# Costa Blanca visit...



## white_hart (Feb 24, 2016)

Hi - first contribution to the forum...please be gentle!!!

My wife and I are visiting the Costa Blanca for a few days this weekend. Our intention is to do a lot of driving around and walking around, trying to narrow down a couple of areas in which to buy a holiday home - which will (in 6/7 years time) become a semi-permanent home away from the UK.

We have a reasonable budget (I think), with funds of around £150000 (cash) available to us (inclusive of the 13-15% fees and taxes), and we're looking for a 2 bed (minimum), 2 bath villa-style property with a private pool. Ideally, we'd like to be walking distance from the sea (although 10-15 minute drive inland would be fine) with access to restaurants, bars and other amenities in walking distance.

We'd also like to be able to rent out the property short-term in the summer months.

Anyway - the areas we're concentrating on stretch from Denia down to Torre De La Horadada. For our budget, we're feeling that Costa Blanca South may be the better option (as well as it being slightly warmer!). We like the looks of Guardamar, and we're looking at places such as El Raso, Ciudad Quesada, Rojales, Los Montasinos, Mil Palmeras and San Miguel De Salinas.

So - quite a lot for us to see! So far, we've done a lot of "Rightmove-ing", and a lot of "wandering around" using Google Maps, but we're hoping to get a lot more out of a personal visit!

We're happy to learn a bit of Spanish, so a 100% expat community probably isn't quite where we want to be...and we'll be looking for somewhere where the bars, restaurants etc. are open in the winter months, as that's when we're more likely to be staying in the property!

Does anyone have any views - strong or otherwise! - on any of these areas (or any others which might suit our needs)? We don't really want to be in an "urban sprawl", and we certainly don't want to be "on a building site" for the next few years!

The idea is that on this trip, we'll narrow our location down to 1 or 2 areas, and we're then coming back in April, hopefully to do some viewings!

Looking forward to your responses!

Al


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## redstripe (Jan 19, 2011)

I did exactly what you're doing, in roughly the same areas, last year. I also had budget that wasn't too far away from yours. My search area was from Alicante down to the far end of the Mar Menor and, like you're intimating, I settled on the areas around Quesada.
We made a big list of factors that we thought were either desirable, or essential, and then set about looking for an area, and then a property that met the criteria.
We looked at properties, over three different visits, with three different estate agents and if our experience is anything to go by, you'll be spoiled for choice and that's the only problem. We found that once you've picked your place, picking an estate agent that really knew that area, rather than one that had properties over half of the Costa Blanca, was a big plus.
We eventually bought a place on the border of Rojales and Benijofar. 5 mins walk to Consum and Aldi. 5 mins to bars and restaurants. Largish British/Dutch expat community but on the edges of a couple of very Spanish towns/villages.
I tend to be a bit of a "lurker" on forums like this (hence my lack of posts) but, other than your desire to rent out, I saw your post and thought that "this was me, last year", so if there's anything specific I can help with, let me know.


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## white_hart (Feb 24, 2016)

Redstripe - that's fab, thank you! I think you're right - the choice is going to be BIG!!!


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## tonymar (Jan 29, 2015)

Campello is very nice , not a huge ex-pat influence , still has a very Spanish feel,

We live in a small Spanish village called Agost , and Campello is our favourite sea side town 

Good luck with your search !

Tony


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## white_hart (Feb 24, 2016)

Hi Redstripe...so - are Rojales / Benijofar etc. "open" during this time of year? It's one of the main reasons we're going over now - to see what places are like "out of season"...and also because we're going to the A Place In The Sun exhibition in Manchester at the beginning of March, and didn't want to go there with potentially 10 or 12 different places to discuss!!!


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## redstripe (Jan 19, 2011)

Yes. Both Rojales and Benijofar are 52 weeks a year. We bought on a smallish urbanisation, right in the middle of them. We can walk to both places within 10-15 minutes and then there's also a commercial centre that caters mainly for the expats and nothing there shuts either. (We had to book a table in one restaurant there on a Tuesday night in January!)
If you're going to A Place In The Sun, the estate agents we used, Casas Manuel, in Benijofar, were there last year. I don't know whether they are there this year again or not.


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## sdj101 (Apr 11, 2015)

white_hart said:


> Hi Redstripe...so - are Rojales / Benijofar etc. "open" during this time of year? It's one of the main reasons we're going over now - to see what places are like "out of season"...and also because we're going to the A Place In The Sun exhibition in Manchester at the beginning of March, and didn't want to go there with potentially 10 or 12 different places to discuss!!!


We were over in January as we wanted to sample the weather and out of season communities. We also like Cuidad Quesada and had indeed stayed in a villa the previous July. All the bars and restaurants were open as they were in Rojales/Benijofar.

We used 3 different Agents, but the best one we used was a British guy who has lived in the area for 20+ years. He showed us wherever we wanted to see and not what he wanted to sell - which was our experience with the other 2 Agents. He took us to wherever we wanted to go. His contact details are: [email protected] Tel: 34609 219 042. I believe he will also be at Place in the Sun but may be worth a chat with him tomorrow before you go for your weekend look around!!!!

Good luck - exciting times for you.


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## IanL (Mar 5, 2018)

Hi Redstripe, Have you settled on the Costa now? Your story is exactly the same as ours right now.
We are over for 2 weeks end of March. Any advice would be great.


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## Simon22 (May 22, 2015)

white_hart said:


> Hi Redstripe...so - are Rojales / Benijofar etc. "open" during this time of year? It's one of the main reasons we're going over now - to see what places are like "out of season"...and also because we're going to the A Place In The Sun exhibition in Manchester at the beginning of March, and didn't want to go there with potentially 10 or 12 different places to discuss!!!


The only place that has a lot of closed places is Guardamar, a few around the park are closed and some along the beachfront.


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