As we are considering retiring to Spain and our son and his family live in Barcelona, we were thinking about places within and hour or so of them, not far from the coast and with some nice scenery and also facilities etc.Although the above named place looks very picturesque and there some attractive houses for sale there,some at reasonable prices, we would also like there to be some other British residents?We have also been warned that this area is often very cold and windy during winter and as most houses there are only used in the summer by locals and also situated on vast 'urbanisacions' which are not within walking distance of the town or facilities,this would not be a good place to live on a permanent basis, especially for retired persons as it could be very lonely?Does anyone know this particular town are or have any comments?Thanks.

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Rosemary

Thanks very much for your kind reply.I will wait and see what people on the Spanish forum have to comment about my request for info?.

Don't know that location, but we own a place not too far away, around 6 kms from Lloret. I would say you'd have better chances meeting people there and even off season the place has a bit of life. Of course it can get very busy during the summer months (June-August), as you have the younger generation enjoying life. But overall, everyone respects each other and there are also plenty of good urbanisations outside the town.

Thanks for the info.and advice.Obviously, the nearer you are to one of the main resorts the more chance there is of meeting people all year round,including ex-pats?There are many houses and flats for sale so it's a buyers market and the question is to choose the right one in the right place for your needs and not hurry!But my overall impression is that there are not many expat British residents in the north of Spain and you need to go down south of Valencia to place such as Denia and Oliva before you start to find many?But in our case, with our son and his family living in Barcelona with his partner being from there, this would mean a four hour drive whenever we want to visit each other, which is not very practical for any of us or cost effective!

Of course the further south you go the more Brits you'll generally find. The Costa Brava was never full of English and you have a good mix of nationalties, which is good in my opinion.


Even Swedish, Dutch or German people speak good English, so no reason not to get to know other people. Don't forget that you are the foreigner and have to adapt. You can still find one or two British shops, or places that serve English breakfast in Lloret, but luckily it's not Benidorm.


Costa Brava is more like a cheaper version of the Cote d'Azur, so many French come over too, especially the further North you go and some parts can be very expensive when it comes to property. Luckily there are still some affordable parts and in your case, I would focus on areas around Malgrat, Blanes & Lloret.

The perennial advice on these fora is to "try before you buy" ie rent a property in the area you are considering for about 6 months to see what it's like in a variety of seasons. Re-selling a property is still an issue in most of Spain and you do not want an albatross around your neck because of an imprudent purchase

The same applies here in Cyprus where they seem to have copied many of Spains previous bad habits!Over supply and too many abandoned places for sale etc, even though the number of sales has increased in the first few months of this year.
Coming back to our ideas about moving to Spain within an hour or so of Barcelona for family reasons,I have looked on-line at many properties for sale in places north and south of there and seen some attractive houses with prices which that are within our budget(maximum 200.000 euros), mainly places such as Sant Cebria and the hilly area inland from the Costa Maresme near to Calella and St Pol de mar in the north and inland from Sitges in the south, which is generally the more expensive.Invariably they are situated in 'urbanizacions' which tend to be several kms away from the nearest towns:Several people warned me about these,including one very helpful German guy who is actually an agent himself and has lived in the area for many years.Although he admitted that the view is lovely there and the air in summer much fresher than on the coast, many of these houses were built 20 or 30 years ago by local people when they had spare money and the economy was better etc?But they are also often expensive to maintain and cold in winter if they don't have central heating-even those which do often have bad insulation and consequently high energy bills etc.Some houses are also now of poor structural quality and this why the owners now want to sell them at prices which look very attractive in on-line photos!!The other big disadvantage, especially for someone planning to retire there on an all year round basis, is that the estates are isolated and sprawling and set along windy,narrow forested roads which are not ideal for driving on in winter,something which would be necessary every time you need to go out even to buy basics, as there are rarely any shops or other facilities away from the nearest town several kilometres away,plus the other factor that many of these houses are only occupied in the summer so it would also be very lonely to live there.The nearest hospital is apparently in the busy coastal resort of Calella which has activity all year round and there are also residents from various countries,including U.K?Obviously nobody sensible would rush to buy a property anywhere,especially on the verge of retirement, so the way is to rent,look around and think twice and twice again before deciding!If anyone knows anything about any of the areas mentioned your opinions would be gratefully appreciated!Thanks.