Help needed in creating a DIY Holiday in Spain

scottcru

Hi,

Our family of 4 (including 2 young children) have booked flights to Alicante for the middle of May for a week (under £200 for the 4 of us :money: ). However, having never been to mainland Spain I have no idea where best to book our accomodation.

Our preferences would be :

• Self Catering
• Villa or holiday complex
• 3 or 4 stars
• Near the sea
• traditional rather than 'all day breakfasts'

Any advice would be much appreciated, even if it is just the town you would recommend us looking for accomodation in.

Thanks in advance.

Scott

girl-about-town_2

Hi

If you're going to be hiring a car, my advice would be to head to the Mar Menor, which is about an hours drive south of Alicante. There is a town called Los Alcazares which has lots of villas etc to rent, but still manages to maintain a traditional Spanish feel if you stick to the old town. The beach there is lovely and the sea is actually an inland sea (its partially blocked off by land either side (one side is La Manga) and the water is very calm, warm and you can wade out for a while before it gets too deep. There are lots of traditional restaurants in the town too. Other places along the coast are Santiago de la Ribeira, San Javier etc. Also within an hours drive is the historic city of Murcia, which has some fantastic architecture and great shops! But it gets very very hot there in the height of summer. Approx 40 degrees!

Hope this helps, if you want any more info, do pm me

tinker15

Hi
I have booked my holidays DIY style for some time as we are a family on five. If you look at ownersdirect, holidaylettings and holiday rentals on the internet, you should be able to find yourself a place thats 'home from home'. They tend to be a lot cheaper going to the owners and have more facilities.
My tip to you though is to narrow down your choice and then request recent photos as I was dissapointed once & only once thank goodness.

louise3965

We've done this for years, ever since the kids were little. We now go to a little Spanish resort called Puerto de Mazarron. We rent a 2 bed appartment in a largeish block with a lovely pool and mountain views abiut 10 mins walk from the port. We use carjet for our hire cars and just book the appartment direct from the owner (its this one we went to last year). We like this part of Spain better than Costa Blanca as its less touristy. the only advice I can give you though is AVOID TORREVIEJA, its horrid!!!!http://www.villarenters.com/villas/mazarron-district-costa-calida-villa-to-rent-13471-sum.asp

Another beautiful place is Villajoyosa - thats such a pretty place and near benidorm with all the tourist stuff for the kids.

satan666wayne

AspectsOfSpain wrote: »

You can try AspectsOfSpain.com - they have a selection of villas in Javea and Moraira with English speaking staff on hand if you have a problem. You do not have to book a "package" - just the villa if you want. And you will find the prices are often actually cheaper than buying your holiday directly from an owner. Have a look at their website and give them a call.

Reported ......

wendyjj

We often go to La Manga Club & book a villa or apartment. We love the place it's a bit like a gated community, it has it's own beach cove, a hotel, restaurants, shops etc. We always feel very safe and relaxed, no yobs or trouble there. Look at www.barwell.co.uk and www.lamangaclub.com also look at the sites that you book direct with the owners as mentioned above.

phebe3

Had to write cos of the "AVOID TORREVIEJA!" post! I can perhaps understand why it was posted but it isn't all bad,although I wouldn't stay there personally we enjoyed visiting it for the odd day...my girls enjoyed the market etc and the ice cream parlour. I'm not a fan of very touristy places but if you know what you are going to visit and go with low expectations and the right frame of mind they are ok. We stayed in Quesada..inland a bit from Torrevieja, nice and quiet, bit like an Englsih suburb, lovely villas and with restarauants etc the kids, and us liked. It is quite English we felt so don't go if you don't want to hear another Englsih voice or read anything in Englsih. We enjoyed it though, Quesada has a lovely water park and we visited quite a few areas around and about and spme of the beaches wer lovely, and not crowded at all. We, or rather I, (!) have booked our holidays and flights myself for years as we are a family of 5..the travel agents have difficulty with this, and I don't believe in paying extra, and like to get the best value. We have stayed in villas and apartments..I always ask how far WALKING distance (got my fingers burnt once with this one) the shops and restaurants are and how many apartments/villas share a communal pool?

jaymac_2

www.holiday-rentals.co.uk have lots of properties in Spain.

Stubbsy055

medhotels.com are pretty good