emjharts

I am looking for some ideas of nice towns / villages to stay within an hour of Alicante airport. I don't mind if it is inland or coastal as long as it has kept its Spanish tradition (i.e. not been taken over by british bars and tacky shops!). I'd like for it to have plenty of Tapas bars to visit in the evenings and have a lively but not crazy atmosphere (we are in our mid thirties). I went a few years ago to a lovely mountain village called Finestrat, we did visit other places but I can't remember which place was which so any ideas would be great then I can set about looking for a private rental. Thanks!

HBG

My wife and I have done it for years. Quite often we set off from Alicante on the Madrid road, the N340. We drive for an hour to an hour-and-a-half and stop off at a reasonably sized town, without having researched anything beforehand.

It will be what people refer to as real Spain. It's lovely not to hear another English voice for a couple of days. There won't be any tapas bars, they're only found in coastal places and major cities, and local Spanish food, mainly tasty stews, won't be good for your waistline.

Local entertainment will only be on Saturdays, when the families go out to the local square to meet their neighbours. Karaoke has taken off in Spain, and you often see young children singing songs on the machines for their school friends, to rapturous applause from the parents.

We tried living in such a community but found that it wasn't for us. In any case, we love living beside the sea.

flotsum

When are you thinking of travelling? some that are lively become noisy and chaotic during a festival. Also if you go inland then you may need to look for a casa rural, we found that these were more likely to be in the type of town you describe when we were travelling spain. Inland towns can be as you described ours has many tapas bars etc but is an hour and 15 from alicante when I drive, slightly less for my husband!

billymacker

try the jalon valley

Grebo

We now live in Onil. 1/2hour from Alicante, inland. The area is beautiful, very peaceful & definitely Spanish. Your could try Tibi, Ibi, Onil, Alcoy, Xixona. Castalla has a few more Brits but the town is ok.
Be careful of renting casa rurals, make certain the owners will leave you alone.

Suzi