absolutely agree

almost the only people doing well that I know & need to earn a living have an income from another country

can i ask what is what about the alicante area you didnt like??

we plan to move to a town about 20 mins south of torrevieja so your experiences may be applicable to us??

I dont like Alicante itself. The area around it is a bit like I imagine the surface of the moon to look like, then the further North you get the better the countryside looks

I've never ventured to the Torrevieja area though .... well ... I've passed it on the motorway

When I fly into Alicante it always appears barren, however as you drive north towards and passed Oliva the landscape becomes much greener, due I think to underground aquifers and Roman ingenuity.
Valencia has paddy fields so there must be plenty of water.

I do like Alicante city though and can never understand how people get off the 'plane without visiting it. Its great for a weekend break.

I have a few mates and so does my wife, who have places in Torrevieja, we go there sometimes to see them when they are over in Spain, and always have a good time.

She love the market on the front that opens till late, and there is always plenty of life around.

I have no intention of moving from where I live now, but Torrevieja would not be on my PLACES TO AVOID list.

Here we go again – no, I'll try a different approach.

I don't know the exact figures, but the great majority of British expats who have come to Spain over the past 20 years have settled in certain areas, like west of Malaga, or south of Alicante.

They've chosen those areas because they provide exactly what they want from their expat lives.

A minority of British expats live elsewhere, in Spanish cities, in the mountains, or inland, because that's what they want from their expat lives.

It's a question of personal choice – none of them were forced to come to Spain and they've come from all different parts of the UK.

I must admit the motorway to the south of Alicante goes through some barren countryside, and the sea at Torrevieja is ten miles away. It gets a bit nearer at Orihuela Costa, ten miles to the south.

As you say most expats live in certain places and for a reason it is what they want, and for a lot what the can afford.

The countryside is very barren around Alicante are and Torrevieja, but that is not such a big negative for me. of course I would like to see more green but that would mean a climate more like Galicia ie not possible.

Everytime we have been to torrevieja, the the Brits we met were fine, we have got to know a lot through our mutual friends.

Also a lot of Spanish holiday makers enjoy the place and Benidorm as well, horses for courses.

I llove living where I am, CC Alicante, I like noise and bustle, and I personally would prefer to live on Torre sea front than out in the country or in a small Spanish village. It suits my personality more. I also love our place in CC Coruna, we do visit a lot of villages in Galicia, fine for a short visit, but i would hate to live there.

A view of an olive grove does nothing for my "estado de animo" but looking out over the balcony and seein terraces and people does.

As Torre is often cited as being a" brit ghetto", all the amenites are there for Britsh, to get what they want easily, which I think is a good thing. Especially for the retired, who may not be able to travel as far as before.

We have been to a fish and chips place around there Torreta, and it is one of the best British fish and chips around. The folks are friendly and there does not seem to be the "look what I got" mentality in Torre as in other places.

I like that, so as I have said before, I would not rule torrevieja out as a place to live for anyone, because everyone wants a different SPAIN.

My advice to you would be to follow your heart.If you are dead cert that you want to move then try it.Otherwise you will spend the rest of your lives wondering what it would have been like.

This is actually my 3rd time in Spain. The other 2 times I ran out of money like so many others.

So come prepared with a good sized nest egg. Dont imagine you will find work here at the mo cos I dont think you will.Many commute from the UK,men mainly,while the rest of the family live here. Not perfect but lots seem to manage it OK. Like us, having an internet based income is a godsend.

Prices in Spain are high for many things but you can cut your shopping bills if you shop wisely and avoid shops like carrefour.

You have to learn to speak some spanish because you will feel that you just dont fit in.The most simple every day thing will turn into a major hurdle because of the lack of being able to communicate.

choose your area very carefully - do you want a city life or a campo life. Both are very different and the campo life here is more extreme to that in the UK. Youll be talking depositos, rough caminos, remoteness etc.

This is one reason why we left the Alicante area. Lots of little towns and you have to drive to one town for this and to another for that. You can just spend all day driving around and getting not a lot done.

Where we are now we have all the things we need around us,just like we used to have in the UK. If you are used to having everything around you in the UK then stick with it here esp. for your child.Things will be different enough without taking creature comforts away - even something as simple as a taxi or a decent takeaway.

Hope this helps. Any other advice just ask.

Hi, good luck with your move. As people have said here, its horses for courses, it depends what you want out of your new life, but my advice to you is dont settle for the "fake" spain where everyone around you is english, english bars, shops, etc, to be quite frank with you if you want "England in the sun", you would save a lot of money by staying at home, ripping your carpets out and turning the heating up full.

....and you will find, once you learn the lingo, and get to know the spanish and how things are done here, youre better off with the spanish than the english here with their little cliques and refusal to speak to jonny foreigner. You stand more chance of being taken advantage off and ripped off by another english person. some people over here make a living out of it.

Be warned, and do your research but good luck!

thank you!

we have done a lot of research-i feel like i have never been away form my computer for the last few months reading this and that but there is only so much you can do online and the definative decision will be made on our recce after xmas.

we are moving to what i think is mainly a spainish town with some brits-i may aswell stayat home if i want to live in "little britain" and as we plan this move to be permanent we have to give our daughter the best chance to ingergrate with the local kids so she doesn't always feel like an outsider.

we chose our area as it is within driving distance to torrevieja where if our plans work out we intend to open a business, one we believe hasnt been tried yet-this might chnage when we go over as someone may have already beaten us to it??!! lol

not moving for a few months so am sure i'll have more questions and thanks for taking the time to reply

thanks for the reply, may take you up on your offer as we have a few more months til our move.

i agree with the "if you don't try you don't know" as we were meant to move a few years ago but had to postpone our move due to my OH's work so its been a long time coming!! lol

am hpoing to be speaking enough of the lingo to comfortably get by by the time we go and the private tutor we feel is definately money well spent.

cant think of any other questions but am sure something wil crop up.

thanks agian

no problem! ...........but pleeeeeeeeeease if youre coming here to open a business, DONT, PLEASE DO NOT open a bar, as it will fail! although i am sure you can figure that out by trawling thru some of the old threads on this forum.

Also get a good, a VERY good "assesore" (sort of a cross between a gofer, an accountant, and solicitor).....sort of................

Doing business here is VERY different than the UK, and it would take me all day to explain, but good luck anyway and i hope it works out well for you

definately definately not opening a bar, like you say the comments on forums are enough to put me off even i was contemplating it lol

feel like we've hit a brick wall at the moment until we go over and see in the flesh if my hours and hours of research have paid off....... if not i will be back to square one and staying put until more research is done to convince me we are making the right move

i hope i'm posting in a years time to say it worked out for us too

no worries! If me and the Mrs can help in any way we will, as will many others on this forum. Working ver here is very different from the UK as you can expect, and , for example, during the last month, the scorching temperatures, well, its very hard to work in them, so consider the CLIMATE youre going to as its gonna be very different than uk. Also if you want anything done, be prepared to take for example 5 hours of farting around, to do something that would have taken 5 mins in england and no i'm not kidding.

The pace of life is slower, wages are lower, and what people expect to pay for something here is lower than in the uk, although with the bizzare thinking of many spanish business, they raised their prices when times were hard as they thought the shortfall in customers could be offset with making more money on each unit or item they sell.

which is an approach that doesnt work!

Oh and tax evasion is a national sport here (allegedly) so your accountant here will tell you to only submit part of what you earn.

its a long story to carry on explaining that!

anyway good luck, oh and what is the business you plan to do if you dont mind me asking?

I dont agree with most of that. None of that has been my OH's experience of setting up a business in Spain.

If a qualified accountant ever tells you not to submit everything you earn then report him and get a new one.