Our house is in Catral although we are closer to the nearby town of Dolores. It is 25 minutes drive from Alicante Airport, 15 minutes to the blue flag beaches of Guardamar and 15 minutes in the opposite direction to the Natural Park in the Sierra Crevillent. Catral is on the edge of El Fondo natural park with its abundance of wildlife.
Both Catral and Dolores are small towns which remain relatively undeveloped and retain their Spanish character. There are plenty of bars, most of which serve tapas, and a few restaurants and pizzerias catering mainly for locals and the few foreign (mainly Brits) visitors or residents.
Evening entertainment is virtually non-existant. For that you will need to travel to Torrevieja a 30 minutes drive away. Quesada with its large number of eating places is about 15 minutes away but this is a purpose built town mainly for northern Europeans and is totally devoid of anything Spanish.
About 2 km from Catral is a railway station on the Murcia-Alicante line and there is a very limited bus service about which I can find out more if you like.
This area is ideal for chilling out but for anything more you will need to travel further afield and a car is the best way to do this.
Hope this helps.
Jim
