Our new life in the sun! - Page 3

The La Mata side of Torrevieja comes highly recommended. An old fishing village which is now an extents of Torrevieja. Miles of natural sandy beaches run along this coastline and a superb bus service running regularly into Torrevieja although you could walk if you enjoy regular exercise a lot of the walk in a great boardwalk.

The beach is within walking distance with no busy motorways to cross.lots of restaurants, bars, coffee shops open along the boardwalk all year round. 

Torrevieja is a promontory reaching out to sea. La Mata is on the left of it while all the recently built ex pat areas are on the right of it including Villa Martin leading down the coast towards Cartagena....the Orihuela Costa.  

You have so many wonderful and unique places to choose from.  Pick your area and take your time deciding the type of property you should buy. Be wise with your choice and you won’t regret it. 

Good hunting. 

A willing buyer and a willing seller will determine price.

Your lists of local sightseeing areas is impressive and anyone anywhere could include their own lists. It will prove however that you certainly need to have your own transport as there is no bus services other than at the main through roads. It does also restrict any evening entertainment which you would need to travel to by car or taxi. 

 You certainly do get the same drunkenness as other major holiday destinations and not just Benidorm and it's often concentrated at the Plaza. I have seen it first hand. It was only a year or so ago that there was some violence and a tourist was stabbed to death there.

Steve 

Really?   On our side of town, we seem to attract the slightly older and civilised people who vacate restaurants and bars by 11 pm. Of course, there are some bars that stay open later but in all the years that  we have been in Torrevieja, we have Never seen or heard of drunken / fighting behaviour anywhere. As a post script I will add, thank goodness. Most properties are owned and used by people who want to be back in bed before midnight!  Sounds boring to some but normal to most of us. That’s what I love about the La Mata area, it appeals to families who come to relax and have a wonderful holiday.

i will add that there are bound to be some idiots in every resort....just keep them away from me.

Re your original post re finding as much info as possible...search for Jim's guides. They have helped us immensely. There are items you didn't know that you need to know about.... personal tax, CGT, identity cards, residentia vs 2nd home owner, healthcare etc.

Have fun and I hope it all works through for you. 

Yes really Grannyrose, 

For your and anyone else's information:

https://www.euroweeklynews.com/2018/04/23/brit-man-faces-in-prison-in-spain-for-stabbing-army-medic-to-death-in-costa-blanca-bar/amp/

Steve 

Good luck finding your new home, afraid you will find a number of Private Frazers on this forum. 

Thanks Steve

I hadnt heard of this sad business. I love a few glasses the same as many others but in moderation!  I remember at school being taught the different ways that alcohol affect people. We learnt the Latin phases but translated some people laugh, others cry, some fall asleep, some are sick, some fight and some become morose. Alcohol is a depressant but most of us refuse to believe this fact. This incident says it all.   A night out brings death and life in prison for another. What a shocking waste of 2 lives which have a knock on effect and destroys their families lives forever. A sad , sad story   As I said, I am glad we don’t have any big areas designed for huge gatherings of revellers. 

Haha thank you 👍🏻

Villamartin and Orihuela costa might be OK for some - but it's as far far away from being anything like 'Spain' - little Britain springs to mind. OK if your thing?  I lived/rented in that area for 6 months - plenty to do in the summer (but noisy not when you always when you want it to be) - the difference between living somewhere and being on holiday - no culture or Spanish feeling, no fiestas.

La Zenia is not a town or village - but a long parade of bars shops and restaurants, designed to suck up money from tourists.  Good to visit, but would I live there? No - tried it for 6 months.

Villamartin - is for golfers and ex-pats who want to pay a premium for the local holiday priced restaurants in the plaza - again - good for a visit or holiday - but living somewhere permanently and a 2 week jolly are not the same. 

If you do want to have a little more 'Spanish' in your living in Spain - there are plenty of small-mid sized Spanish towns near or on the coast, which have all the fiestas, Spanish culture, cheaper property, food and drink and are 10-15 mins inland. Many of these villages have an ex-pat community and give you both options of integrating more with the Spanish, but also have the convenience of being near other ex-pats & ex-pat services - such as your Indian takeaways & all the usual type of international eateries you would expect.

After my 6 month stint in La Zenia - the nail in the coffin for me in that location is the N332 and traffic in the summer is horrible, combine that with people screaming past my door at 3 am singing football songs, made me realise ok for holiday - but long term. I ended up in a little Spanish village, las Heredades, near Formentera/Almoradi/Rojales - population 600, 10 mins drive to the beach & close enough to everything you need as well as being 25 mins from Alicante airport. Properties cheaper, people little more chilled, traffic-less - bars half the price of Villamartin. I can get to Alicante town centre in 30 mins odd, which is far more interesting the 'La Zenia Boulevard' shopping mall & that I can get to with a 15-minute motorway drive (or 25 min b road).

It's good to take your time, perhaps rent for a while - get to know areas. The issue will be everyone will recommend their own preferred area - of course, & while I think living permanently in La Zenia would be tortuous, many others would not agree with my opinion ;-)  Personally, I came to Spain to live in Spain - not some twisted version of the UK in Spain - otherwise i'd have headed straight to Benidorm.