Where to make your base in the area when coming for a viewing visit

Hi, welcome and best of in your endeavours to find your own "place in the sun" lol.

1st thing you'll need to confirm is just when your intent on coming here and where from as those two factors will determine which airport you can use although theres not that much difference time wise between flying into Almeria and/or Murcia to get to this area.

Cant be exact as to when Ryanair and Jet2 start flying into Almeria but its some time late April or early May, you can check just by Googling the respective websites where you'll see the earliest dates both companies start to fly along with flight prices. Murcia is roughly 90 mins from here, (Urcal), Almeria 65 mins, Alicante roughly 2 hours, Alicante and Almeria are straight shots, Murcia is a bit more involved getting there and back.

Car hire I dont think varies much from Almeria or Murcia, you'll see a lot of "Goldcar" stickers on hire cars, again Google airport car hire but check if the vehicles are on airport or off, tho if theyre off airport those companies have an excellent pick up and drop off service usually just a few minutes away.

Diesel fuel is cheaper than petrol, most every gas station has a guy/girl who fills up your vehicle, LPG isnt widely available, I remember looking for LPG before we sold our vehicles back in the UK and it looked like Lorca was the nearest, some 40 or so kms up the road but bringing a vehicle so equipped does make sense, my next vehicle will be LPG.

Hybrid cars are well liked here, partner has a Honda Insight Hybrid.

Places to buy/rent ?? This is the kicker, Arboleas per se is a huge area, the town itself isnt that big, villas you'll see on sites like Rightmove and Kyero have lots of really nice villas, as n when you come you'll be able to get two free newspapers, Euro weekly news on Thursdays, Sol Times on Fridays with a free mag, called The Focus available from the beginning of the month along with Almeria living, every one chock full of villa and house agent pages. Seemingly new ones each week. Some people dont like Albox, quite a few people are looking at La Alfoqia, there's property available in Huercal Overa itself, depends whether you like being in a village location, or more rural. Our village is small ish but has a doctors surgery, small supermarket, local bar with food, is 7 mins from the A7/E15 motorway, 12 mins from Huercal Overa, 45 mins from the coastal towns of Mojacar, Villaricos, Garrucha. Your spoilt for choice really lol.

We bought thru Voss homes in Huercal Overa, they cover a wide local area, theres Coles of Andalucia, Almeria homes, Olive, Next stop Almeria, Grupo platinum estates to name but a few.

Most everyone on here and the other forums will give differing advice about locations but you'll be able to build up a good enough dossier of info that will get you started.

If looking car hire try do youspain. Book 15 days in advance to get best price.

Hi, we stayed here on our visits: http://www.bedandbreakfastalmeria.com/

Lovely B and B run by lovely people Paula and Derek.

This is their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Casa-Oasis-Piedra-Amarilla-Deluxe-Bed-Breakfast-948041688557093/

I don't have much experience with hire cars but I arrive at Murcia airport and chose to use the cheapest Dickmanns. 

The pricing all hire car companies have is misleading. There are insurances and charges added to the ridiculous 1 euro a day pricing they advertise. But so far so good Ive had no problem. And the costs- even after these scams are added, are affordable too. But they do make me feel threatened as they examine the cars and read the riot act about charges for damage etc.

Regarding looking around. Are you clear about whether you want to be inland or maybe think of the coast? The weathers often nicer on the coast. Less hot and less cold.

If you're using a hire car almost anywhere is good. But if you rely on public transport check there are regular services through your base town. Bus companies are on line to check this out.

If you see somewhere and fall in love with it - pause and re-visit it ideally another time of the eyar and certainly another time of the day. You can pick up a lot about an area by re-visiting it at different times.

Good luck.