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Hello and welcome to Íæż½ã½ã forum Jude

Concerning your search of rental, I invite you to drop an advert in the Housing in Alicante section of the site as well as check out real estate professionals recommended by members in our business  directory:

> Real estate in Alicante

Regards
Kenjee
Íæż½ã½ã

Hi Jude

There are quite a few nice villages and towns just inland of Alicante city

We live in the pottery village of Agost , but there are many other villages quite near to the costa

I guess it depends if you want to be more in a Spanish community or more amongst other ex pats

Really the best thing to do is come over hire a car and go exploring to see which area you like first

Cheers Tony

Thanks Tony
I did recently visit and hired a car and looked around and there were some areas I liked more than others although still open to other options! Quite like the small towns/villages like formentera and benijofer.
Any help would be appreciated
Cheers
Judith

Hi Judith

I can only comment on the area that I am in and

I think some of the good points are

1 Still very Spanish
2 close to Alicante city for shops etc
3 not to high , as high areas can get cold in  the winter
4 25 min to the beach and airport
5 our village has medical centre, small supermarkets etc

Any way good luck with the move !!

Cheers Tony

Hello,

I had good experiences with a local company for relocation, it is located in Valencia and works throughout Spain. It is called Globexs. They could help you out with buying and renting a house. They can also give suggestions regarding location and so on.

Hi Jude,

Well done you for being able to retire early.   I live part-time between Hondon de las Nieves (inland from Alicante about 30 minutes drive, great little village) and Canterbury, in England.  We live on the urbanisation La Montanosa and I know that there are many really good villas here for rent or for sale, I believe that Hondon Valley villas handles many of these, but there are other agencies as well.  Our village has a big supermarket (Hyperbar) as well as a Bodega,  where you can buy really good red wine (we like the Sangre de Toro) in refillable plastic bottles, straight out of the oak barrels,  5.5 euros for 5 litres, so we never buy bottles anymore.   Also good restaurants in nearby villages, Novelda, and Hondon de las Frailles. 

Living up here in the mountains is fantastic,  the views are fabulous and it is easy to get anywhere from here as the roads are great and traffic minimum.   Regardless of where you live in Spain,  you really need a car.  Also the air quality up here in the mountains is amazing,  they say it is because of the salt flats (salinas) in Santa Pola (next city up from Alicante0.  We find Alicante and the coast too crowded and also property quite expensive, you get much more for your money inland from the coast, whether you buy or rent.   Most villas for rent here have pools, and there are great walks to have all around.  Depends what you want.   Am happy to go into greater detail as to what to do around here, great places to visit, good restaurants etc.

Good luck, 

Terrylee

Hi Terrylee,
We visited Hondon de la Nieves last May and ate in Aspe. We saw a nice villa but too isolated from neighbours and also an urbanization.
In Belgium, we live in a quiet village with some neighbours around. Do you live in an urbanization ? We are looking for a villa not far from all commodities. We return in Spain mid November for several months and hope to find something nice to rent first.

Thanks for your help.

Nathalie

Hi Nathalie,
We live on the urbanization La Montanosa.   It is in ideal location,  sandwiched between the 2 villages, Hondon de las Nieves and Hondon de las Frailles.    I can highly recommend it.  Very safe and short bike ride or drive to the big supermarket in Nieves.  Also there is bodega in Nieves, restaurants, commodities and same in Frailles but no Bodega.   I would not recommend renting in the campo (countryside)  it is too isolated,   too many barking dogs which most campo owners seem to have to have ( in packs, they can never have just one) and also they seem to always have break-ins.  Safer on the urb  so the urb would be a great place to rent at and to check out the surrounding area.   

Happy to answer any more questions you might have. 

Terrylee

Thanks Terrylee for your answer. We will go around La Montanosa. You said it's freezing in January and February, how cold is it there ? In Bastogne, winter can be very hard and it also snow; we really don't want to deal with cold again !!

How far is La Montanosa from Aspe and Alicante ? Do you speak spanish, I do; I learned it in Maryland when I was an exchange student. Did you find easily your house in Spain ? I find expat.com really helpful for people who want to live in an other country and to chat with people.

Have a nice evening.
Nathalie

HI Nathalie,

January can be very cold in the morning and evenings and then the sun comes out and it warms up,  not sure what the temperature is but I feel the cold (am originally from San Diego, California) and wear jeans, top, and heavy cardigan in January.   February for me is bitter,  the main problem is that the houses here are not built for the cold.   They do not seem to have cavity wall insulation, central heating etc etc.   It is as cold as it is in England in February, without the rain and the damp.   Most expats who live in Spain in the winter have put in central heating and have big log burners.  They also have really thick rugs that they put on the floors for the winter.  One of my friends has put a wooden floor over the tiled floor in their bedroom which makes a big difference.   

La Montanosa is about 30 minutes drive from Alicante and 15 minutes from Aspe.   We often go to Aspe as just off the roundabout is an Aldi supermarket,  which in this area at least has the best fresh veg and fruit and everything else they sell (as in England) is significantly cheaper.   

I speak enough Spanish to get by,  am not fluent,  but I remember alot as I took it in high school in San Diego,  and when I am in Spain, it comes back to me.   I believe that it is important to speak the language of the country you are in,  so it is excellent that you speak Spanish.   Also many smaller restaurants and shops and out in the campo, Spanish don't speak English, so it is useful to have some Spanish.   

My boyfriend's sister had a house on the urb in La Montanosa, and we had stayed there on several occasions so when we decided to buy in Spain, we looked here.   We also looked at Mojacar,  on the coast, where another one of my friends has a semi-, but she was in a complex with a shared pool and it was horrible, the beach was crowded and even though the signs said the communal pool was closed at 12 midnite,  the Spanish children were in the pool up to 2am so we never got any sleep.   

We also looked inland from Almeria, in a place called Arboleas,  but in the end we preferred the mountains and the area here.   

My blog is on the expat.com site under blogs,  you could have a look as I have done some posts about the area.  It is called Canterbury tales and Spanish Siestas. 

Best

Terrylee

Does anyone know playa de la Mata near Torrevieja ? Nice market to go around and sport activities nearby ? Thanks for any advice.