TicTac111

Hi,

Thank you to all keeping this forum so active and support each other.

I’m originally from German but relocated to the UK in 2008. I’ve had a really fantastic time her, have met nice people and made some great friendships but now it is time to move on and relocate to Spain. By the way I’m just at the start of planning and will give myself at least one year before relocating. I’ve read on the internet that a lot of British expats live around Malaga and in the east of it like Torrox. Does anybody know if that is true or where are big British communities?

The reason why I’m asking is that I’ll come on my own and to be honest I’m a little bit scared that I would feel very lonely L so I would like to move somewhere I could maybe join any leisure groups or so.

Thank you so much for reading my post and I would be very thankfully for each comment.

Thank you in advance.

Christine

Mark604

You'll only be lonely if you choose to be lonely. There are many areas where there are British communities, especially along the coast but also inland, and often it seems the difficulty is not finding where the British are, but if like many you want to get away from them, finding out where they aren't.
In travelling a lot around Spain and when not in the tourist areas it often occurs where you hear an English voice or two in a restaurant/bar.

TicTac111

Hi Mark,

Thanks a lot for your reply. I would like to meet British expats and have already found out that of lot of you are living in Andalucia. I'm only wondering how you get on with the heat there, because I have been told it could go up till 40 degrees.

spainrico

What about Alicante/Costa Blanca - loads of Brits (and others) less heat than Andalucia and we have beaches, mountains, great infrastructure (Airports/AVE/motorways etc) perfect!

Moses2013

Good point and just because they are British doesn't mean they will share the same interests. It's worth nothing if 100 people around you like Bingo and you hate it.
Found out what you want first and take it from there. Germans, Scandinavians, Spanish and even Irish speak English these days.

TicTac111

good morning,

What a coincidence I've just looked at Alicante and it looks promising. I knew it is always good to ask people they live abroad and know what is going on. May I ask you how hot is it there in the summer?

Mark604

TicTac111 - the coast is cooler, the mountains are cooler, inland is hotter and yes, Andalucia inland is often up to 40 degrees, though not always.
Different people have different ways of dealing with it. My house is inland and we have a pool and we adapt to the times when we are outdoors or not. If we need to go out, it'll be early morning and then after the sun has gone down more or less. Not for no reason do the Spanish have a siesta.
My house is all solar so we don't have aircon, but many do when connected to the normal mains electric. We have over head lights/fans and use fans when it is really hot to sleep with, but we also have a well insulated house that keeps cool. Also closing the shutters on the sun side in the afternoon helps.
We get more extremes of temperature than the coast though dropping lower than zero degrees is a rare occurrence. The highest, one day a couple of years ago, was 46 degrees but over 40 is also rare and if it is around 40, it's not more than for a few days at a time.

The Capitans Wench

Re The heat, I lived half an hour out from Sevilla and the heat, in the summer frequently hit 40c and in Sevilla 50+ I always made sure I was out of town by 12 at the very latest. You have to do as the Spanish do to survive through the heat unless you can stand it. We had a pool, which like many in Spain have absolutely NO shade, ours was in full sun till 4pm when the shadow of the ivy hedge gave us a bit shade on one side.

TicTac111

Thanks again for your replies and giving me advise in this life changing situation don't know what I would do without. I've also registered with another forum but they are not so active :-(

I agree the best is to do what the Spanish people are doing to stay in over the day. I've just started planning, think I'll have a closer look at Alicante and go there for holidays at first. I'm already busy learning vocabularies to have at least the base of the Spanish language, but I've read that a lot of people for example in Alicante speak English would you confirm it?

TicTac111

Mark604 seems you're doing well. Think it is just living like the Spanish people. I'm an early bird so I would go out early in the morning

Moses2013

At the end of the day no Spanish person lives the way another Spanish person lives. If you're from Germany, Frankfurt can get just as hot as Alicante in July but some people still go out and others stay in.
As always look at your life and not that of others. How old are you, what are your hobbies and what are your expectations? A retired person will probably have different needs than someone in their 20's.

Mark604

The Capitans Wench - mine has no shade at all at any time of day and a couple of years ago I found a one-off thing in Carrefour that is an inflatable seat with a canopy.
Even using that though, after a lot less time than you'd think, the sun still got to me.

Patrick2976

If you're looking for areas with many British or other northern European communities then anywhere from Benalmadena to Estepona on the Costa del Sol will have plenty. That is west of Malaga though....

cermignano

The good thing is that in summer, many people do not go out at night until the sun has gone down and stay out late. It is very sociable with lots of fiestas

The Capitans Wench

I

I bought a mesh water lounger and used my parasol as a sail :-) and "floated " up an down the shady part. My late husband was a sailor all his life, I used to tell him I was away to potter in my dingy. I miss the pool.