Hi All. Just come back from a brilliant holiday (as usual) in Benidorm, but surprised this time at the average age of the holiday makers. I'm in my sixties and they all looked to be around forty plus! I think the days of all the crowds of teenagers and stag parties are long gone. The whole town looks as tired as the holiday makers!! even Beni palace could only scrape the barrel with Richard Clayderman as top billing.

We used this holiday mainly as a reccy to find an area we would like to retire to next year and Albir looks to be a lovely area but not to sure about Altea.

One Question though: As it was so hot we enjoyed the air con being on in the hotel room. We mentioned this to a local resident and they claim that it's far to expensive to use on a regular basis.

Is that the general opinion on air con?

Regards

We have central aircon in our house and can only use it when we absolutely have to as it pushes the electric bill up far too high.This summer we have used more fans..the july bill was reasonable..waiting for the october bill now which we always dread.

If your aircon is the inverter type then they are much cheaper to run, the places with central aitcon are really to be avioded as, usually, it's impossible to cool only one room. We lived in Albir for a few months, nicer than Altea but there is a regular bus service between the two. We had an apartment where we could leave the front door open, and the doors of the conservatory at all times we were in, this meant a through breeze that did help. Even though it was a ground fllor apartment, the door had a security grill that could be locked while the apartment door was open.

Rule of thumb - it gets hotter, fast, as you move inland. Our house fights the heat (a bit) by having thick walls and small windows. We don't have air-con and find the summer hot but bearable...
Albir and Altea are both nice I think...