My wife and I have narrowed our search down for places to live in Spain but still need some help from the forum, please.

The list is as follows; Malaga,Almeria,Cartagena,Torrevieja,Alicante,Altea,Xabia/Javea,Denia,Valencia

From your experience which city/location best satisfies the following criteria;

good choice of local schools for my two kids (aged 10 & 7), safe environment to live in, good beaches/shopping/nightlife, and where my kids can learn Castilian Spanish without the influence of too much regional accent.

If any members have experience of living in any of these places I would love to hear your comments.

Many thanks for any help that you can give.

Hi, I’m not an expert on beach areas and from your list it looks like you’re concentrating on the costas, but here’s my two-pennyworth.  Malaga is a sophisticated city with just about everything you could want, and it’s very Spanish despite proximity to the big resorts. Like any big city it has some crime and some outer neighbourhoods are a bit ugly and rough, while others are very expensive. The Spanish spoken is pretty standard for Andalucia - folk from Granada think Malaguenos are rather formal.  Almeria is another pleasant city, again a bit rough around the edges, and a lot of the province is covered in plastic greenhouses which are an eyesore.  However, it has the Cabo de Gata nature reserve with unspoilt beaches, good diving etc.  Inland you’ve got desert and hills going up to mountains in the Alpujarra.  Strong accent but nothing too weird. Cartagena struck me as quite interesting but a bit rundown (the city) and spoilt by development around golf courses around the fringes (you might like that; I don’t personally), standard Southern-accent Spanish as far as I can tell. Inland, Murcia city is only half an hour or so and is a lovely city, while the countryside around there is pretty, too.  Torrevieja is full-on mass tourism, retirement villas, holiday-home hell.  Beyond there as you go north-east up the coast, you’re entering Valencia and you have two languages - as you can see when you look at the map and many cities have two names like Alicante/Alacant or Elx/Elche.  Although the Valencian dialect of Catalan is an official language of the Comunidad, it’s not universal like it is up in Catalunya itself and in many areas Castilian is predominant - I guess the Catalan gets stronger as you move North. There’s also a huge influx of Brits and other ex-pats on the Costa Blanca - maybe you want that, but be warned.

Why did you skip Granada? It’s better than all the places on your list - not massively expensive, good beaches and mountains, reasonably pure Spanish (by Andalucian standards), not too many ex-pats, but a few to network with etc. etc.

Fab info (as usual).

Really appreciate it.

Thanks mate.

Hi,

I can agree with some of the info provided above, but just inland from Torrevieja you can get some nice villages which retain the Spanish feel but you still get a small number of expats. There are places like Almoradi, Catral, Algorfa just name a few who still have not been spoilt by to many Brits.

All these places are within easy reach of the motorway, two airports and the beach.

Have a look at them.

Dave

Thanks Dave.

Useful info.

Hi, We have just come back from a 1000 mile car journey around the costa Blanca, it wasn’t planned as such, but we went to Benicassim the other side of Valencia and decided we didn’t like the area as it was too industrial for us.  We decided to drive
down to Benidorm along the coast and then go inland.  Loved Gandia, fantasic beach. Approaching Benidorm not for us, so we
went inland towards Xatvia stopping at all the villages along the way.  Spent the night in Gandia and resumed the next day into
the mountains.  Absolutley beautifull area, people were really friendly and scenery stunning.  Xatvia was a real find, although we
didn’t have a lot of time there what we saw was lovely. Great shops, restaurants, parks and very lively. We didn’t hear an english voice for 4 days but after coming back and cruising the internet there seems to be a good mix of Brits in this area. If you position yourself between Gandia and Xativa you have the best of both worlds.  The property is also reasonably priced (depending on what you are looking for). We have an 8 year old boy and were unsure of the schooling and we were going to go for the international schools, but have changed our minds since visiting the area, as we think it will be easier for him to intergrate by attending a local
spanish school. If anyone is reading this from that area can they recommend any schools please!.  We are planning to go out this year as soon as our house is sold.

Hope this helps a bit