Bettlee

Hi I am currently living in Fuengirola, Malaga but I'm planning to escape the coast and move to the mountains! the two areas I'm looking at are Ronda (and surrounding) or La Alpujarra, Granada. I'm looking for any help or advice you can give me on life in these areas especially any info you can give on Long term rentals available?.

Thanks

Hillybilly

Both are very lovely in their own ways.
The Alpujarras are stunning scenery-wise. Possible downsides are the extreme cold in the winter (sometimes snowbound) and the remoteness by which I mean long, winding, often precipitous mountain roads to get anwhere, roads which are often blocked by landslides too. Orgiva is a popular, hippyish town.
The Ronda region is tamer (both for landscape and climate) but still very pretty, more accessible and Ronda itself is a lovely town.
The Ronda region is the more expensive of the two.

fionamw

Not really - we looked at both & discounted the Alpujarras on the grounds of distance from airport (& oh was a bit dubious about quite how alternative some folk's lifestyles were.... don't blame me!) and Ronda on the grounds I thought there were too many people in the general area for my liking! Alpujarras are blessed with more water than many areas, though...

Bettlee

Thanks for the input.... kind of looking for a change in weather to be honest after a few years here on the coast, quite fancy experiencing 'Seasons' again!

agoreira

Not quite sure what you mean there. Can you explain? Are you talking about the town, the campo? We holiday there a lot, and have certainly never found the campo congested, quite the opposite. Just about anywhere away from the concrete jungle that is the CDS, must seem positively deserted!

fionamw

Just horses for courses, really it's down to personal preference - we looked (only) at campo houses around Ronda & the 'feel' of the amount of traffic actually near the town itself seemed too busy for my personal liking. Having said that, though you're right there are numerous horrendous bits of the CdS, there are unspoilt undeveloped beaches with not a chiringuito or car park in sight - just have to find 'em!

Veleta

You don't say what your motives are for wanting to escape the costa, but if it is to escape the tourists then I think Ronda would be a mistake. It is teeming with foreign tourists.

Bettlee

That's a good point actually as we are hoping to escape the hoards of tourists so I suppose Ronda is a total tourist trap? other motivations for moving are escaping the concrete jungle, fresh mountain air, property with outside space for us and the dog etc etc

fionamw

With regards to fresh mountain air, you may well have already thought of this, but I'd caution you just to make sure to spend some winter weeks wherever you're looking, so you have a clear idea of how different the temperatures and indeed weather can be away from the coast. (..and in this instance I speak from only 40mins from Malaga yet shivering in my thermals & wishing for double glazing central heating etc etc in Jan/Feb!!)

Jaques2go

[QUOTE=fionamw;7911686]Not really - we looked at both & discounted the Alpujarras on the grounds of distance from airport (& oh was a bit dubious about quite how alternative some folk's lifestyles were.... don't blame me!)

.........what kind of alternative lifestyles - just interested?

agoreira

I don't think there is much of Andalucia I haven't seen, and Ronda strikes me no different to any other sizeable town really, they can all get pretty congested at times, but as you say, we all see it differently. We always stay well outside the town, but generally go into Ronda most evenings for a meal and find it fairly quiet, especially when all the tour buses have headed back down to the coast. Many years ago we used to stay in Benahavis, but gave up on that place when it ceased to be a pleasant little village and became a building site, and the traffic around San Pedro area put us right off. We rarely, if ever, visit any part of CDS nowadays, I find it all pretty depressing, I can understand why the OP would want to move. But many thousands love it there, and that's what it's all about, choices.

whitelinen

I am sure the concept of double glazing and central heating has reached inland

agoreira

[QUOTE=Jaques2go;7913309] Hippies? New age types, Buddhist monastery, there are all types up there! Not sure it would put me off though, they are hardly likely to cause you problems. Each to their own.

agoreira

Ronda can certainly be busy during the season, during the day, but if you are in the campo in that area, you'd hardly be aware of it, as you'd spend very little time there. Málaga is manic, but how often do people go there, only when you have to. As fionamw says, some of these places inland can be incredibly cold, and unless you build or reform yourself, the houses don't seem built to stand the cold!

jackytoo

Better make sure your neighbours aren't Brits if you want a quiet life Check out the nearest neighbours anyway, for dogs. Everyone I know in the campo is plagued by barking dogs day and night.