What is Catral like

There are numerous previous opinions on this site re Catral.   To sum up:  nice people: many houses are illegal: last year there was widespread flooding: the mosquitos will eat you alive.  

Hello Denver

I am only repeating what numerous residents of Catral have already voiced on this forum and, whilst I perfectly understandable,  your defensive attitude will not prevent me having free speech in alerting a potential newcomer to the problems that you are well aware exist.   Are you now going to give a persoanl financial guarantee that there will be no more flooding in Catral?  I am sure that there will be many takers....

We have a villa just the other side of the motorway.. We are not there a great deal of the time and have owned the villa for over 10 years.. Catral as a town is friendly and the local spanish like the english.. When the building work was going on there were issues with robberies but not heard of any recently. Facilities are good and it's not congested... Flood last year was do to an engineer opening the dam gate to quickly otherwise it doesn't flood. Our property is deemed illegal but waiting legalisation by default.. We are looking to sell.  Place a lick of paint and some external light fittings replaced (The sun kills them off). Only selling as we rarely visit due to other commitments.. Overall I would recommend Catral over other areas.. Casardra is nice but very busy and further down near the golf course is nicely finished off but expensive..  Catral offers a good around location 40 mins from airport.. good access to others

Hi Wend1

We bought a house in Catral on the Campo 3 months ago after a lot of investigation and having had houses in Spain in La Marina (5 years), Quesada (12 years) and Benijófar (5 years). 

What is Catral like? We love it!! 

The town has most everything you need. Great coffee bars, Tapas Bars, Restaurants, Supermarkets, Chinese stores, Pool shop and a local Saturday Market. 

Being "more of a Spanish working town", we find prices tend to be cheaper here, especially tbe Market for fresh fruit and veg. 

Mosquitoes love me and I have learnt that spraying the garden has removed 95%+ of the problem.  Living near the nature reserve, they can be a problem but it depends how you deal with it.  A neighbour of mine had a particular problem so I leant him my equipment and he says his garden has been transformed.  

I got bitten just as much in Benijófar and Quesada, so don't take the "mosquito problem" too seriously.  Protect yourself and your property and you will be fine. 

The houses here offer amazing value for money and everything is relatively flat making cycling a pleasure on freshly tarmaced back roads. 

Would we buy again here in Catral - 100% and we have already made many new friends. 

One final thing regarding Covid. We have felt far more comfortable in Catral than in our town back in the UK.  Last night whilst at a restaurant, a group of around 15 young people were gathered.  The Police came and there was no mamby pamby "we advise this or that", they were ALL ticketed and told not to be seen again. 

The Police took nearly an hour to do their job but they took no excuses and did a great job.  My wife never went out in the UK but here she feels safe.  Other parts of Spain have bigger issues, just like towns and cities in the UK but at least you know where you stand here.  If you don't wear a mask don't be surprised to get a fine. 

Wishing you well in Catral.