Hi there you are very brave! What made you choose Torrevieja ?

Thanks for your reply.

Torrevieja seems to be the sort of place that is still Spain but won't be a complete culture shock for the kids. I went through most other European countries and Spain came out as the most suitable for my little family, and the Costa Blanca the best area. Fingers crossed I am right!

Torrevieja seems to be the sort of place that is still Spain but won't be a complete culture shock for the kids.

Im not an expert on Torrevieja but my few visits to the area made a "concrete jungle" come to mind and the place seemed full of British and other foreign expats,especially Eastern European.I'm not trying to pull the place down at all but am rather surprised by your comments above.John.

I have to agree, please unless you have friends or family in Torre, consider other places, there are so many other fantastic places on the Coast, smaller places that are more spanish, but still very welcoming to Foriegners. Presumably you are looking for a change of pace and a better life for your children, Torrevieja has a very high crime rate, why go to Southend in the sun when you could be in paradise!

I really don't want to scare you off, but do your research there are much better areas with good British schools, (although you will be amazed how quickly your children learn the lingo), so do not rule out spanish schools.

Please look further along the coast, go over on a viewing trip with one of the agents doing free inspection tours and use it to look at various areas.

Ask loads of questions!

I have to agree, please unless you have friends or family in Torre, consider other places, there are so many other fantastic places on the Coast, smaller places that are more spanish, but still very welcoming to Foriegners. Presumably you are looking for a change of pace and a better life for your children, Torrevieja has a very high crime rate, why go to Southend in the sun when you could be in paradise!

I really don't want to scare you off, but do your research there are much better areas with good British schools, (although you will be amazed how quickly your children learn the lingo), so do not rule out spanish schools.

Please look further along the coast, go over on a viewing trip with one of the agents doing free inspection tours and use it to look at various areas.

Ask loads of questions!

I could not agree more with this post and all the others STAY AWAY. I went to Torrevieja some 4 year ago on a fact finding trip and I could not get out of the place fast enough and remember that was 4 years ago. It is just like Southend with a very high crime rate.

I have some friends who had some friends (sounds complicated) who have just left there and they could not get out quick enough. He had to sell his villa at a loss because

1) nobody wants to live there and
2) there is so much building that he just could not sell it.

The husband of the people I am talking about used to carry a base ball bat under the seat of his car as protection and they would never never go out by therselves at night, he actually was attacked outside the local police station and they did not want to know about it.

So please I beg you think again there are many nicer places in the area you want to go than Torro.[/b]

On the other side of the coin...............

we bought our place 4 years ago and have successfully rented it out every year for 48 weeks of the year with no problems (i.e no guests being mugged etc etc or burgled) . We ourselves have never had a problem and visit 4 times a year. Torrevieja got a bad reputation a few years ago but things have much improved since then. The only problem we have had is that on the night of the three kings this year when there were fireworks going off everywhere one landed in our large pot with a palm in and melted the pot........but the good news is the plant survived!

Every one has their own opinion of a place but I think you should at least try it, then if you don't like it you can make the decsion to go somewhere else. I think it IS good for families with young children though I would think twice about putting your 10 year old in a spanish school. Don't be put off by all you read!

All in my opinion of course.............

Every one has their own opinion of a place but I think you should at least try it, then if you don't like it you can make the decsion to go somewhere else.

I think this has to be thought about very carefully because they could be investing a large amount of money in this move only to find out that all that has been said here in this post in there view is true.

I am just woundering if they have any means to be able to stay there for say 6/8 month without selling up in the UK to see if it is all ok for them. I would hate for them to spend a very large sum of money to find out they don't like it but can do nothing about moveing from there because they cannot afford it etc.

My friend has lived here for 10 years but has been spending more and more time in England at her daughters because of the crime rate.She is spending this winter in the UK and wants to sell up as soon as possible and relocate to France.

I agree A1gij, I always assume that someone would not burn all their bridges first without testing an area to see if they are going to stay! I always advise people to rent first if they can. We are hoping to move in about 5 years time but again would still give ourselves at least a year to see what its like 'full' time before burning our bridges here!

we bought our place 4 years ago and have successfully rented it out every year for 48 weeks of the year with no problems

......wow.....!.....we looked at Torre about four years ago, for rental income.....thought that a year round rental season in Tenerife was a better option, so bought there instead.....but obviously a lot of people prefer the charms of Torre......

we too where in the torre area last sept for two weeks, up by Los Dolses is not bad, and san migel de salinas seems to be the place where brits in the know live, caporiog is nice, but i would not live in or near torre, we just purchased up the coast abit, on the mar menor but not as british`ised as the torre area "yet" seemed to be loads of english kids in the spanish schools at los dolces though. hope thats a help!

It depends very much on what you expect from your re-location if you want the security of having a Brit ex-pat community around you then possibly Torre is the place for you. (Although there are nicer places in Spain with large ex-pat communities, Costa del Sol for example).

However you have to think very hard about why you want to leave the UK and what it is you expect tp acheive from your new life style.

If you are living in a big city here and fed up with the crime and crap schools maybe Torre is not the place for you, do you want to live the spanish life and learn the language and have friends that are not all brits then again Torre is not the place for you.

It is hard when a certain area gets a bad rep, but in this case I beleive it is fully justified, Torrvieja is not a nice place, it is a run of the mill town full of brit ex-pats with a huge crime problem.

Torrvieja is not a nice place, it is a run of the mill town full of brit ex-pats

Hi Sue,im sure you didnt mean it like it sounds as I live in a small town (Mojacar,Almeria) which is also full of Brits but has a great atmosphere and most of us lead very enjoyable lives.Mixing mostly with fellow Brits by choice but most of us also enjoy the mixture of cultures and Spanish friends.
Apart from a couple of the older hotels the planning rules here are maximum 3 stories so we are a very low rise town with nothing blocking out the sun other than the early demise of it behind the mountains behind.

I think there is some security by having a decent level of Brits around although I'm not talking about the likes of Torrevieja.

I hope kesannabeau get to read this thread,John.

John,

Your are right I did not mean to diss anybody's life style! I just feel that it is a shame to choose somewhere that probably represents all that is bad about living in Spain as opposed to that which is good.

Every move will have it's pros and cons, no matter where you go, you could move to spain for the weather alone and not care if there is a McDonalds on the end of the street, a kararoke bar and a fish and chip shop down the road, if that is what you want then good luck to them.

But you must know from your own experience that there are lovely places that combine a balance of things Brit and Spanish to suit all.

But you must know from your own experience that there are lovely places that combine a balance of things Brit and Spanish to suit all.

Thats right Sue,thats why I like where I live,I can choose how much I intregate.I'm not one of those that wanted to move to Spain (21 years ago now) and live in a Spanish Village where there were no other Brits.I might never have left the Uk then if the weather had been better although with the UK as it has become it was the right thing to do anyway.

I have a lot of respect for those that intregate fully with the Spanish and their way of life,John.

Please do not reply to this post as I really do think it is pointless.

Apart from 1 or 2 posts I would like to take this opportunity to express my disgust and disappointment at all of the attitudes contained therein.

It has become blatantly obvious that because I stated that I am a single mum it has been assumed that I am ill-prepared and stupid. Not only have I been preparing and researching our move for some considerable time I am also a PhD (for those of you that haven't been able to continue through to higher education, this means I have a Doctorate and letters come to me in the post addressed to Dr.)

I have also just received a 'private message' in which it was stated "I dont want to put you off, but you sound as if you are going into this blind." How Dare You!?!? Who the heck does this person think they are? By advice all I meant was brownie/guides groups and nursery school contacts! What is more, this person has been to Torrevieja for 1 week over a year ago! Another person putting their oar in had been there over 4 years ago - incidently if you check the records of number of police on the streets over the past few years you will see that the police presence in this area has increased considerably. The crime in Torre is still based around pickpocketing and burglary which, in tourist areas all over the world, is a massive problem. Having been to Genova (Northern Italy) recently, within 6 hours I had my mobile phone stolen - this was not the fault of Genova, but my own as I had become complacant and not done my bag up properly.

I really think that this site should be changed to holiday-miseries. Perhaps it is simply that negative people congregate together here, and why so many holiday makers are reading a section of the site dedicated to ex-pats is beyond me!

I have also just received a 'private message' in which it was stated "I dont want to put you off, but you sound as if you are going into this blind." How Dare You!?!? Who the heck does this person think they are?

Private messages are just that: Private, and maybe a response would have been more appropriate by PM reply.

Another person putting their oar in had been there over 4 years ago

I'm not too sure if you are referring to another PM you received, in case see my comments above. If you are referring to a posting made in this thread, please note that this person was expressing their opinion or giving advise that you may either wish to take on board or ignore.

I really think that this site should be changed to holiday-miseries. Perhaps it is simply that negative people congregate together here, and why so many holiday makers are reading a section of the site dedicated to ex-pats is beyond me!

Not only are they reading this dedicated section, but it is one of the more busier sections as far as the number of posts made each day. The majority of threads in here are positive with advise being exchanged between members.

MarkJ HT Mod

IF the person putting their oar in was me I BOUGHT our property 4 years ago, I VISIT four times every year!

As the original poster now states that no replies are to be made to their latest post, I will lock this one.

MarkJ HT Mod