What area to live in Alicante?

We've been in Alicante / Costa Blanca for several years, and we highly recommend it. Alicante itself is a nice city, and there are many options there. But there are many smaller towns/villages nearby which are good too. And many great beaches not far away, so you don't have to live right on the coast. Santa Pola, Guardamar, and Torrevieja are popular coastal towns south of the city, but still with easy access to Alicante.

We ourselves are in the historical city of Elche, which is UNESCO-listed for its palm groves. It's a more traditional Spanish city (rather than a tourist hotspot), which we find very charming. It's a good size (200k+) so it has all facilities (including gyms, nice restaurants and cafes, hospitals, and public transport). And it's an easy 15 minutes taxi from Alicante-Elche airport which has quite a few low-cost flights (Ryanair, Wizzair) to UK and Europe. Elche district has lovely beaches nearby at La Marina and Arenals del Sol, and the Parc Natural (lagoons) Elx-Crevillent.

Every morning I walk along the peaceful Rio Vinalopo trail (it goes through the city centre, and continues north to the reservoir and nature reserve/pantano a few km outside) to the beautiful Parc Municipal.

We've been very pleasantly surprised (I was previously a Barcelona and Costa Brava fan, and I hadn't even been to Alicante), and we really enjoy our life here.

I recommend you take a gander at idealista.com as they have loads of property listings, so you can quickly get a good feel for what kind of properties are available for your budget.

Thanks so much for the reply. It's quite daunting not knowing where to start looking. I will try and find a decent Airbnb in the area you have mentioned and hire a car to have a look around.
It sounds exactly what we are looking for. Any other tips on the other charming towns would be greatly appreciated

Alicante itself ticks all your boxes and if you don't need to be in the centre of the city or need picture postcard views there are affordable options within a 20-30 minute walk of the marina, beach and old town.

South of Alicante, in places like Torrevieja you tend to get more Brits and north Europeans , so maybe not ideal if you're looking for somewhere more Spanish.

Inland there's Elche (which gwynj describes in his post), a pleasant Spanish town on the train line between Alicante and Murcia.

About 8 kms north of Alicante and about 2kms inland is San Juan, a working Spanish town. Playa de San Juan is its coastal resort sibling, if you're looking to top up on sun, sea and sand.

When you get to Alicante try the air conditioned Metro tram. It runs all the way up the Costa Blanca, as far as Denia, with lots of stops en route - so is an easy way to see if there are any coastal areas you might like in commuting distance of Alicante.

On the mechanics of buying in and moving to Spain, Spain Property Guides has some useful free guides - https://www.propertyguides.com/spain/

As gwynj's post indicates idealista.com is good for getting an idea of what properties are available. You can select what kind of property you want, in what areas, at what price and it will filter the results for you.

Do you speak Spanish? If not I recommend  starting classes asap. Because Alicante and much of the area immediately around it is predominantly Spanish you can't guarantee that people you may need to talk to (like estate agents, lawyers, notaries, GPs, dentists, shop assistants and people in local utility offices) will necessarily speak English. Some will and some will have a colleague who does, especially in the centre or more touristy areas, but this isn't guaranteed. For example we've found that doctors at the hospital usually speak English but not necessarily the GPs at the local medical centre - and which estate agents speak English is pretty much hit and miss. There's Google Translate in emergency but it helps to have at least some basic Spanish. The English consulate has details of some English speaking lawyers - https://www.benidormseriously.com/engli … our-region

Hope this is helpful.

Thanks so much for the detailed reply. I think the way forward is to find a few decent Airbnbs in the places you have mentioned to get a proper feel for the area.

Hi there,

I'm Spanish and I've lived in many places in Alicante. I wouldn't recommend anything located South Alicante like Torrevieja, Guardamar or Santa Pola. It's much more beautiful and quite the North area, from Altea to  Denia (from Denia you have Valencia airport just an hour driving ahead). Or you can live in Alicante in these neighborhoods: Cabo Huertas, Playa de San Juan, Miriam Blasco. You can find nice apartments with 2 or 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, good climate system and a complex with garden, pool and tennis court or gym from 180,000 €. Gastronomy in these areas is amazing.

Regards.

Thanks so much for the reply it's really helpful. Something with a large balcony or roof Terrace would be ideal. I will check Air BnB out but if anyone has any decent places to rent in these areas please let me know.👍

We've been to Alicante 4 times now. Planning to move permanently in 2024. We've not had a problem finding Airbnb or VRBO apartments while there. We've stayed near Playa Postiguet, city center twice, and Albufereta. All had easy tram access, which for us is an advantage if you are going north of Alicante. Going south, the tram doesn't extend that far.

@gwynj I don't drive are there good bus services in the area

@Etenia

There are decent buses, trains, and taxis so I reckon it's possible to live a car-free life in many parts of Alicante and the Costa Blanca. But probably more convenient to live in Alicante itself (or another large city).