Bast place to live in Spain

Okay, what's the best place to live and work (from Home) in Spain? Have three children under 4 years, so good schools etc. Don't want to live in a city... a bit more quiet than that... what are your thoughts? ~ Good looking from Cornwall!

Hi,

The best place, there are so many depends what you want to do etc.  If you work from home you can be any where, you just need to have a look around at areas and do some homework 1st.

Around most coastal regions there are international schools or the state schools are ok so I hear, even better for your children as they are young and so will pick up the lingo rapido..

check out the mar menor, it has expanded but with that it has brought in better facilities but it's not over developed like some areas.   its as good as it gets.

Good luck, do your research and if it all weighs up; go for it 

kind regards

Spain is huge and so diverse and most of us can normally only comment on the area that we live in ourselves.

We live in the Manilva area.  It is quiet and close to Marbella, Malaga, Gibraltar, etc, so it's in quite a good location.

Estepona, a small town nearby, is very popular and has good schools.  Very nice place.

Areas like Banalmadena and Fuengirola are more lively as they attract a lot more tourists but we quite like them too.

Have you visited any areas that you like yet?

Justin

I agree that Spain has got a lot to offer, paricularly along the Mediterranean Coast.  I've  enjoyed a couple of holiday is Costa del Sol, but now visit Cost Blanca south regularly. I particularly like Torre de la Horadada, where both Costa Blanca and Costa Calida meet.

The aea is very quiet, yet close to all sorts of amenites and with goods transport links to the cities of Murcia and Cartagena. I particularly like the building restrictions put in place some years ago (hight limit 3 storeys). Torre de la Horadada also has countless parks, and plenty of Spanish street markets nearby.

Defenitely a place to consider, especially for older couples or families with young children.

Personally don't think one can beat living in a village near Lorca,Murcia.                                                                                               Excellent road and rail links to both the beautiful resort of Aguilas and Murcia City and 99% Spanish.  However the best advice is to come here on a extended holiday,avoiding the holiday hotspots which can be dead out of season and find the place you would be happy to call "home".

We have an apartment in Sucina, Murcia, a very nice village with School, shops etc.

There is also an English community which mix very well with the Spanish people, (a lot of them have learned or are learning the language) so you wouldn't feel totally isolated or homesick, but on the other hand wouldn't feel like you were in Essex with sunshine (Marbella and Puerto Banus).

There are excellent road links to Murcia airport and the coast (both 15 minutes), however I would say that you definitely need a car as the bus service is virtually non-existent.

Hi there,

I guess everyone has their favourite places and Spain is such a wondeful and varied country it's hard to choose.

I agree with some of the other writers that the area around Murcia is beautiful - including the city itself.

However we live - when time allows - North of Alicante and close to Altea.

This part of the coast leading up to Valencia is stunning with places like Denia, Javea and Moraira that have quite a large British contingent.

The Costa Blanca North which includes Benidorm is often criticised but it is certainly well worth a look.

I agree that you may want to avoid some holiday hotspots, but it really depends on what you are looking for.  My advice, if you are looking at places that you have enjoyed when on holiday, would be to visit them off season and see if they are totally dead and whether you would be bored there.  However if you have stayed somewhere off season and thought it was lovely, not too full of tourists, then maybe you need to visit it during the school holidays to see if it has changed!  It´s all a matter of personal choice.

We live in Jumilla, which is inland in the northeast of Murcia, and we are very happy there, however it may not suit everybody.  John´s daughter & her husband, and his niece, visited Spain recently.  They particularly liked Calpe, however I wonder what it would be like there in the summer months, as it was very lively even on a Sunday at the end of January!  Fiona, John´s niece, wanted to see Benidorm and when we first drove down there she was quite impressed - she thought it was lovely and not at all what she expected.  We then went to a different part of Benidorm, which was very tacky, and she said that was what she had been looking  for!

Sue

Hi Justcolour,

I have been living in Granada for 17 years and I wouldnt live anywhere else. Andalucia and Granada within it has everything: sunshine, great food, happy zippy people who just want to have fun all the time, a remarkable history and cultural heritage, beaches, skiing, beautiful mountains..... I can scuba dive and windsurf. I can get out into the hills within a few minutes of where we live.

We have children and we are treated like heroes in shops restaurants and in the street. We go for picnic quite frequently or down to the coast to gaze at the sea, each fresh sweet plump prawns with a bottle of chilled white wine, or play buckets and spades with the kiddies.

I can swim out in fresh water lakes just a few minutes from where we live under the forest covered mountains.

We walk to the shop to buy bread everyday. I have a view of the river from my office. We can dine like kings in the local restaurant and go dancing all night of we want to.

Sometimes I think of my life in London where I used to work in an office and travel by tube. I think of it now as a kind of brain death. Your have to earn so much just to aneathetise yourself from the pain of living there and escape from time to time to a real place.

Sorry I didnt mean to get evangelical about it but as I started to write I got carried away. Its great living here!

John... your enthusiasm is fantastic and makes me want to jump on a plane right now... and thanks everybody else as well!