Advice on Chirivel

Hi Dan, yes it is cooler up here, but like Britain, you have to adapt and adjust, i.e. make sure your house is well insulated and you have a good heating system, and when you go out, easy, you wear more or better clothes.

The winter evenings/nights can get very cold, but that’s when you make best use of your lovely warm home, or go the bar of course! The days are mainly sunny and warmer, not much grey or wetness to speak of, and when it snows, you can become a child again!

Summertime is still very hot, but with less humidity so it doesn’t feel too bad, but you’ll still want to be in the shade a lot.

There are so many more benefits, apart from the scenery, like cleaner air, less traffic, laid back lifestyle, being in a more Spanish environment and the list goes on, you’ll realise them when you come out.

The town of Chirivel is very nice, not too big, but big enough, there is a British presence, and there are most things you need like, shops, bars, a local market, banks, a health centre, post office, again, it goes on, you can only find out by experiencing it, and I’m sure you’ll love it.

Good hunting

Puff

Hi Puff, many thanks for your reply it’s really useful.

Out of interest how often does it snow and how bad does it get? Does everything grind to a halt like it does back home? We quite like the fact you get seasons but just want to make sure we’d not be stranded in the winter months.

Thanks again 

There is an excellent webpage called www.sparkweather.com that gives very detailed advice on weather patterns covering average sun; wind; snow; rain; humidity etc and I used it to compare various locations in Almería and found it useful. 

Hi Dan 

I can’t really add much to what Puff, has said as the reply was spot on. We bought in Oria this year however, we are a 5 minute drive to  Chirivel.  We stayed with my brother in Cantoria, before we bought and we decided on the Oria area.  The weather does get hot in summer but you have a nice breeze in the afternoon’s. My brother could not believe the difference from a 40 minute drive. We love the area. With views like this (see photo) who wouldn’t. Couldn’t upload a photo?? 

Errol and Gill 

Hi Dan, unfortunately it doesn’t seem to snow as much as it used to, in fact we haven’t had a good snowfall for a few years. I say ‘unfortunately’ because snow is just another thing to enjoy, especially if you’re big kid like me.

A lot depends on where you live, we live in a small village 2 kms up a dirt track, and every year we would get blocked in by snow, but not for long, if it didn’t melt quickly, a local farmer would clear the way with his tractor, so if you’re in a more built up area, well I don’t really know what that’s like, but you might have to travel to find some good snow.

 In our village, first thing after a decent snowfall, some of the men would go round making sure everyone was OK, and if they needed anything, no one ever did because we were all prepared, but it was a good community thing.  Then entire village (about ten of us) would go out, skiing and sledging, snowballing, making snowmen etc, until the adults left the kids to it, while we went inside and drank brandy & hot chocolate in front of a log fire.

So don’t worry about the weather, even when it does turn bad, you can enjoy it, rather than endure it :-)

Puff

An estate agent informed me that Chirivel was referred to as Chillyville!