Accessible coast from Madrid
 

Hi everyone.

I am new to this forum though I have lived in Madrid for the past 18 months.

I will shortly be getting married and my wife will then be moving from the UK to Spain and we will be looking to live somewhere on the coast. The criteria are that it must be on the coast, accessible from Madrid (yes, I know that there is nowhere that is close to Madrid, but some coasts are more accessible than others), have a good ex-pat feel to the area, have nice beaches for walking the dog and good golf courses. We have been over to the Denia/Javea/Moraira area which is very nice and a possibility. I know the golf is good, but I think that the Costa del Sol between Malaga and Marbella is too developed for my liking. The availability of work will not be a problem as I will continue to work in Madrid and my wife will concentrate on improving her golf handicap.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Re: Accessible coast from Madrid
 

I would guess that your nearest connection to the coast would be via Valencia ave hi speed train or A3 Motorway.
There are lots of excellent beaches,especially just South of the city stretching as far as Cullera,a good sized town.
In between there are many very small holiday/weekend resorts next to the beaches which are very quiet outside of peak season.
I don't think dogs are very welcome on beaches anywhere now, but I do see one or two when it is quiet.
Regarding golf courses I can't advise you, other than to say that I know there are some in the area.
There is a fair sprinkling of expats around the area, but nowhere is it like little britain

Just to add that there are quite a few pleasant small towns just few kms inland where most of the expats in the area live.
You can reckon on bumping into one or two almost every day, but they certainly haven't taken over from the natives who incidently are some of the most friendly and polite folk I have ever come across.

Re: Accessible coast from Madrid
 

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?rlz=1T...ed=0CAQQtgMwAA

There you go,spoilt for choice.
They have a top notch international competition course planned by Sevy Ballesteros, and all ready to start, very close to me. but it's on hold for the moment with the crisis I presume.

Re: Accessible coast from Madrid
 

In the olden days, Madrilenos took the most direct and shortest route to the coast for their summer holidays and millions of them still do. Things have improved greatly over the years, with excellent motorway connections and a myriad of golf courses on their arrival.

I don't live far from a dual carriageway that goes direct to Madrid if you don't turn off and I can get to four golf courses within a ten-minute drive.

I live in Torrevieja. I love it, but the flak jacket gets a bit hot in the summer.

Re: Accessible coast from Madrid
 

The OP is also looking for an ex-pat area, so I would think the Denia area may be better although a bit further from Madrid

Re: Accessible coast from Madrid
 

Thanks for the replies. I think that somewhere round Denia is the most likely area, but still open to ideas.

Re: Accessible coast from Madrid
 

A lot of people from Madrid have holiday homes where we live in El Campello, just north of Alicante.

There is good motorway access and next year we will have the 2.5 hour train journey on the AVE.

The area is a good mixture of Spanish and expats (mainly British and Dutch).

Where we are, 7km north of the main town there is a hidden beach in a small bay which most tourists never find.

This maybe just the area you are looking for :D