Of corse I will certainly vistit both before making a decision but seeing as i live in australia currently its a bit hard just for a quick visit.

I just thought if people could tell me their thoughts it could save me looking futher at one of the area. Therefore I am using this site just to gain an insite to other peoples thoughts (i did this prior to moving to perth and it certainly helped, we eliminated several suburbs before we arrived).

Thank you for that, did it take them long to pick up the language?

I would love to put my two in the state school system but seeing at they will be 9 and 10, we have decided to put them into an international school.

But learning the lanuage is certainly something we want them to do.

they were both rabbiting away within a couple of terms at school - it did help too that they played with Spanish kids outside school & in the summer holidays - many british kids don't speak a word of Spanish during the 12/13 week holiday - something the teachers complain bitterly about in Saptember

at the ages of your children though, you're making absolutely the right decision

It must be the most traumatic experience ever to be dumped in a school in a foreign country amongst people from a different culture - who most likely will know each other and have already made friends - and not knowing the language either. Going to a new school is bad enough.

kids are amazingly resilient - the younger the better though

my younger dd was 4 when she started at the International school - hated it with a vengeance - that really was traumatic

from day 1 in Spanish school she couldn't wait to get there & give the teacher a cuddle - not at all traumatic

way more traumatic for the parents usually

I've lived in Javea and now live some eight miles from Playa Flamenca, which I know rather well.

On the face of it, Javea wins by a mile, it's a much nicer place all round, but Playa Flamenca has its attractions too; for one thing it is much cheaper, your housing costs would be less than half of what they would be at the northern end of the Costa Blanca.

The easiest way to describe the difference between the two places is that the bank managers live in Javea, and the bus drivers in Playa Flamenca.