Reccomend a town for best gastronomy / traditional food / seafood - particularly in winter months…holiday home?

The answer is obvious and it should be to you - Javea!

It appears my money doesn’t go for a enough for a 2 bed plus good sized balcony/terrace and therefore I have to consider elsewhere 

How about in between or does it have to be the Costa Blanca? There is the Costa Tropical and Almuneca in the Granada Province which is very Spanish, an all year round town and is famous for its fish restaurants. House prices are very good in that area and you'd get more for your money than many places on the Costa Blanca area. 

Round here lovely places near the sea in Calpe, Altea, Villa Joyosa etc all go for far more than that area and are also quite heavily expat oriented. 

Unfortunately there are no flights to Granada airport from Belfast which is where we live. And a journey from Malaga airport is too much sadly, especially if I was to use the apartment and only go out for a long weekend.

Hi just thought l would put my bit in - Denia is a full working town (3 hospitals and all services) and UN gourmet centre. Very Spanish with just a few restaurants/bars with international owners, the greater part Spanish. I am a fluent Spanish speaker and no matter where you go coastalwise there are always many non-Spanish, it depends on onesself - once on the Town Hall register you can join local groups - crafts, language, etc. Not sure if this helps - good luck!

Ok we will look into Denia, i suspect it would be cheaper to buy property there than javea?

thanks

Costa Blanca South. Has the best weather in winter and close to Alicante airport.

Look at Santa Pola, which is a fishing port, also Guardamar de Segura, Villajoyosa is a bit further north, but again a port and Spanish working town.

Your Euro will go further here than in Denia or Javea and the sun shines more in the winter.

Cheers, Janice

Plenty of places in Santa Pola that match your Wishlist …have a look on idealista web page …

Close to airport but not on flight path . 15 minutes drive away - around €25 in a taxi. 

Small percentage of Brit’s / Irish . Average population off season is around 33,000 so if you don’t go to the outer ends of town , there is always something going on.   Very much a Spanish working town…twice weekly market 

Blue flag beaches …Active fishing fleet - it is well known for its quality fish 

One of the driest / Sunniest towns on the whole of Costa Blanca. 

Not one of the prettiest towns but a diamond in the rough currently undergoing a lot of building refurbishment thanks to government grants . 

Have a look at La Mata. Still quite Spanish. Also popular with the Scandinavians and a splattering of Irish and English. It is about 30 mins from Alicante airport. It has good bus service into Torrevieja. About every 30 mins in the winter and maybe every 15 or 20 mins in the summer. Beautiful beach and lonely boardwalk through natural park along the sea front. About 3km north of Torrevieja which is a good sized town.