Hi all,

Myself and my partner are planning to move to Spain around May time next year. My step mother is Spanish and her family are from the Malaga region, which is where she has suggested we move to. We are visiting the area for 2 weeks at the end of January to hire a car and do some research. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

My partner works abroad on a 4 week rotation and so I will be by myself for 4 weeks at a time, which I don't mind but want to make sure we move to a good area that will allow me to meet people. I am currently learning Spanish and would like to live in an area which still has strong Spanish community. We are taking our dog and again any advice on areas which have good parks, dog facilities and access to green area's would be great as he requires a fair amount of exercise.

I guess what I am really looking for is advice on the best areas to explore around Malaga when we come over in 4 weeks time. I want to make sure we are making the most of our visit and get as much as possible out of it.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Ester

Hi Ester

We are hoping to move to inland Malaga in Feb and are now looking for somewhere to rent for a few months in order to really get to know various villages and towns before committing to buy. This was the advice given to us by a lot of people during our own research for the last couple of years, which we agree is the way to possibly avoid a buying mistake. We did fall in love with a place in the mountains but that fell through recently and although we are disappointed it is probably for the best.

The area I like is up to an hour from Malaga airport, with the place we found in the North of an area called the Axarquia. There are dozens of villages and also plenty of larger towns with medical and other facilities.

What is right for you will not be right for others, so my advice is to try and build up a picture about what it is that you want as you visit different areas, rather than be led by what is right for other people, who will have different background, experience likes and dislikes to you.

For us, we have decided we prefer mountain to sea views, which makes a big difference to where we look. We also have a dog, which makes a difference (for the dog I think inland is better as the climate at higher altitude is a little cooler and there is more countryside to walk and explore).

Take lots of time to check out the different villages and towns (a great fun way to do research, we have found. Lots of nice restaurants to try) spend time just sitting at different times of the day etc. I suppose what is needed is the same as you would do at home but sometimes we are rushed because of the need to travel to Spain to do searches. We are visiting in Jan to view some rental places and then make the move to give us 6 to 12 months to search for the right place. Maybe we'll rent for longer if necessary but there won't be a need to be rushed into anything and we can also react if a good property comes up.

Good luck in your search and maybe we'll bump into you walking your dog one day.

You normally get a bit more for your $ East of Malaga than West, then, once you go inland prices do get lower against Coastal areas! Are you in good health? Its worth thinking about as the further inland you are the further you will be from DR's & hospitals should you need them! Are you coming for the warm weather? The further inland you go the colder the winters will be! Learning the language will almost certainly be more important inland than on the Coast! Living inland is easier if you have a car! Is WIFI easily available if you need it? Good luck

Hi, we are both in our late 20's and in good health so are not too worried about being further from a hospital or doctor. We don't mind being further inland as both drive but don't want to be too far from the coast or busier towns for restaurants, bars etc. The weather is a bonus and of course we are looking forward to getting away from the cold Scottish weather but it is not our sole reason for relocating. Both of us have done a bit of travelling but have always said we would like to give living abroad a go. Spain seemed like a good choice as I have family there and it's not too far from home if we need to pop home ever. Thanks for your help though, I'm sure we will have a better idea after our visit in January.

Good luck with your move, we too are moving from Scotland to Southern Spain. We have managed to rent an apartment for a few months until end of may, during which time we will hopefully travel to differnt areas and see which areas we would like to settle in, if the area we are renting is not for us. This has been a long time in the making for us, and I really can't wait till 16th January to be on the plane and finally doing this.

Aw good luck. It will no doubt be the same for us, the first year will be a time to explore and find our feet and somewhere we want to be. It's all a bit daunting at the moment, but like you I'm excited for a new adventure. Hope everything works out for you.

we moving dec next year ish sooooooo cant wait

Hi and a warm welcome to the Spanish forum on BE. Myself and Fred James are the moderators for the Spanish forums whilst BEVS moderates Europe. Moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. This is so that members gain the information that they are looking for and find their experiences on the forums to be friendly and worthwhile.

Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderator who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are usually friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge about the issues of living in Spain. I hope that you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

It's great that on this forum there are so many like minded individuals. Can you give any tips on how you got a place and what you paid, deposit etc? Thanks.

I lived in Estepona for a number of years and I found it to be a very Spanish town yet it had an expat community. It is not far from Gibraltar where delicacies like tottie scones, Tunnocks wafers and irn bru can be bought in Morrison's. It is 1 hour from Malaga

I found that you need to use a range of phrases in Google searches, both english and spanish in order to find the agents. We are going to see some rental places in a couple of weeks so I can feedback on the agencies we are trying to arrange appointments with. You can search by price up to etc. so you can see the range available for your budget. A couple have got back to us but you do have to chase and we're still waiting to hear from some (I suppose that may be due to the holidays). They all seem to focus on different areas, so its not very easy but we're hoping to have between 10 and 15 places to look at over a few days and then make a decision.

Hi I'm glad I found this posting as we have been looking at property in Spain on Internet and trying to decide which area to focus on.
Gyork0206 I'd be interested to know which agents you searched to find your rental as we have decided to rent first to see where we like. Also, you said you're flying - are you shipping your furniture over? We thought that when we do move we'd take our UK car over, as we have a dog and can take her in a cabin on ferry with us.

Can anyone tell us if they are renting out their UK house and renting in Spain? Is it possible to live there before we get our pension in 3 years' time?
Does anyone work from home or know of any jobs we could do working from home?


I have so many questions but will not bombard you all now.

Two places to start searching are Kyero and Think Spain (my wife prefers Kyero, which tells you the agent on the site, whereas TS you enquire and get an email from the agent).

After many years of thinking about and looking into this we have "narrowed" our search but this is obviously after spending much time and many visits to different towns and is linked to our own personal preferences. I would not want to tell anyone where to live as what I want is not the same as you but happy to have a go at answering any questions from our perspective.

also look rightmove spain too

Petenkim are you waiting until retirement to move? We think that is the only way we'll be able to do it as jobs are almost non existent.
We will be visiting once we decide where we fancy, we want to be a bit inland from the coast but still able to get to tourist areas.