moving to southern spain??
 

hi all
new to the forum been interesting reading all the threads! we're thinking of moving to costa del sol prob from estapona down to la linea or the other side from cadiz down to la linea and prob try gettin work in gib seems to be the best bet??:confused:....which coast would you say was best east or west and is the west really windy beaches etc...my wife works in hr,i have a landscape gardening business but used to be a baker/bakery mgr for small firms then mgr at sainsburys and morrisons..so any advice would be good about wot its like to get jobs etc?also we have a little boy who's 3 so any advice would be good about schools and international ones that you have to pay for,is there a few to choose ,how much? etc are they good?
my dad lives in murcia for the past 5 yrs and loves the spanish side of it but i think we would like a bit of english and spanish mix ..easier i think:o
any help about any of these would be really good ..we're prob going to come over and hire a car for a recce end of oct.
ok thanks all:D

Re: moving to southern spain??
 

I think the coast between Cadiz and Gib is wonderful, but I'm biased.

Re: moving to southern spain??
 

hi where abouts are you bil? would u say u get more for your money house wise on the west coast? is it windy'er than the east as i have read that it can be quite ,do you know much about schools around the area??
thanks wayne

Re: moving to southern spain??
 

The beaches [look] nicer on the Atlantic side, but are windy and the sea is cooler. The Costa Del Sol is obviously warmer, but much more touristy and over-populated.
Personally I like the quiet stretch on the Costa Del Sol, up to Estepona.
The other direction is also nice, but you really need to get beyond Algeciras which is too long a commute to Gib for me.

Re: moving to southern spain??
 

Hi Wayne,I'm near Vejer de la Frontera, between Gib and Cadiz. I have no idea what property is going for there, as it was four years ago that we bought, and even then there were no other properties with a bit of land there that I could have compared it to. There are a lot of flats and appartments to sell, and I think that the heavy building programme at Conil will provide some cheap buys now that the market is collapsing. No info on schools, I'm afraid.It's a bit breezy, but to be honest it's quite nice and cooling. I rather think that if you are moving to Spain to work, you might find it easier on the Med coast unless your Spanish is de puta madre.There's a whole lot less expats on the S Atlantic coast, either that or they are not so obvious!

Re: moving to southern spain??
 

I havent much experience of Costa Del Sol other than when ive been it floods bigtime but much of the Atlantic coast and Costa Blanca, Bil says breezy but I wouldnt say its breezy like the UK, for me I found Costa Blanca to be hot especially the Murcia side and I found it to be very Sticky and humid, in all my times in the Cadiz Province I have found it to be hot but nice and airy. La Linea I found was one of the most pleasant places in Spain so far, I was told to be very dissapointed buy it but I liked it a lot. I was not overly keen on Algerciras mind. I think there are some nice places between Gib and Estepona such as Sotogrande for one, quite close aswell.

I dont think I could live in Gibralta I found it quite horrible to be honest, looks like we have took a nice part of Spain and made it dump.

Im glad I went, I could certainly work there but I would live on the Spanish soil.

My first impressions of Gib were quite bad but got better the more time I spent there.

Having driven about 1200 Km's to only be 2 minutes in Gib and have a Speed Camera on you is quite off putting - not that you can do much more than 20mph as its quite like driving in London but It looked to me as a police state and that put me right off, did not seem very relaxed in that way.

Im sure Gib will grow on me like other places have, but first impressions was not good

Re: moving to southern spain??
 

We flew into Gib the first time, and our first impressions were dire. Never again. Jerez is a delightful airport, and pleasant to use.

Re: moving to southern spain??
 

Yes mate, I felt disgusted honestly, I looked forward to it and I thought what have you English done here ?????

Total shithole IMO

Re: moving to southern spain??
 

You couldn't use the airport toilets, and the ones at the border were completely disgusting. Also, I didn't like the attitude of some of the people I spoke to there who were very up themselves.

Re: moving to southern spain??
 

Did you have a look around Gibralta at all ??

What were your impressions of that, I drove the first time there and leaving the touristy bit was showing some awful places, there was some funny things though.

On the way to Europa point we passed a little road where there were English type houses like you would find on a Wimpey estate, that tickled me, Seeing the Morrisons with all the usual stuff was maybe to be expected but to see it busier than any other morrisons was something else. I only went in to buy some tea bags but It was like walking round a really busy Tescos, people banging trolleys etc.

As for the people well you saw Spanish looking birds talking in English accents and English looking birds talking with a Spanish accent, a lot of people spoke both a bit of Andalucian and English together mixing words.

As for the people, yes I would say it was quite clicky and not that friendly.

I was just disgusted on the overall clenliness and lack of modernisation.

They have took all the road and driving laws there and obviously diss out tickets on a commision basis like the UK but you can still smoke in all bars and restaurants etc and other things seem to be overlooked.

A bottle of Smirnoff Vodka is £6.10, so surely a Vodka and Coke in a bar should reflect this - does it **** not where I went anyway, was UK prices.

I had a massive fillet steak in La Linea with a bottle of Wine included for 10.95€ - Similar meal in Gib was £14.50 + £9 for the wine, I thought bit out of order my self

Re: moving to southern spain??
 

Someone once told me that Gibraltar combines the worst of the Spanish with the worst of the British.

I've never been so I can't comment.

Re: moving to southern spain??
 

Well that fits with what I felt. I didn't have much of a look round to be honest, just a drive to the hotel where we were staying the night. As I say, nothing I saw gave me any desire to explore further.

Re: moving to southern spain??
 

hi all
the idea upto now is to work in gib and live in spain close by so as easy to commute..rent for a bit and find our feet with the areas before we plunge into buying if its anything to go by the british market hopefully they might be cheaper to buy by then?? any more info would be helpfull.....and any1 know anything about schooling costs ,hrs, would be helpfull.
thanks all wayne

Re: moving to southern spain??
 

Bil I'm amazed you said La Linea was the best town in the area, no actually Spain you said!!!! Surely you are joking!! Mugging's every few days, dirty, crowded and basically just a dangerous and horrible area!!!

Having said that, I am moving there so I shouldn't really be saying this - unfortunately though I have little choice.
I would also have to agree with most people's views on Gibraltar. I work here but admit it is a bit of a dump, and is pretty embarassing that its a UK territory yet despised by most.
What makes me laugh is the locals telling us all it's the next Monaco.
yeah, okay :rofl:

Re: moving to southern spain??
 

I think you'd better re check who said that .... it wasn't Bil :);)