Where to start?

MillyToo · #1 (**permalink**) 4th July 2009, 05:07 PM

Hi my husband and I are from the UK and currently living in Cyprus, and want to move to Spain, but we don't know where to start, it's such a large country. We want to be near a fairly major town/city, not far from the sea, and have as much sunshine as possible, also to be able to purchase a reasonably priced property.

We are thinking of buying a camper van and touring but would like a few suggestions as to some good areas to start.

Cheers

MillyToo

jojo · #2 (**permalink**) 4th July 2009, 05:14 PM

it depends on what you want, Spain has it all really??? Stick a pin in a map or look at google earth, come over and visit and then tick or cross boxes????

We all on here will tell you our areas are best, altho mine is better than the others lol!! So its personal choice. If you're gonna need work then, unless you have a good skill or profession, that will have to be taken into account, baring in mind there isnt any work here?? But apart from that....???????

Jo xxx

MillyToo · #3 (**permalink**) 4th July 2009, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jojo

it depends on what you want, Spain has it all really??? Stick a pin in a map or look at google earth, come over and visit and then tick or cross boxes????

We all on here will tell you our areas are best, altho mine is better than the others lol!! So its personal choice. If you're gonna need work then, unless you have a good skill or profession, that will have to be taken into account, baring in mind there isnt any work here?? But apart from that....???????

Jo xxx

Hi Jo thanks for the reply, no we don't need work, before we came to Cyprus we considered Spain but even then the problem was not knowing where to start. We like Cyprus but the air fares are high for our kids to visit, and it's a fairly small island, and we want more to see. Also we know we could get a bigger property for our money in Spain.

Cheers

MillyToo

jojo · #4 (**permalink**) 4th July 2009, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MillyToo

Hi Jo thanks for the reply, no we don't need work, before we came to Cyprus we considered Spain but even then the problem was not knowing where to start. We like Cyprus but the air fares are high for our kids to visit, and it's a fairly small island, and we want more to see. Also we know we could get a bigger property for our money in Spain.

Cheers

MillyToo

I guess the best place to start then is fairly close to a decent airport!!! We started with that too, cos my husband commutes. So find the best, cheapest airports that service your families area in the UK and work outwards, possbily towards the coast and see what you come up with! We found Malaga had excellent links with Gatwick and the flights are cheap, the coast was more expensive, so we came in land a bit. We needed to be fairly near a good international school for the kids, we wanted to be near modern facilities, we didnt want to be in the middle of expatshire.... you kinda keep ticking and crossing boxes til you narrow it down enough to visit an area!! After that its pot luck!

Top tip; Dont buy until you are sure! House prices are still dropping here and renting gives you that extra bit of flexibility

Jo xxx

MillyToo · #5 (**permalink**) 4th July 2009, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jojo

I guess the best place to start then is fairly close to a decent airport!!! We started with that too, cos my husband commutes. So find the best, cheapest airports that service your families area in the UK and work outwards, possbily towards the coast and see what you come up with! We found Malaga had excellent links with Gatwick and the flights are cheap, the coast was more expensive, so we came in land a bit. We needed to be fairly near a good international school for the kids, we wanted to be near modern facilities, we didnt want to be in the middle of expatshire.... you kinda keep ticking and crossing boxes til you narrow it down enough to visit an area!! After that its pot luck!

Top tip; Dont buy until you are sure! House prices are still dropping here and renting gives you that extra bit of flexibility

Jo xxx

Hi Jo, thanks that's really good advice, and gives us a starting point.

Cheers

MillyToo

Tallulah · #6 (**permalink**) 4th July 2009, 08:57 PM

Hi Millytoo,

Have you really no areas in mind whatsoever? From what you've posted, it sound like you've an idea of down south on the costas.is for you ..as Jo says, close to airports with reasonable prices. But you can find cheap travel /airports pretty much all over. Perhaps something more specific is required info wise from you - what you're looking for in a lifestyle - more expat areas/English speaking areas/any health issues to contend with.... And as Jo rightly says, we'll all promote our little piece of heaven where we're based. There's a lot of good information from well seasoned expats on this forum.....for example, for the representation up North here, in Galicia, you've got me, NormatheexDiva, Xose and Anles, down South, Strav/Jo/Sue/Steve....In Huescar, if you're after donkeys and websites, a rather delicious Welshman is living la vida loca in a gypsy barrio in Huescar...then you've got Dave, SunnySpain who's been just about EVERYWHERE and can advise accordingly...then you've got Chica down in Torrox....and lots of members of this forum in between - horses for courses and as Jo says, we're all pretty much happy where we are and can give you the low down on our lives here and why we're enchanted with it...

Great advantage to you of course, that you don't need to work....then the whole of Spain is pretty much your oyster....So let us know perhaps a few more details and then I'm sure, you'll be inundated with opinions to make "sticking that pin in the map" a little easier for you.

Happy searching and welcome to the forum!!

Tallulah.xx

Pesky Wesky · #7 (**permalink**) 4th July 2009, 10:35 PM

Hi!
Sounds like you're in a good situation. You won't need to work and you can travel around a bit before you decide.
I would say make sure you see north south east west, they've all got something to offer. Try and see the "living places" not just the holiday places in an area.
And, very important, try to find out what the place is like in winter and summer because Spain has extreme temperatures in some zones and extreme fluctuations of population too (Same as Cyprus I expect)
Other useful info might be in the "Images of Spain" Sticky and use Google images too to see different parts of Spain.
Happy Hunting!

XTreme · #8 (**permalink**) 4th July 2009, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tallulah

In Huescar, if you're after donkeys and websites, a rather delicious Welshman is living la vida loca in a gypsy barrio in Huescar...

You're a very discerning lady Tally!

SteveHall · #9 (**permalink**) 5th July 2009, 09:25 AM

"A rather delicious Welshman" ........ no idea who you can be talking about!

MillyToo · #10 (**permalink**) 5th July 2009, 02:48 PM

Hi All, I would be very interested to hear an overview of the general situation currently in Spain, I have a very old uncle living in Almeria who tells me the situation is bad with high unemployment and people starving who have to resort to stealing food from the farms. In Cyprus things are starting to get bad, there are very few tourists this year and many business are folding. The developers are laying off their workers and will soon have to reduces their prices. They have a very strange attitude here, if they don't sell many items they put the prices up so that what they do sell will compensate for their losses.

I would also like to know how the Spanish people regard the English. Here they resent the Brits, they know if we all left and took our money with us they would be in a mess. I don't understand their attitude, we don't cost them anything and we bring a lot of money in, but although there we have met some nice people, by and large they are aggressive and out to rip us off at any and every opportunity. Bars have two prices, one for the Cypriots and one for the Brits. Is it like this in Spain?

Cheers

Milly