# Searching Andalucia



## kitemonkey (Mar 25, 2015)

I've just joined expat forum and wanted to say hello.

I've lived in Australia, New Zealand, Malta, Holland and Greece for long duration's of time and know the importance of these forums and the wealth of help and information available. 
We currently live and rent in UK, Malta and Sicily whilst working seasonally and have the winter spring off and my wife and our dog and I wanted a place of our own as an investment and somewhere we can call home. As I do get requests for work in Spain and the property prices are more affordable than Malta and the UK (Italy isn't an option for us as my wife is Italian and dislikes the high taxes, bureaucracy and corruption) 

We're wanting to live mortgage free and this year we're taking the 4 months off to explore Andalucía and look for property. The areas we're looking at that provide us with property within our budget are generally within the Jaen and inland Malaga area. Towns such as Martos and Alcala la Real seem have a very high supply of townhouses and village house within our budget but are looking to be near by those towns and not within.

I've moved/lived in many places so understand the challenges of starting out somewhere completely new. Our search for help and information is really down to the logistics of that area - As we fly into Malaga we are in search of a base to rent for 4 months in the surrounding area with good connections to get around as we won't have a car until we purchase a place. Using hire car to view proprieties when we need it but mostly bus and train to explore the area and towns.

Do any of the expats on this forum have any experiences of property searching in those areas that they can share with us. 

Thank you


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

My first suggestion would be to write a list of what you need and what you want from an area. Use google maps to narrow it down and then, when you arrive in Spain, find those areas and try to narrow things down even further. 

We lived in Torre Muelle for a while and that was ideal. It has a direct train link from Malaga airport and is close to the main coast road and bus services.

Once you're in Spain, then its simply a matter of contacting estate/rental agents and viewing

Jo xxx


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## kitemonkey (Mar 25, 2015)

Thank you jojo, 

Good to know that it's connected directly by train to the airport. It's always slightly difficult finding ones feet in a totally new area. The fact that it's on the coast is great and slightly warmer inland during the winter and we'll not be searching for properties everyday and we don't want to be stuck out in rural Spain without a car. 

We'll definitely be looking into renting in Torremuelle and its surrounding towns.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Alcalá la Real is about 14km drive away from here, Martos is about 50 km away. Martos, we didn't like since apart from being more industrial does tend to get a lot of smoke from other places. Just outside it and to the north, you will be in the Guadalquivir depression so summers are oppressively hot (we went to one place to look at property and it was so scorched you could easily expect to see tumbleweed rolling down the street).

Alcalá la Real is very nice, it has many good houses, the fortaleza is an impressive tourist attraction and they make some very good cheeses both there and nearby Frailes. We live just a little to the north where we cultivate tons of olives, cherries, almonds and other fruit and veg. This is all in Jaén province where the majority of the world's olives are grown and some excellent REAL extra virgin oil can be obtained.

Public transport is not so good. Local buses tend to operate at times when they are needed (going to from work or school with maybe one or two shopping buses per week) but they are not expensive. Long distance buses operate to larger places (e.g. Córdoba, Granada, etc.) and the nearest stations are in Jaen or Granada but the latter has a very poor service and Jaén only slightly better. On the plus side, roads are quite quiet so driving is a pleasure from that aspect although the road surface is, in places, a bit on the poor side. Nearest airport is Granada from where you can get flights to London City (BA) and by Iberia/the offshoots to Madrid, Barcelona, Mallorca, N.Africa and via the main hubs to elsewhere in the world.

If you go to Google Earth and take a look at street view you can take a virtual look around most places.


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## Winston2012 (Jan 14, 2020)

We move to las cassillas next month can't wait


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Winston2012 said:


> We move to las cassillas next month can't wait


Las Casillas is a quite common name for hamlets - which one are you moving to?


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## Winston2012 (Jan 14, 2020)

baldilocks said:


> Las Casillas is a quite common name for hamlets - which one are you moving to?


De Martos 23614 Over looking the lake


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