| Non-motoring > Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? | Miscellaneous |
Thread Author: smokie |
Replies: 31 |
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New Sun 1 Apr 18 10:52
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - smokie
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I'm off in a few weeks to the above area. First week in a villa in Porches, then a week in an AirBnB in Seville (fairly central) and then a week in a beach hotel in Benalmádena. I'll have wheels for the duration. I've never been to that area before, so does anyone have recommendations for days out, or any must-see locations or things to do please? I can see Seville city looks pretty full of stuff, and I'd like to "do" Gibraltar but I gather driving to it can be a nightmare. Other than that, we've no agenda yet... |
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New Sun 1 Apr 18 11:48
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - Zero
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Cadiz, Jerez, Granada, Ronda, Cordoba are worth consideration. Do not "do" Gibraltar its not worth it (Biased I guess by working there for a year!) Seville is a fab city, The cathedral is a fascinating mix of Moorish and Christian, If You do the Alcazar (and if you are in Seville you HAVE to do it), then knock Granada off the list. The Plaza de toros de la Real Maestranza de CaballerÃa (the bullring, has fascinating architecture and a good museum,. Cross over into Triana for a mooch about. Dont eat the oranges. Edit oh and in Seville you have some of the best places to see some Flamenco. Last edited by: Zero on Sun 1 Apr 18 at 11:51
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New Sun 1 Apr 18 14:47
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - No FM2R
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Some places are worth seeing just to have seen them, if you see what I mean. Gibraltar is one of those. Seeing it is better than wondering about it. And it is not awful, it just isn't worth a very long visit. Seville is a place with so much to see. Can't go wrong really. You'll have little trouble filling a week there. Traffic is s***e though. The beaches in Cadiz are quieter than those further into Portugal. It's a windy area, and the beaches can be very windy. Not all the time of course, but enough to put the package tours off. You need to pick your day(s). Zahara de los Atunes is a very big and varied beach, so it's interesting and you should find something you like. Costa Ballena is a modern, busy beach with lots to do and places to eat/drink. On the subject of which, when in Porches, eat. Go for the smaller less touristy restaurants, but eating is good. |
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New Sun 1 Apr 18 15:53
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - Zero
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>> it is not awful, it just isn't worth a very long visit. Walk up Main Street, get the cable car to the top, watch them close the main road across the runway for planes to land, get bitten by a monkey, walk down to the battery galleries (the best ones are still "off limits to civvies") carry on down to the marina for food and drink and go home. |
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New Sun 1 Apr 18 15:56
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - No FM2R
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| Fair. |
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New Sun 1 Apr 18 16:16
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - sherlock47
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>>Walk up Main Street, get the cable car to the top, watch them close the main road across the runway for planes to land, get bitten by a monkey, walk down to the battery galleries (the best ones are still "off limits to civvies") carry on down to the marina for food and drink and go home.<< I will second that - I spent a day there following a business trip and that was enough. |
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New Sun 1 Apr 18 18:57
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - Roger.
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There's a Morrison's in Gib! |
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New Sun 1 Apr 18 19:24
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - martin aston
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I've been to Cadiz, Jerez, Seville, Gib and Ronda. If you are going to Gib and you are concerned about border control delays you can park on the Spanish side and walk through but imho its not worth a trip unless you happen to be passing nearby. Jerez has a central underground carpark, very easy. Nice town with ( no surprise) cheap sherry bars. Not overly touristy and half a day is probably enough. Reasonable town centre zoo last time we were there if you have kids in tow. Ronda is a superb setting with free street parking on the modern side of the gorge. Take a walk down below the main bridge and look back for a stunning view. Again half a day tops. Cadiz we went on a cruise so not sure about driving but has very narrow streets so I guess its best to park up before you hit the main old town. We have abiding memories of a sherry bar. where our tab was chalked onto the polished bar in front of us. A great town for just wandering. Seville is our favourite by miles and we are a making our third trip in as many years in July. You won't need your car while you are there to see the city sights and again the old town has lots of tiny streets and squares. A guitar playing Rodrigo...... Beyond the cities the white villages are wonderful, cave dwellings and all. Just research which ones you are near to and chose accordingly. If its high summer when you are there its likely to be very hot indeed. You will understand why the locals have a siesta and eat out very late. Old ladies in black coming out at midnight for the fiesta was a remarkable sight for us northeners. We find a little basic conversational Spanish is useful as English isn't universally spoken away from the tourist areas. Not an issue if you have no Spanish at all as people are very friendly but a little Spanish goes a long way. An odd tip is to order by brand rather than tourist Spanish. So not a Sherry but a Tio Pepe, not Gin but A Gordons. Trust me, I tried to order lemonade in dictionary Spanish and was presented 10 mins later with a whole lemon, a squeezer, a jug of water and a bowl of sugar. Just ask for Fanta;-). |
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New Tue 3 Apr 18 20:31
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - Roger.
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Having lived in that area for 10 years - I concur!
Last edited by: Roger. on Tue 3 Apr 18 at 20:31
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New Tue 3 Apr 18 23:46
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - smokie
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We've spent a few hours today sorting out our itinerary and have incorporated all the recommendations above - even down to Gib being only a "rainy day optional". The start of May is a lively time for festivals so the next step is to try to make sure we're in the right place at the right time... I think we could have easily soaked up another week down there... especially as some of the break is supposed to be sitting in the sun with a cold one... Thanks for the suggestions!! |
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New Wed 4 Apr 18 00:02
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - rtj70
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Have a great time. We had last week booked off but never got away. One plan was Spain - Seville and Cadiz area. Seville was going to be bonkers with the parades last week so that was ruled out for now. We'll get back to Seville soon. Greece before then I hope. |
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New Wed 4 Apr 18 16:38
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - neiltoo
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>>bonkers Seville is bonkers during Pasque, but it's brilliant. The place is mobbed by the various church processions, but you can still get about. We were there with a party of ten, and had no difficulty getting to the tourist sites, eating, or drinking. The processions are wonderful, but it's difficult to get a good view. The best locations are occupied by ticket only enclosures controlled by the churches. Still a great experience. Neil |
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New Wed 4 Apr 18 20:13
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - smokie
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It's a shame we're missing that, I do love a good procession or two.... We were in Cologne some years back for the climax of the Mardi Gras (can't remember what it's called in Europe!) when all the surrounding towns, which have been holding processions in the week or so leading up to the Big Weekend, come together for a giant procession through Cologne. ISTR it took something over 4 hours to go past us. And last year I was fortunate enough to be in New Orleans with some mates on Halloween weekend and there was a fantastic procession by the Krewe of Boo. www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU6O5S7tYAo Both were notable for the fact that the participants were dishing out sweets and gifts ("throws" as they called them in the US), not running alongside floats with collecting buckets like we tend to. The time, effort and money which had been put into both was impressive. Last edited by: smokie on Wed 4 Apr 18 at 20:14
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New Fri 6 Apr 18 16:08
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - Mapmaker
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No idea about Benalmadena. Can add a few things to what others have recommended. DO visit Gibraltar. It is an experience. DO stay in Spain and walk over. The food is better and cheaper and the accommodation likewise. We stayed in Spain by accident because we couldn't find anywhere on the Rock itself. Seville is wonderful. As is Jerez; no there may not be that much to do, but stay three nights, visit some sherry bodegas and enjoy the superb and incredibly cheap food. Top tip, expensive-looking restaurants often have a tapas menu, or will serve you a medio - a half portion or tapas (quarter portion) anyway. I can give you some good recommendations if you do go, I have friends who have a place there and try out every bar there is ‘so our friends don’t have to waste their time.’ If you're into Sherry then give Sanlucar de Barrameda a look too. For a day trip to Cadiz park in El Puerto de Santa Maria and take the ferry across the bay to Cadiz. Between Seville and Benalmadena visit the following places and stay a night in each: Vejer de la Frontera; Ronda; Arcos de la Frontera, visit also Medina-Sidonia – and lots of hill towns on the way across. Zahara de los Atunes or Conil (or between the two) for the beaches (I’m not a big beach person, they are superb). To be honest, I’d bin Benalmadena and stick with my driving tour; but then that would be me, not you! |
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New Fri 6 Apr 18 16:43
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - smokie
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Thanks. The accommodation is already fixed and booked. We did a fairly busy driving holiday around west coast USA last autumn so she didn't want quite so much living out of a suitcase this time. And a week's beach holiday was important, hence Benalmadena. The Cadiz ferry sounds interesting and I've got the details and addresses from the website. We are having to bundle trips up due to shortage of time (only 3 weeks!) and at the moment Jerez is on the list to visit from Seville, along with Cadiz on the same day. In the light of what people here are recommending that seems ambitious, to say the least, but we only have limited time in Seville so need to make best use of it. More days in, say, Jerez means less in Seville... The route from Seville to Benalmadena takes in Ronda, and we can do that drive in quite a leisurely fashion by checking out early and in late. The other places you mention look like they are along a significantly longer route which will have to be done at a different time. It's sounding like we don't have enough time to do the area justice. However now SWMBO is retired we are planning on spending more time holidaying and a return visit to the same area is likely. I'm keeping notes of all recommendations, either for now or the future. Thanks. :-) |
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New Fri 6 Apr 18 16:48
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - No FM2R
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It's an area where I would recommend doing less, and doing them more slowly and thoughtfully, especially if it is your intention to return. One of the reasons that some people, me included in the past, complain about slow traffic, slow pedestrians, slow whatever, is because we visit the area and try to do lots so we're trying to rush. That is typically not the Spanish way. It's not my way either these days, but when I was first in South America I almost went nuts. Do less, do it slower, and you'll have a much nicer and more relaxing and enjoyable time. |
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New Fri 6 Apr 18 21:03
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - PeterS
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Not a recommendation, but a warning / mildly entertaining story... I was in Murcia for a few days this week. Flew into Alicante as usual, and picked up a car from Avis. MINI Countryman Cooper diesel as it happens. I went straight to the car park to pick it up and had to wait a few minutes as they finished with the guy in front. As they were going through the ‘are you sure you don’t want the CDW’ speech there was a loud bang... The guy in front of me had just had a head-on collision in the car park entering the down ramp. Well, he thought it was down. It was up... so make sure you’re on the right side of the road. Only at car park speeds, so no injuries, but an A Class Merc and a VW Gild looked a little worse for wear. It’s very likely they were both Avis cars, and it happened in an Avis car park. I returned the MINI 2 days later and with an extra 300km on the clock, doubling its mileage. In one piece though! Easy enough to get used to coming from a BMW; the multimedia system, while not the full blown ‘professional’ version worked in the same way as my car. The 1.5 (I think with about 150PS) Diesel engine was pretty punchy unless you ran it in ‘green’ mode, and the car felt very solidly put together. Better than my BMW subjectively! Reasonably well equipped with Nav, Bluetooth, LED headlights and a half leather interior. But probably £30ish k list price, so expensive! Have a great time in the sun :) Last edited by: PeterS on Fri 6 Apr 18 at 21:03
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New Fri 6 Apr 18 23:24
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - smokie
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I will, thanks. I have a Renault Megane estate (or similar) booked with Sixt. The prices move up and down considerably on car hire. Three weeks unlimited, one driver, has cost me about £195 which I thought was pretty good. It was over £300 when I first booked it, bottomed at the rate I have it, and is now about £270. I bought that additional excess and wheel etc cover for about £37 for a year when I was going to the States last Sept so I have the excesses covered. I have covered quite a few thousand miles on "the wrong side", in both right and left hand driver vehicles in recent years so hope to avoid any newbie errors. This one is a manual, so the stick on the other side obviously, whereas most l-hand drives I've previously hired have been autos (not all though). It'd be nice if it were as hot as Egypt was earlier in March but 26 - 32 degrees may not happen at this time of year in Europe!! |
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New Sat 7 Apr 18 09:38
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - legacylad
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Recently I stayed at a friends holiday home in a small complex at Benalmadena. He recommended Benalnatura, a lovely small cove down a flight of stairs, protected from the wind. If that kind of thing floats your boat, clothing not being optional, it’s a great spot. Very friendly bunch of different nationalities and ages, clean toilets, snack bar with reasonable prices. My gf and I went there most days for a few hours and it’s a great place to relax. |
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New Sat 7 Apr 18 09:57
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - smokie
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| Thanks but I'll pass on that one! I'm a shy Brit you know!! :-) |
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New Sat 7 Apr 18 10:13
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - legacylad
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Fair enough. It isn’t to everyone’s cup of Darjeeling, but if it is then it’s a lovely spot. Some are downright tacky where I’ve felt uncomfortable and left after a short time. Have a great time..... |
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New Sat 7 Apr 18 11:37
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - Zero
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SO you do this au naturel thing a lot do you? As a voyeur or participant?
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 7 Apr 18 at 11:38
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New Sat 7 Apr 18 13:31
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - Manatee
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| Aren't there 3 categories? Voyeur, participant and exhibitor? |
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New Sat 7 Apr 18 14:28
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - Zero
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| Wouldn't know, it's all nude to me |
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New Fri 11 May 18 14:14
Back... - smokie
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I'm back from the Spain trip. Generally the weather did not meet expectations, with some fully cloudy days, many partly cloudy days, some sunny days and a couple of downright wet days. I'd thought it'd be more consistently warm at this time of year... I had a Sixt hire car, which was an Astra estate diesel, with only one previous hire and 500 km on the clock. 3 weeks for £191. The car was fine, except I couldn't get on well with Android Auto for nav - it kept hanging but if you weren't concentrating on it it took a while to notice. The Portugal villa was lovely, large heated outdoor pool, 5 bed, 5 bathrooms and all you could hope for, including an orange tree orchard at the end of the garden with a few walnut trees thrown in. The oranges were superb. We had 10 days there, with both daughters (the trip hung on the youngest 30th birthday) and only really spent one day doing "proper" sightseeing, and that really only involved a fairly long (well, slow!) drive via Portimao then inland to Monchique. We ate out a few times which was good quality at very reasonable cost. We decided we will return to Portugal, maybe later this year. Then onto Seville for 4 nights. We had an AirBNB which was within 10 mins walk of the city centre, and was good value. Parking was a mare though, as it seems to be in most Spanish and Portuguese cities. (People seem to never move their cars once they have a spot...) We had pre-booked the Alcazar (including the King’s apartments) and the Cathedral. This gave us a massive advantage as both had queues of well over an hour, which we were able to bypass. Both were spectacular, but touring the King’s apartment in a very small group (only 8 of us) was the highlight for me, as well as the gardens there. It was the first time I’ve really pub-crawled round tapas bars and I thoroughly enjoyed that. We went to Cadiz via the ferry, and that was great, except due to poor weather the ferry was finishing early so we had to do a bit of a rush around the town. We tried stopping in Jerez on the way back but the problems of parking made me give up (too easily I suspect). Then onto Benalmadena for an all-inclusive hotel for a week. The place had been refurbed to a nice standard, and had matching furnishings pretty much throughout – including, for instance very similar (maybe the same?) style easy chairs in the lounge, balcony chairs and outside loungers. The food was excellent,, plenty of choice and help yourself, so I had some really weird combos some days. ïŠ The all-inclusive alcohol was the usual “local standard only†which I’m sure means watered down, and the all-inclusive cocktails were mostly a disaster (depending on your barman) but I can’t really complain about value for money, especially as parking was free… The only significant day out was to Gibraltar, where we’d pre-booked the cable car, which again saved over an hour of queueing for no additional cost. The view from the top was stunning as it was a very clear day, and the monkeys were, well, monkeys – one scooted into the café while were were watching and came out with a slice of someone’s pizza!! The only downside at the hotel was that I managed to scrape the wing mirror against a metal street lamp, causing a deep 4†long scratch. The hotel had a casino, the only one for a few miles around I think, and I went in on night gripping my €20 “investmentâ€, but was soon put off by a minimum €5 per deal on the blackjack. The other table was minimum €20, but people were betting in multiples of that each time and while we stood there a bloke threw €1000 in €50s on the table to exchange for chips,. And lost it in about 20 minutes… (He may, of course, have won it earlier that afternoon for all I know). Anyway, I didn’t bother with my modest investment… We feel we’ve “done†Seville and the Benalmadena area quite well (there doesn’t seem to be a lot to see) so would be on no rush to return, but neither were we put off it by anything. Flights were by EasyJet, no problems with ours but eldest went home at the end of Portugal. We dropped her way early at Faro for her flight so we could get to Seville at a reasonable time, and she then paid to take an earlier flight. In doing so she seemed to lose the extra legroom etc she’d paid for, and that flight was then delayed and left within minutes of her original one but EasyJet didn’t see a problem with that./ There was also some unpleasantness on her flight which was a bit too close to her for comfort. I was expecting a bill of a few hundred for the scratched car, as I thought they’d charge not only for the damage but also the time off rental, and the effort involved in getting it fixed. I have additional insurance but would have had to paid and claimed back. In the event they only charged me €50 which I won’t bother claiming. I thought that very reasonable. And unlike most other hire companies they are onsite at Faro, not requiring a shuttle. Anyway, thanks to those who gave suggestions above - as you can see I did take some notice! ïŠ |
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New Fri 11 May 18 22:36
Back... - legacylad
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Sorry to hear about your less favourable weather. Another two weeks in Moraira for me tomorrow, taking my 90 yo Mum again. Taking an ex and her partner week 1 ( it’s all very civilised you know !) and a friend replacing her week 2. Long lunches in mountain restaurants, coastal walks, buckets of booze and tapas and falling disgustingly drunk into the villa pool No idea what my mothers going to do. |
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New Thu 24 May 18 21:27
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - Bobby
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just a slight hijack to say we spent last week in Nerja in Spain and loved it! What a beautiful place , very Spanish, no "Yorkshire Pudding and Pints of Bitter" clientele. Tapas, Paella were orders of the day! Went into Torremolinos on the last day to kill time waiting on the plane departure and hated it! We don't often return to places but will go back there I'm sure. Here's a link to where we stayed www.agnitravel.com/property-details.asp?id=2728&startdate=&enddate=&Adults=0&Children=0&Infants=0 |
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New Thu 24 May 18 21:53
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - legacylad
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I’m flying home Saturday from The Costa Blanca. Mothers had a great fortnight visiting Denia, Calpe, Altea plus lunches at mountain restaurants. Our villa ( in Moraira) is available next week and a deal can be done...she’s ready for home so won’t stay on another week. Despite cheap Jet2 flights next Friday Alicante >LBA. Anyone interested in a great 3 bed villa with pool only a few minutes walk from the centre let me know...I can furnish details. |
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New Thu 24 May 18 23:47
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - Kevin
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Do you own the villa LL? The Denia area is one of the places we've been looking at buying property so we're looking to go over to scout out suitable locations. Next week for one week is too short for us though. |
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New Fri 25 May 18 10:33
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - legacylad
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Kevin, no I don’t own a villa but have stayed in several different accommodations in Moraira these past few years. I rented ( with friends) a fantastic roof top apartment in La Cala Finestrat, the next bay down from Benidorm, for 6 weeks during February/March a few years ago. 80 sq metre roof terrace, 3 bed, 2 bath with great views, and only £16 pppn. Whilst there I spent a few weeks up the coast at a villa in Moraira which friends had rented. Chalk & cheese. We were in another rented villa in Moraira for 6 weeks earlier this year....lots of coastal and mountain walking, trips to Denia, Alicante, Valencia. The light railway between Alicante and Denia should finally be fully open in 2020, or so I was told yesterday by a local. At some point I’ll downsize from my place in NYorks and probably buy a small villa in Moraira, and use the rental potential from June through September to cover all overheads and earn some income. I’m semi seriously looking at the moment, but there are 40 sales agencies in the area so it could be a full weeks work...friends bought a small villa, with added value potential, last year and I expect to do likewise at some point. Altea & Albir are also worth considering, with a very large Scandinavian Ex pat community during the winter months, Villajoyosa although a working town, and on the rail network, is quiet in winter. We’re currently in Villa La Brisa, rented through Ferrando’s agency in Moraira. Perfect for my old Mum as it’s on one level, minutes from the centre so easy work with a wheelchair if we’ve had too much pop and don’t want to drive home the half mile home! It’s available next week....I’m sure a deal is possible. IF you can get a flight to Alicante as it’s half term! |
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New Fri 25 May 18 02:08
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - rtj70
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>> We don't often return to places but will go back there I'm sure. Torremolinos? ;-) Glad you had a good time and enjoyed it. Every now and then we meet people in places we love and return to and they say they never return to the same place. There's people on TripAdvisor who say things like we loved xxx so where's like it.... well if you liked it so much just go back to xxx. |
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New Fri 25 May 18 07:06
Southern Portugal/Southern Spain recommendations? - smokie
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I get their point - I went to Seville recently and loved it but I'd sooner go somewhere new. Not least as I've seen the major attractions and wouldn't want to revisit. I suppose I'm the opposite - a mate has just bought a holiday home on the Cornwall border, primarily for his own use rather than letting. Nice as it is, I can't see why you'd want to keep going back to the same place when there are so many other places to see. |
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