Scoobydo

Hi all,

This is a little while away but looking at different options. Spending 6 months in Marbella and travelling around touring Europe, with spending 6 months in USA.
We would sell in the UK to purchase a home in Central Marbella.
Yes we know this will be expensive to live Central and that we won't get much for our money.
We want to be Central to all facilities , Beach, Shops, Puerto Banus, Old Town, etc.....

Is anyone living in Central Marbella - (Golden Mile Area) that can tell me nice areas local to settle to, and the good & Bad points.
The weather and the climate will be ideal for us as our weather in the UK well no "Spring" and looks like "Summer" is far away

Thanks

steviedeluxe

Hi. If it's the climate that is of main importance, wouldn't the Canaries be better suited? An example here - it may not be to your taste though.. http://thisisspain.info/canaries/lan...un-park/review

jackytoo

Parque Marbella...right in the centre but lovely peaceful gardens. Right on the marble tiled Paseo.

Grandad sold his villa and bought a place there, he still visited when he was 92. he loved it!

Leper

I'm getting a sudden rush of blood to the head and wondering if you are about to make the mistake of your life. Please forgive me, I don't want to run your life. It appears you are happy enough with your property in the UK. Why sell it?- You can rent in good 2 bedroom accommodation nearly anywhere from Valencia to Gibraltar with coastal views for around €500 per month. You might not enjoy Spain as much as you think, Rent for a few months before you write anything in stone; just my advice.

Scoobydo

No not at all, nice to hear people's opinions.
Actually when we first thought of Marbella I did say rent for a while and guess with the weather being so wet and cold here, just buy there we had enough.
But yes I guess we will end up renting for 6 months to make sure we have made the right choice before we sell. But I must say its not just the weather we are fed up with , it's the UK.
We just want to spend time living abroad, and doing the adventure around areas of Europe and USA.

The Canaries I have been to all but one and that is Lanzarote, but looks nice, but we prefer Mainland Spain.

Yes central Marbella is lovely where the Marble Paseo walk is, and the gardens , we love the Old Town

What's the latest on the development on the Marbella Marina as like Puerto Banus?
Thanks for the info

mikelincs

Apart from the weather just what is the benefit of Spain? For most people it turns into 'same shit, different bucket', and you will lose a lot, remember if you aren't a resident you will have to pay for private healthcare, the EHIC form coveers only emergency treatment, and even the pensioners 'free' healthcare in Spain isn't totally free any more.

ShinyAndy

Proper central Marbella isn't that expensive really, but based on the 15-20 places we looked at a few years ago all the apartments are generally quite nasty, old fashioned and dark places without a view too. It just gets slightly more expensive if you move out of the noise or go frontline beach.

Will you have a car, will you need parking? If you do then it's quite an important consideration. In the centre there is often only on-street parking and now there are parking meters everywhere and forget being able to park anywhere during Easter and August.

The Old Town itself can be quite a romantic place to live until the practicalities of moving in and getting your shopping home dawns on you. It's also quite noisy in the summer.

The section from the Repsol Garage to the Copper Tower is significantly quieter and there's some nice places between Ricardo Soriano and the paseo. Nice Spanish feel there with plenty of bars/restaurants and you're not with the tourists that turn up on buses for the day. You're still walking distance to everything there as well.

You then move toward the Golden Mile, which gets expensive and then you're looking at a 20 minute walk back into town.

To be honest it really depends on your budget, your tolerance of noise and if you don't mind driving a few minutes to get into town.

I moved from Ricardo Soriano to 2 minutes up the hill in Sierra Blanca and it's like living in the campo, more suited to having a new baby of course but nowhere near as much fun - again depends on if you are planning on eating/going out every night or happy to sit at home

cricketman

I'm not sure you can!

Last time I loooked it was more like 800-1200 euros month rent for such a flat in Marbella or Malaga city, and even in the nicer buildings in Fuengirola, Benalmadena etc

You could probably get a very small 1960s flat on the paseo in Fuengirola for 500 euros

I actually thought the flats around the very long paseo in Marbella are much better quality than the equivalent ones in Fuengirola etc which are really poor quality

ShinyAndy

Based on helping out a friend last week:

500-600 gets you a semi decent 2 bed in central Marbella, though tricky to find this time of year obviously!

700-800 can get you a 3 bed

800-1200 gets you a huge 4 bed townhouse/3 bed penthouse

Scoobydo

Yes your right ShinyAndy we did see when we were out at Easter that you can pick up 2 bed central Marbella for that price.
It's great to ask for input although its a long way off yet, but when the time comes we will know what to decide on.
We would have a car or campervan so central unless we found somewhere with underground parking.
Lots of things to think about.
But I will look at the area you have mentioned.

When you've just experienced hail and sleet outside you wonder where you are? Weather here in the UK so bizarre at the moment
Thanks for your info everyone.

ShinyAndy

Bear in mind anything with underground parking is seemingly more designed for cars the size of the original Mini to get into!

If you don't mind driving into town for a few minutes you have a much better choice of properties and generally no issues with parking and noise

Scoobydo

Yes I think that it to, it may have to be a few mins drive away .

Whilst we were there we went to Nueva Andelucia it was quiet there, but nice and there were quite a few apartments for sale near a golf course.

ShinyAndy

I'd avoid there like the plague but each to their own!

Scoobydo

Come on tell me? What do you mean, as I have no idea what goes on up there.

I pretty much guess there are lots of expats, I'd much prefer to mix in with the Spanish as well- no disrespect to the Brits.
That's why I asked on areas Good & Bad as you live there.

ShinyAndy

Well, it's not Central Marbella for one!

Other than that it's a bit of an expat ghetto and pretty dead apart from Centro Plaza. Lots of Puerto Banus wannabe's tend to live there and, generalising a lot but, if there's any trouble (especially drug related) it's generally likely to be up round there.

Some great bargain rentals and some lovely apartments but you're in the middle of nowhere really. If you want a sense of living in a real town with real people you need to only be looking at the main towns like Fuengirola, Marbella Town, San Pedro, Estepona and not any of the 'burbs.

The latest on the port by the way is that the Junta is terminating the deal with the Sheik who has vanished and failed to meet any of the deadlines/obligations in the deal. It's incredibly complicated as you can imagine but there's talk of someone else being interested too