# Family friendly towns/villages



## Shelbert (Oct 11, 2008)

Hello,

I was hoping some of you guys will be able to point me in the right direction?

My husband and I are planning on relocating to Spain this summer but have no clue where would like to live....

Wish list

Within 1 hour from an airport - for husbands fortnightly meetings in London

Within walking distance to the beach

Family orientated environment - we have a 9 month old baby so local mummy and baby groups are a must

Townhouse or apartment with shared pool - feel a villa may be too isolating?

Shopping - somewhere with relatively good access to shopping centre

Somewhere that isn't only seasonally occupied - I have read that some places are touristy and therefore desolate in e winter months?

British expats - not too bothered about there being a big number in the area as we would like the Spanish experience.....but we don't want to be billy no mates either?

My husband works from home and I am a full time mum so no worries on the work front.

currently living in London so taking the opportunity to massively reduce our rental outgoings!

We have a budget of 1200 eur per month and want min 3 beds.

If any of you have any links to websites or can offer advice I would appreciate it.

Thanks


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

Shelbert said:


> Hello,
> 
> I was hoping some of you guys will be able to point me in the right direction?
> 
> ...


Hi

Uff, well its a big country so many places to choose and I think that once you have narrowed down a list of potential areas you need to do some fact finding visits first. I can only comment on the Costa Blanca area but here we have everything you need. Somewhere like Finestrat, La Nucia, etc are all within an hour of ALC airport, have expat communities, villa, flats, and a wide range of townhouses and urbs, family orientated etc 

You should pick up a decent 3 or 4 bedroom house on an urbanisation with a pool for 600 - 800 euros in one of those areas. 

Can I ask though? If you have no idea where you want to be, how do you know you even want to be in Spain? Have you been here before?

Sounds like you have money sorted which is great, but obviously living in Spain is a huge adaption for anyone. Hows your Spanish?

If you havnt already done so I would say to make the time for some reccy trips… get to know some areas, even do a short term rent for 2 or 3 months and keep on your London place if you can afford it, jsut to see if you settle and like it and have a backup plan if not!


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## fergie (Oct 4, 2010)

Hi, If you want to be somewhere which isn't only seasonally occupied, then you need to mention this to whoever will be your property rental agent, and perhaps come over during quiet season to check them out, and see how many permanent residents live there, the more the better.
Living permanently within walking distance from the sea could be very noisy in high season, we found this out when we bought a lovely townhouse as a holiday home for our use, it was perhaps a half hour walk to the sea, at a good pace. There was the 'odd' few permanent residents really lovely people, but during peak season the holiday makers came, partying, noise till 3-4 am,and the rest!!, it was really not nice to put up with.
If you can drive, then you would be far better off a little inland from a nice resort, with lots of shops nearby. I should think most of the bigger resorts have places to meet other young mums like playgroups etc.
Compared to London rental prices, you should get a fairly nice place here.


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

fergie said:


> There was the 'odd' few permanent residents


 most of the permanent residents near here are fairly "odd" also jaja


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

Shelbert said:


> Hello,
> 
> 
> 
> My husband works from home


Your first priority should be to ensure that he can obtain the internet connection he will obviously require. Don't assume that if a place has a landline that adsl is available.


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## djfwells (Sep 28, 2009)

Shelbert said:


> Hello,
> 
> I was hoping some of you guys will be able to point me in the right direction?
> 
> ...


Do either of you speak Spanish ? Have you got Private Healthcare cover ?


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## fergie (Oct 4, 2010)

Ha ha Steve, I didn't mean Odd as peculiar, but I think you know that, lovely people all nationalities and races-not just Brits, but maybe only 5% of the houses occupied out of holiday season. A lot of people had bought buy to let there, so in holiday season you never knew who was going to turn up, could be nice responsible people or hooligans and thugs, and the latter used to really upset a lot of permanent residents. What is jaja Steve? never heard that term?


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

fergie said:


> Ha ha Steve, I didn't mean Odd as peculiar, but I think you know that, lovely people all nationalities and races-not just Brits, but maybe only 5% of the houses occupied out of holiday season. A lot of people had bought buy to let there, so in holiday season you never knew who was going to turn up, could be nice responsible people or hooligans and thugs, and the latter used to really upset a lot of permanent residents. What is jaja Steve? never heard that term?


jajajaja its spanish for haha.. ha ha funny ha ha… msn talk i guess in spanish!!!


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## KlaasMaster (Feb 29, 2012)

*A place in the sun.*

Take a look at Denia and Javea. If you want the Spanish experience choose Denia. If you like being surrounded by Brits, choose Javea. At the end of the day we all have our own criteria to decide what makes us happy and the only way to know for sure is to check it out for yourself. _f you have any specific questions, feel free to ask me. Happy hunting!_


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

KlaasMaster said:


> Take a look at Denia and Javea. If you want the Spanish experience choose Denia. If you like being surrounded by Brits, choose Javea. At the end of the day we all have our own criteria to decide what makes us happy and the only way to know for sure is to check it out for yourself. _f you have any specific questions, feel free to ask me. Happy hunting!_


_

Yes, if you have any specific questions, ask on the forum as we have many posters who live in these areas - both my co moderators do

Jo xxx_


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

jojo said:


> Yes, if you have any specific questions, ask on the forum as we have many posters who live in these areas - both my co moderators do
> 
> Jo xxx


like me 

here's another good reason to live in Jávea


JAVEA CRIME RATE WELL BELOW PROVINCIAL AVERAGE



> Jávea can boast a crime rate that is “well below” the provincial average. That was the claim reported to the latest gathering of the Local Safety Board, a regular meeting between the commanders of all the security forces in Jávea, which was held at the town hall, chaired by Alberto Martínez Díaz, the first deputy of the new government in Alicante and attended by mayor José Chulvi and Juan Ortolá, the councillors responsible for Public Safety.


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## Leper (May 12, 2010)

I didn't read all posts on this thread, so if I'm covering old ground please forgive me. 

Mistake Number 1:- Relocating to Spain in June. Landlords renting out accommodation usually make their "good" money during June, July, August. May and September are good "nice little earners" also. It is from October to April the landlord's struggle intensifies. Therefore, the optimum month to start renting is probably October. Who knows what deal you can come up with for say one year's rent October - September. The economies of scale indicate you would get a good deal for around €500 per month in a decent location.

Mistake Number 2:- Not going to Spain and visiting specific areas and then choosing locations within those areas. Visit off season if possible. One man's meat is another man's poison.

Mistake Number 3:- Discounting villas. Many villas are within towns. Keep accommodation choices open regarding villas, houses, duplexes, apartments even caves (there are cave houses in Spain).


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Shelbert said:


> Hello,
> 
> I was hoping some of you guys will be able to point me in the right direction?
> 
> ...


Is that just for rent or for all your living expenses??

For that amount you should be able to rent a 'nice' place even in the most expensive parts of the CdS. Living in a villa with your own pool needn't be isolating. Our house is on a 'normal' Spanish street with plenty going on and our Spanish neighbours on both sides are friends who visit frequently for a chat.

Electricity is quite expensive here so if you have fast internet and Sky tv your bills for utilities could reach 300 euros a month. Petrol/diesel is not much less than in the UK. 
There are rules relating to the driving of a UK plated car which you will have to observe but once you have a Spanish-plated car your car tax may be less than in the UK.

If however 1200 euros is your TOTAL budget for your family you may find it hard to make it stretch.


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## Shelbert (Oct 11, 2008)

Thanks so much to everyone for all your advice :0)

Short of putting a pin in the map we had no idea which direction to head in with regard to areas. Now we have a few recommendations from you guys I have a starting point. 

We have agreed since my post that we will wait until October time for the official move and have a few short trips over in the summer to check out areas we have researched and found we may be interested in.

Asdl connection is very important for my hubby's work so thanks for pointing that out!

Great point about holiday makers and walking distance to the beach, we both drive so being a little more inland would make sense.

Villas - we recently repatriated back from Dubai where the villa lifestyle was very much an isolating experience, so having a friendly street sounds really lovely, we won't rule any housing types out.

1200 eur is for rental only so sounds like we will have plenty options :0)

Thanks again for all your advice, we will definitely take all your points on board......now time for some research!


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