Catalonia Prices

@wilsampj

I'm a big fan of Catalonia, but anything in/near Barcelona is going to be a bit pricey.

Being slightly inland does take the edge off, however. As does choosing a smaller town/larger village rather than the biggest cities.

Spain is famous for its multitude of lovely Costas. There are nice cities/towns in every one of them. I would guess that one of the cheaper areas might be the Atlantic coast (A Coruna to Bilbao). This is a bit cooler too, which might be a nice bonus. The coast north of Barcelona is expensive, and south is desirable too through Tarragona and Valencia. Malaga/Marbella is also very expensive, so I'd look in between in Granada/Almeria/Murcia and south (or inland) of Alicante.

https://www.oliverstravels.com/blog/a-g … sh-costas/

For property searching I like Idealista, as it has loads of listings all over Spain, so you can easily compare different areas and see what you can get for your budget.

Personally, we ended up (very unexpectedly, as we'd never heard of it) in UNESCO-listed Elche. This is a traditional Spanish city just inland from Alicante and Alicante-Elche Airport. It's quite a large city (slightly smaller than Alicante) with a pretty historic centre, lovely Palm Groves/Municipal Gardens, and the Rio Vinalopo (and a very nice walking trail next to it) that flows through the city.

Access to downtown Alicante and Mercado Central, Castell de Santa Bàrbera, and the Marina is about 30-40 minutes. Elche has some nice beaches about 20 minutes away (Arenales del Sola, La Marina). Easy airport access (20-30 minutes) for international flights is a big plus too. However, the key benefit was that we got a fab apartment in a very nice location, for a fraction of the price we would have paid for something beachside in Playa San Juan (in Alicante).