Living in San Juan De Los Terreros

Hi Derek.

We purchased our property in sjdt, two years ago. At the moment we manage to get out around 4/5 times a year .

We fly from East Midlands or Manchester . 

We fly to Murcia international usually . We have flown to Alicante, but this is a long way to travel . We have also travelled to Almeria. Both Murcia and Almeria are around an hours drive . We always hire a car and have annual insurance which we purchase for around 40 pounds per annum.

If you look around and wait, you can hire a car for around 6-10 Euro per day . We always get full to full and never purchase their insurance.

As regards local amenities. Sjdt has a spar shop and more recently Pepe’s supermarket has opened which sells pretty much most things you’ll need including a butchers in store .

As regards the price of food in Spain . Personally we think it is quite expensive now. Fruit and veg isn’t has cheap as the uk . Chicken and other meats are not too bad . Most other things are more expensive . Not like the offers you get at supermarkets over in the uk.

Electricity is quite expensive. They usually have 2 rates . From 2300- 1300hrs the next day cheaper rate . 1300-2300 more expensive. We don’t have gas in our place . Water is not too bad, a little more than we pay in the uk .

We have a spanish bank account and you pay for this service . About 10 euro per month .

We have a few to the town council annually about 116.00 and non residents tax fee based on the value of your property . This is about 30 euro per annum.

As for San Juan . We love it . We are regulars at Pepes and la Venta . Both opposite each other at the roundabout where the water fountain is . All the staff are lovely and make you feel welcome . 

There are other eateries but we havnt tried many of these as yet . 

San Juan is less commercial than other places . We like the quaintness of it .

Depends what you’re looking for . 

During the winter it is pretty quiet.

In end of June  to sept it is buzzing as they have the night markets, fair for the kids and other more social events like outdoor orchestra etc.

A lot of the spanish holiday at San Juan.

The beaches are lovely . There are a few of them but some you need a car to get to.

Hope this helps .

If you need anymore info message me . We’ve all been there and it’s not easy when you first start out . 

We also moved to SJDLT permanently last year and agree with most of the comments made by Andy. We however think that most food and drink is cheaper than the UK. There is a weekly market in SJDLT on a Sunday that is now all year and has reasonable fruit and veg as well as clothes, shoes, etc. Both the supermarkets are all year and carry a good range of items with some UK goods. There are also a couple of China shops for most other items.

The paseo along the seafront has a number of beach bars, one of which (Henroks) opened all winter. A number of the restaurants do close for winter but a couple do stay open.

There is a public health centre open a couple of mornings if you have access to the Spanish Health Service, this is a satellite from the main health centre in Pulpi. There is also a satellite town hall office open one morning a week to save a trip to Pulpi, we were able to obtain our IBI bill and register on the padron at this office.

Regarding banking there are no actual banks in SJDLT but there is a cash point at the town hall office. There are many banks available in Aguilas (the nearest town but actually in Murcia department not Almeria), or down the coast at Vera or Mojacar. It makes sense to get a local account and source this from the UK if you are not permanent residents, we now have our pensions paid direct into this account from the UK pension providers. Dependent on the amount you deposit each month may affect the bank charges. We bank with Sabadell and have their Expancion account, this is totally free provided you deposit 750 euros per month. 

We used WIMAX for internet and pay 30 euros pm for up to 25 mbit, there are a large number of internet TV providers that often have introductory offers. Have a look at the link below, this is the free UK newspaper and the on-line print editions include the adverts so you can see what is available:

https://www.euroweeklynews.com/ewn/news/costa-de-almeria/#.XSQ3MegzZPY

There are a limited number of buses that serve SJDLT but a car is probably essential. If we can help with anything else please send a message.