Graham gage

Hi all, We are thinking about moving to Gran Alacant by November this year. We want to relocate to Costa Blanca but have not had time to explore all the towns yet to decide where to buy a family home. We visited Gran Alacant and seemed a nice and safe place to start renting. We have a 2 year old daughter so we are wondering if there are other young families in the area? How is life over there during the winter? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

missile

Some like it, but IMHO there are better places. I guess it depends on what you are looking for?

There are many nice empty properties to rent/buy at very reasonable prices. It is well situated on the N332 close to the sea with easy access to the airport. Quiet in summer and dead in the winter.

Graham gage

Thanks for replying. I guess that there are better places/towns but we thought that it would be a good idea to rent in Gran Alacant while we explore the areas rather than moving into a town that we don't know anything about. It just seems a safe choice. Do u know where are the best areas in Gran Alacant? Thanks

missile

Hi Graham,

That would sound like a very good plan. Gran Alacant is quite a small urbanisation and there are no good / bad areas. I would avoid staying close to bars which can be noisy particularly for your young family.

In your other thread you asked about schools. As far as I am aware, the closest international school is in Ciudad Quesada. I do not have school kids, but I am told it is a very good facility. The nearest nursery school is in Rojales or Guardamar.

I am sure you would be happy in Gran Alicant, but would suggest a proper established town is better places to live, rather than on any urbanisation. I would recommend Santa Pola or Guardamar for your consideration.

Graham gage

Thanks again. Very helpful. Once we are living over there we'll have a look at the towns you suggested.

koalakim

Hi

I pop in here occasionally and saw your post about Gran Alacant.

I have friends who live there and have visited many times. It's quite big now and some of the older parts could do with a bit of a facelift. Their place is on a newer section although they've been there about 6/7 years - the house took an age to build!

They live about 10 mins walk from the shops and bars which is just about right and of course it's nice being near the airport but the planes don't fly over them.

Around where they live is a mixture of nationalities, Brits, Spanish, Dutch and Germans so it's not Little Britain. Her Dad lived on an Urb on the otherside of Santa Pola and that one seemed to attract more Brits.

They did quite a bit of research on areas before they decided where to buy plus they were lucky in that they started building before prices went sky high and subsequently back down again. I have another friend with a holiday apartment up near Moraira and although it's on top of a mountain with fab views you wouldn't want to live there all the time! I expect people do but it's not really that practical.

Renting is an excellent idea until you can find your bearings and suss out the housing. When we moved to Oz it was an eye opener to find that we needed to look for different things in a house to suit the climate etc than we did in the UK.

Our friends can't vouch for the winter there as they find it's still too cold (good job they moved from the UK these last few years!) and head off to cheap warmer places for 2 months!

Good luck, hope it all works out!

Graham gage

Thanks for replying. I think that's what we liked about it, the mixture of nationalities. Do you know the name of the street/area where your friends stay? Some people have told us that some areas are dead during the winter and we much rather live around people who live there all year round.
Hope things are working out for you too

koalakim

Hi

They live on the Monte Y Mar part, mainly individual villas but from my point of view it's a nice area, a little hilly, so it gives it some character.

I think it's important to have things around you, shops, bars etc where you can walk to. Her sister bought in a complex which has hardly anything and inland so they have to drive to go out anywhere. As I said, where my other friend bought is lovely but unless you are a mountain goat you have to take the car just to go to the local shop, easy enough to go down to but on the way back, phew!

There are a couple of bowls clubs where they've got into that, plus they do social evenings, she also does line dancing, zumba etc always seems to be plenty going on if you want it. Helps to get to know people.

As I said this is just my pov of being a visitor but not having lived there, so some other expats may disagree but we felt comfortable there as a possibility at some stage if we need to be nearer the UK.

Hope it works out okay!