Northern Costa Blanca

Valencia to Alicante

Wherever you decide to live or buy a holiday home in this part of Spain you will be amazed by the diversity in Landscape, the abundance of wildlife and the warmth and hospitality of the Spanish people. Take the trouble to explore just off the beaten track and you will be rewarded with a way of life that has changed little over the years or explore the large towns and cities with their history and culture going hand in hand with cosmopolitan living and cutting edge architecture. Read on for a brief description of the area from Valencia down to Alicante or follow the link for the area from Alicante down to Mojacar.

With the Americas Cup due in town in 2007 Valencia has seen a massive investment and the publicity surrounding the event has created a lot of interest and investment in the area. A vibrant city which manages to mix its historical past with ultra modern buildings it is a predominantly Spanish speaking area that is becoming increasingly popular with overseas buyers. Travel a little to the south and you have a mix of paddy fields where the rice is cultivated for the national dish of Spain which owes its origins to the area the world famous Paella and the 1,001 derivatives of the original recipe that use the fresh seafood meat and vegetables so abundantly available. Orange groves are found in abundance and stretch from the coastal area and through the lower valleys hugging the hillsides, their fragrant blossom intoxicating the countryside in spring.

With a scattering of traditional villages where life goes on as it has done for generations with the 21st century and development that goes with it left mainly to the coastal areas. These areas offer a mix of holiday and residential development with Cullera, Gandia and Oliva being the main areas, very popular with people from Madrid with their fine beaches and the clear warm waters of the Mediterranean. Travel just 15 minutes inland and you are again in a rural setting with a mountain backdrop and hilltop castles that are the evidence of a troubled past when this region of Spain was fought over with the Moors invading from North Africa and controlling vast areas for centuries.

Travelling a little further south brings you to one of the most popular and established areas for people moving to Spain, the coastal towns of Denia, Javea and Moraira with their marinas, fine beaches, rocky coves and waterside bars and fish restaurants. With the Jalon Valley a short drive inland where you will find the sleepy villages of Lliber, Jalon, Alcalali and Parcent; traditional, rural and unbending to the modern pace of life. An area where modern villas hug the sides of the valley, looking down across the villages that seem surrounded by the vineyards and almond plantations; a visit in late January or early February is rewarded with a display of blossom that never fails to take your breath away no matter how many times you witness it.

Moving south along the coast we come to the town of Calpe, its beach lined with apartments that leads to the old fishing village the backdrop of which is the Penon de Ifach a rock of some 300 metres that juts out into the sea not unlike Gibraltar and now a nature reserve. Altea another town on the coast with its old quarter set some 500m back from the modern beachside developments and marina where the exclusive Altea Hills resort and developments have become the watchword in luxury living or a holiday home set in a protected area of outstanding natural beauty. Next is Benidorm that needs no introduction as it is the most popular holiday destination for package holidays in Spain. Travel just off the tourist route and there are any number of villages and small towns where property is affordable and you are still within easy reach of everything that Benidorm has to offer. Polop, La Nucia, Relleu and Finestrat are just a few places that you may wish to consider with the latter having a lot of resort style development with complexes built around golf courses and other facilities. Further inland are the mountain towns and villages the most visited being Guadalest a fortified hilltop town that over the centuries has outgrown the confines of the defensive walls and tumbled down the sides of the mountain; the different styles of architecture evidence of the many times that the town’s rulers changed during the areas turbulent past. Alcoi, Ontinyent and Ibi are the larger inland towns’ further inland where the mountains are higher and the climate can be very different from that of the coast with pine clad peaks rising to over 4,000 feet and regular winter snow falls.

Back on the coast we reach journeys end and the city of Alicante with its modern marina and waterfront area watched over by the Castillo de Santa Barbara some 166 metres above. A large city with hotels fronting the beaches to the north in the San Juan and Campello areas along with exclusive residential areas as well as developments a few miles inland such as Bussot and the nearby golf course of Bonalbo. The airport which is the main gateway for people travelling to the Costa Blanca is a few miles to the south of the city and has good road links to both the north and south of the region as well as inland. A new development a few miles further to the south that is very popular with foreign buyers is Gran Alicant a large urbanisation aimed at the foreign buyer with everything laid on for the resident or the holidaymaker. This is a concept that has become popular with people wanting to buy in Spain while living amongst people of their own nationality and there are many developments like this in the area around Torrevieja and the Mar Menor.