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Guide to Spanish Costas

Introduction

As buying property in Spain has become more and more popular over the past decade, customers and developers inevitably began looking to other parts of the Spanish coastline to populate. Luckily, there is plenty of it to go around, and the continued boom in Spanish property has seen what might be described as some of the more minor Costas come into the spotlight. From the French border on the Mediterranean, right to the frontier with Portugal, some 500 miles of coast are available for property buyers.

The region

Away from the main and most famous of the Costas there are a number of other regions where British buyers can find their dream of living in the sun without having to pay the premium costs of the more popular regions. There is also the opportunity to be more integrated into the local community life, as there will be less of an expat community. Instead, you are more likely to find Spanish holiday home owners and those who live in the towns and villages permanently.

Among these other Costas, you will find a range of different areas – some new, emerging regions to discover, which have been largely untouched by the tourist trade from the UK, alongside some other regions that were previously favourites of the original package holiday trade, but have since been deserted in favour of more fashionable destinations.

For example, there is a loyal following for the Costa Brava in the north of Spain. The ‘wild’ coast, as the name translates, was the first package holiday destination on the mass market, and introduced many families to the concept of taking a regular holiday overseas. Resorts like Lloret de Mar, Tossa del Mar and Blanes were selected by Franco’s government as ripe for development for the tourism industry and northern Europeans came in their droves. The region remains popular with a section of British overseas property buyers, and with the signing in 1998 of a charter to pursue environmental issues in conjunction with urban development, the region is protected as it continues to grow.

The Costa del Azahar, or the Orange Blossom Coast, is further south along the Mediterranean Coast, and runs down as far as Cabo de Gata at the top end of the Costa Blanca, and has Valencia as the regional capital. The city has been revitalized by the introduction of low-cost flights to the airport and the arrival in 2007 of the Americas Cup sailing event.

Beyond the Costa Blanca, you will find the Costa Calida, the ‘warm’ coast blessed with a micro-climate as well as Europe’s largest saltwater lagoon, the Mar Menor. Alongside the tourist towns of Mazarron and Cartagena, the spit of land separating the Mar Menor and the Mediterranean Sea, La Manga, is one of the most important golfing destinations in the country.

The hottest part of Spain is the area around the south-eastern city of Almeria, where the Costa of the same name is proving to be one of the newest and most popular of the ‘minor’ Costas. As soon as more flights began to arrive at the international airport just a few miles outside the city, the first of a plethora of new developments began to spring up along the coast, taking advantage of the climate and the spectacular scenery in the region.

Climate

Many of Spain’s Costas have their own micro-climates, thus explaining their popularity as holiday destinations. The Costas often benefit from warm and dry climates throughout the year, escaping the worst excesses of a European winter. Contrary to some beliefs, Spain does have some areas of cold and wet weather at certain times of the year, though the Costas have grown up around the warmer, drier parts of the coastline.

More pages

Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: Getting there

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