San Jaun beach.... Ironically a very good friend of ours in Canada best friend used to live in El Campello and moved back to Canada to care for her sick mom, she would move back to El Campello in a heartbeat. So that's two thumbs up from people we know for El Campello, yet for DH and myself it didn't come close to ticking our boxes ! :confused2:

Initially Altea (Old town) was closer to what we wanted, a real heart and old town but after a few days here looking around we couldn't put our finger on it but it didn't 'feel' right.. we moved on to Moraira, we loved the coastline but again didn't have the 'old town' we desire..Next it was 5 nights in the Lliber, Jalon and the Jalon Valley.. This area seems to have what we are looking for and certainly warrants another visit from us. We then spent time in Javea and finishing off with 3 nights in Denia... Many people we met in the Jalon valley had put us off Denia to the point we almost cancelled our nights there, thankfully we didn't as we loved it, the old town is a hidden gem and at night we enjoyed the atmosphere of 'old town' bars and clubs.. Denia is another area we will be checking out again.

In Javea we met a couple who bought in Calpe a few years ago, now hubby is fully retiring they feel Calpe isn't for them and they are looking to relocate further north and for them they felt Javea ticked their particular boxes..

In the past 2 years we have invested 12 weeks of our time travelling around Spain and Portugal and we are very pleased to say we have narrowed our search area considerably to an area within the CB
On saying that I think we would be just as happy inland from the Costa de la luz or Pueblo Blancos ~ The Costa Del sol is absolutely *not* for us ~ but then for many thousands of Brits it's the perfect place in the Sun!!

Happy hunting


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## BGD (May 2, 2012)

Each to their own........but my only advice would be: RENT FIRST.

Whichever area you decide upon, it will NOT be the same once you've lived there for a few weeks/months. 
Resist ALL estate agents patter, and don't commit a massive amount of money to buying there, even if it is your favourite area prior to actually coming over permanently, until you've really lived in that area for say 6 months or more.....and if you are thinking of a coastal town, make sure you've not bought until you've lived through an entire tourist-infested summer season there. Really.

There are masses of places to rent all over the Costa Blanca, very cheaply now.

We rented for 11 months before we eventually bought - and that rental period convinced us that we actually didn't want to be right on the coast after all, but several miles inland in a real Spanish village instead....for maybe a 40% saving in property prices just because it's not a front line town.

10 years later, we're still delighted to be living in our little village.

Good luck.


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## tebear (Nov 12, 2012)

Hi everyone, thanks for all the replies and ideas.

After our tour of the Costa Blanca, we have narrowed our choice down for our relocation to one of these towns - Javea, Denia, Oliva and Gandia. This is for a variety of reasons way too long to explain here but if anyone wants my thoughts on other areas please ask. We will be looking to rent to begin with from early april 2013

Having a young family, we are keen to be in a fairly busy area with a decent size population. Does anyone have any ideas/recommendations/info/links regarding social groups for young mums, toddler activities and children's sports activities (dancing/tennis) in the towns mentioned above please.

We are also very interested in recommendations for english speaking G.P.'s and the quality of local hospitals in these areas.

Thanks


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

tebear said:


> Hi everyone, thanks for all the replies and ideas.
> 
> After our tour of the Costa Blanca, we have narrowed our choice down for our relocation to one of these towns - Javea, Denia, Oliva and Gandia. This is for a variety of reasons way too long to explain here but if anyone wants my thoughts on other areas please ask. We will be looking to rent to begin with from early april 2013
> 
> ...


I know I'm biased - but Jávea genuinely has everything you're looking for

reasonable sized population - a good mix of nationalities - doesn't 'shut down' in the winter

we have toddler groups, dance schools, several tennis clubs & a sports centre where there are lots of different activities - not to mention the beaches & parks with play areas & several of the bars around the town have 'soft play & ball pits' for the children

to get an English speaking GP you'd really need to go the private route, although some of the state ones do speak some English - I could recommend a private one who speaks excellent English who we used to use

the 'new' hospital in La Xara is excellent

this is a local facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/jaspas/


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