Little pieces of advice.

Hi,

Just back from Condado after completing on our penthouse.  Would like to offer you two  little pieces of advice/information that may save you some time.

1. When arriving at the airport send one person for luggage while the other goes to queue for your car hire.  This will save a lot of time as we found out to our cost. We waited for our luggage and ended up last in the queue and had to wait nearly an hour for our car.  We booked through Carjet which seemed to be the most popular as all the  other carhire company desks were empty.  We flew into San Javier airport.

2. If going over to complete would advise staying near to PW Head Office and not in Pt.  Mazarron as it is too far from most places to be convenient. Great for Condado but that is all really. 

3. San Javier airport has a cash machine but charges for withdrawls, it has basic eating facilities and a very basic duty free.  We had never flown into this airport before and didn't know what to expect, but now we know.

Hope this helps
Ali

If you are going to complete on Condado why not stay on Condado

There are several people who have already completed on the Jardines and furnished.

You can get familiar with the resort and surroundings whilst furnishing your own pad.

Try the following searching condado de Alhama on the rental websites i.e holidaylettiongs.co.uk

if you need more specific then PM me

San Javier airport is also mosquito riden
Pete

Hi Anthony,

Condado is still a hell of a way from PW head offfice and not convenient for a lot of the big furniture shops either.  When we booked our flights our building had not even been started, so didn't see much point in living on a building site, that now is not the case.  As we have our keys when we come back out in December we will be staying in our own pad.

Ali 

Spent 4 days at our apartment (Jardine 4). Slept on an airbed and sleeping bag. On had water and aircon. Had not lighting so had to buy a lamp. I agree you co get a better feel for how good C d A will be. I was going to try the pool but didn't want to risk hyporthermia

Graham

Agreed about the car rental probs at san javier. First time we did i thought my blood would boil, took nearly as long to get the car as the flight took from the UK. Ridiculous. We now employ similar tactics and throw in to the mix some fast walking from the plane and overtaking folks to get to the front of the passport queue. I can also recommend going with Gold Car. Not always the cheapest but no queues, would rather spend 10 extra euros and ge the car this millenium. 

This message was last edited by PhilDeb on 10/20/2008.

I agree with Pete about the mosquitos in San Javier airport , although I would call them vampires,
Another tip, Anyone flying out of above airport with any of the cheap airlines should visit the Subway sandwich shop for a 12 inch roll for the plane , so you wont starve on the way home , get your hot tea on board and whip out the roll,, should see the look on their faces   ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,lol...
Ken

Pool was more than warm enough for me a couple of weeks ago

There is nothing like furnishing the apartment and staying in it as you do so.

Being a  builder i  have no issue in doing so. 

We arrived in the evening and only had candles for lights for the first night but cheated by having beds delivered prior to our arrival The hardest part of the week was actualy working in the August heat  we had to take frequent san miguel breaks to cool down.

Back in August the pool was the only way to cool down as no air con was fitted. To dive in the pool at 6am after sleeping and sweating all night was an absoloute pleasure. The pool was cooler in October but still ok.

For those who are not prepared to rough it, as i said earlier in the thread there are several properties on the resort available for rent. For those completing on their properties over the next few months or sorting Nie ect we wish we could have stayed on the resort instead of miles away on some other resort.

Search the holidaylettings site search - Spain - Costa Calida - Condado de Alhama.

Cutting accross country to Polaris head office will take 30 minutes not to sure why you need to visit head office as if you have any issues there is customer service on site you just need to pester them to get your issues sorted. 

Murcia city is 30 minutes from Condado

Cartagena has furniture shops.

The furniture shops want your business and will deliver anywhere or go somewhere else.

Never experienced any issues at San Javier either (must just be lucky) 

Hi everyone,

We got back from Condado on Saturday night after spending a very busy week out there.  My kids were in the pool every day, it took me 3 days to pluck up the courage.  Once you're in it's not too bad as long as you keep moving.

We were very please with the progress being made so far, but were not impressed with the bar staff or the prices in the bar.  Pint of lager, glass of wine and 2 cokes was 12 euros but the same round in Camposol was 6 euros.  The bar staff want everyone out by 11 O'clock, on Friday night the bar man told us he had closed at 10.40 but we persuaded him to let us have 1 last drink, but other people asked for another round as well and he was complaining bitterly.  Bit of a poor show considering there are no other facilities on site, people were still arriving at the bar after 10.40 to find that they could not get a drink.  By the time you have been out for a meal it does not give you chance to get back and have a few drinks.  Personally the only reason I bothered with it is because it was nice to meet up with some of the other owners and share stories/ideas/tips etc.  We met some loveley people.  The bar staff do not tell anyone that they should be ordering their last drinks either.

The mosquitos were bad at San Javier Airport, I was bitten several times while waiting to board the plane and there were loads inside the plane before take off.

Alison

I would also recommend staying on site when you are completing or furnishing. We've just furnished ours and to be onsite for deliveries and more importantly to chase the final snagging items...and if you need a place to stay I can recommend a two bed and a three bed depending on your requirements :) Good thing as well is the site is a midpoint for Murcia (IKEA etc) and Cartagena - we ended up using Media Markt/Leroy Merlin at Murcia and Cartagena!!!