Flights from Birmingham

There's nothing direct to Almeria from Birmingham during the winter months, but you can do the twice-weekly flight direct to Murcia on Ryanair. We frequently fly into Murcia on Easyjet from Gatwick. It's then about one and a quarter hours to Vera along the empty toll road (€13.90) and further 15 mins or so to the coast. Mojacar Playa has the most number of bars and restaurants and you can walk from the many urbanizations , but is hugely busy in July and August. Vera Playa has the water park (summer only). Some prefer Garrucha which also has restaurants and a more normal town feel. Some like us prefer being 10-15 minutes inland which is less expensive but still close enough to make the most of everything on the coast when we want to. Don't base your search on one area, come out and have a good look round everywhere, then perhaps rent for a period before deciding which area suits you.

Rob
Los Gallardos and Palomares

Hi, great advice re renting first.

Jet2 service the more regional airports like leeds bradford, most likely Birmingham too into Murcia and Alicante. Summer season theyre said to be using Almeria like Ryanair after April.

Ryanair fly out of Stansted for sure but to Murcia and Alicante. A neighbour is going back to the UK shortly and has bagged flights costing £19.99 !!

We usually do Huercal Overa (Urcal) to Murcia in about 90 minutes and more recently the straight shot to Alicante in just under 2 hrs. Because we're inland we avoid the Ap7 toll road.

As above you might find Mojacar in the touristy summer months a nightmare to park and "enjoy" the beaches. Right now theres not that much open bar pizza places and some bars/tapas places. You can still get old fashioned "Sunday roasts" both on the coast, Irish Rover for example.

Partner bought in the village of Urcal about 40 minutes from the coast, 7 minutes from the A7/E15 and 12 minutes from Huercal Overa the nearest big town.

Village here has schools, a community bar, small Coviran, doctors surgery, great bike rides on the relatively quiet country roads. We love it for its peace and tranquility and the very friendly new friends and neighbours, theres always seemingly something going on, thursday is darts nite and theres a birthday or something happening most weeks/months.

We dont necessarily do the coast that much because we have both a sun terrace and a pool.

Local property agents are Voss homes who have both sales and rental agencies serving this area, if you pick up the local Focus magazjne and the two free weekly papers you'll see big ads for Voss as well as the Garners of Sun sea and selling houses fame.

Theres a big apartment complex on the outskirts of Mojacar called Pierre Vacances I think, big white complex that rents out during the winter months, other places you might find rentals just by dropping by the other various agencies.

Dont expect to be inundated with friends and family tho thay might say otherwise lol. You'll need a bit of time to find your feet in between doing property searches !!, once settled you'll wonder why you didnt do it sooner lol.

Any thoughts and queries just ask.

Hi Chevvy.

Just a heads up, keep an eye out on Jet 2 this year as they are not doing to well in the marketplace and noises are they are heading the same way as Monarch later in the year.

Regards,

Kev.

Thank you. We are very new to spain having spent our years exploring the greek islands, so your naming of spanish villages/towns are all greek to us !! Would be a great help if local big towns could be included in your posts...sorry if thats basic😊

No worries, we are all new to Spain at some point.

Just ask the questions you would like some info on and there are loads of people from both large and small towns here to help xx

Kev.

Hi, apologies if I'm muddying the waters. Our local big town is Huercal Overa, our village is Urcal, other close by towns are Arboleas, Albox, Mojacar, Turre. Doubtless other contributors will tell you others.

Nearest Ikea is in Murcia, rumoured to be another in the Almeria city region sometime late this year or early 2019.

Train services arent good in Almeria but if you settle mid region you can catch a trajn to lots of places like Barcelona and Madrid from there. Coaches are plentiful but if your looking to visit any of the above it may be better/faster to catch a domestic flight.

If you google southern spain you'll see Almeria province which is in Andalucia, go further up past Huercal Overa close by where we are and it goes into Murcia province.

As you look around to the south you'll notice malaga granada etc, look north and you'll go through the coastal towns of Carboneras, Mojacar, Garucha, Villaricos, Murcia, Alicante.

Major airports serving the area are Almeria to the south, Murcia mid way, then Alicante.

Major motorway is the A7/E15, mostly a very quiet well paved motovia del mediteraneo to give it it's full title, mostly 120kph, with radar which if you see the signs then do obey them just to be safe. Theres a coastal toll road that runs from the Murcia region down the coast called the Ap7.

Policia Local and Guardia Civil have direct contact with our DVLA. Guardia have a mix of BMW motorbikes and cars, policia local tend to have mostly cars and can issue on the spot fines for misdemeanors, better to just pay up and then bitch about it later lol.

There are ample gas stations up and down the A7/E15, petrol is more expensive than diesel.

Spains version of the UK MOT is the ITV, VAT is IVA lol, 

Keep asking and enjoy the replies and doing your research lol, we love it here.