Plentiful year-round sunshine, spectacular scenery, golf courses galore and excellent transport links ensure that Spain retains its popularity. Combine all this with a low cost of living, a friendly local populace and a robust health service, and you wonder why everyone doesn't live here!

The quality and choice of property available is outstanding. New and resale freehold property in Costa de Almeria, Costa del Sol and Costa de la Luz for holidays, retirement or investment including studios, apartments, town homes, villas, plots of land and fincas in beach front, marina, golf course, village and country locations.


Costa de la Luz

The Costa de la Luz enjoys more hours of sunshine and less rain per year than some of the other Costas. Its Mediterranean climate and proximity to the north of Africa mean that winter temperatures seldom fall below 10°C, easily reaching 20°C at noon. Thanks to the Atlantic breeze, maximum temperatures in summer seldom rise above a moderate 30°C (in the interior of Andalusia or on the Costa del Sol, 40°C can easily be reached).

The Atlantic Ocean is not as cold as you might think. In May, the water temperatures rise above 20°C, and temperatures that allow swimming can be expected until the middle or end of October, sometimes even until November.


Costa Del Sol

The Costa del Sol is renowned for its mild weather, making it an ideal destination for holiday makers throughout the summer and winter. The coastline is sheltered by hills and mountains, limiting rainfall and, as a result, the region enjoys sunshine for 320 days per year.

During the summer months, temperatures rarely fall below 30°C. August is the hottest month at 35°C average. Winters are typically very mild, with daily highs of around 20°C. At night the temperature rarely falls below 10°C.


Costa de Almeria

Almeria's climate is subtropical, Mediterranean, warm and dry and holds the title of being the Andalucian city with the most hours of sun a year, a total of over 3,000. The average annual temperature is 18/19°C, and the temperature of its waters in the winter is warmer than that of the air, which invites you to swim at that time of the year.


Getting there

Costa de la Luz
The Costa de la Luz is served by Faro, Jerez, Seville and Malaga airports, all within easy reach.

Faro, although in Portugal, is just 45 minutes away from Ayamonte by car along a scenic motorway. Faro has excellent flight connections with most UK and Irish airports, and with Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Spain and Switzerland.

Costa de Almeria
The Costa de Almeria lies to the far east of the Andalucian coastline, and Almeria's international airport is 500m from the coast and 10km east of the city centre at the end of the AL-12. Almeria has flights from Birmingham, London, Glasgow, Manchester, Helsinki, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Dortmund, Dresden, Dusseldorf, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munster, Nuremberg, Munich, Paderborn and Stuttgart, as well as other Spanish airports. Travellers from the US need to connect via one of these destinations.

Costa Del Sol
The Costa del Sol is well served by Malaga international airport which lies 8km west of the city and handles the area's 12 million visitors every year. Malaga has flights to/from nearly every European airport you can think of, andis due to double in size between 2008 and 2010.


Healthcare

Spain has a good national health service that works alongside the private sector. Nationals of all EU countries receive free emergency medical treatment on production of the relevant paperwork (Form E111 for Britons). If you are working or over UK retirement age, you will be covered by the local healthcare system; otherwise you will need to arrange private healthcare insurance. Dentists are all private.


Local Cuisine

Spain is famous for moscatel grapes, gazpacho and fish. Amongst its most well known dishes are fish soup, fish with potatoes, roast tuna, papanduas (small codfish cakes), and the celebrated espetones de sardinas (sardines roasted on bamboo spits). Other specialties of the region include the famous snow-cured hams and the Costa wines, which are quite fine.

In Spain the main meal is served during the midday break, and can be quite extensive with lots of wine and brandy to wash the meal down. (This of course calls for a typical siesta of two to three hours for recovery, before returning to work for the afternoon!) A typical meal would include gazpacho (garlic soup) with cured ham or "patatas a lo pobre" (sausages and potatoes fried together in olive oil) as a first course.

Heavy on the meats, the main course could offer the following broad beans with ham or goat meat with a special marinade - "choto a la cortijera". Side dishes are usually simple, but filling - "gachas pimentonas", a porridge made with flour, water and vegetables, or "migas", which is fried bread crumbs with peppers and other chopped vegetables.

Desserts are rich and have a distinct Moorish influence: almond puffs (soplillos), a cake called tarte de lata, candied pumpkin, anise-flavoured candies, rum babas called borrachillos, and a sponge cake called bizcochas.

colorado" (a garlic dish), "collejas" (spring cabbage) and "olla de trigo" (which means, more or less, "wheat stew"). Desserts are typically pastry with egg: "hornazos", "torticas reales", "roscos de vino y anis" (a type of yeast pastry in a dougtnut shape made with wine), "pastafloras", "deditos de jesus", "tortas de chicharrones" and "tortas de pellizcos" (yeast pastry).

Tapas were invented in Andalucia, and a great alternative to sitting down in a restaurant, you can spend an evening going from bar to bar, browsing through the tapas menus.

Traditionally tapas were served with your drink, on a tiny plate which acted as a lid to keep the flies out of your drink. They are a tasty morsel to keep you happy in the bar, and the word tapas means lid or cover. Tapas can be anything from fried fish to meat stews or cold-cuts and cheeses, to fried veggies, mushrooms, and tortillas.

Tapas generally come in three sizes - a bite, a half-portion or a full portion. A few typical tapas combinations are: chickpeas and spinach, clams in sherry sauce, octopus with paprika, meatballs in almond sauce, fried cheese, quail and onions, dried cod and potatoes, or sole with raisins and pine nuts.


Things to see and do

Costa de la Luz
The Costa de la Luz or 'coast of light' stretches from the Huelva province to the Cadiz province. Also known as the Spanish Algarve, the Costa de la Luz offers undiscovered peace and tranquility, golden sandy beaches washed by clear blue seas and backed by sweeping dunes, majestic pine forests, rolling hills and countryside dotted with traditional whitewashed villages. The region is cut in half by the Donana National Park, home to many wild animals and birds.

Seville, the capital of Andalusia, is a compact city with a great atmosphere, rich cultural and architectural heritage, and numerous excellent tapas bars and restaurants. Jerez, half-an-hour's drive north of Cadiz, is the home of sherry, the Royal Spanish Riding School and an annual horse fair. Tarifa, with its strong Atlantic winds, is a haven for windsurfing and watersports.

Golf aficionados are spoilt for choice. Isla Canela, Islantilla (27 holes), El Rompido and Nuevo Portil all demonstrate the high standards of golf available in Spain. Just across the border in Portugal are Castro Marim, Benamor and the two Quinta courses of Ria and Cima. Further courses are planned at El Rompido, Nuevo Portil and Islantilla, and 36 holes are in progress at Costa Esuri, due to open in 2006.

There is an abundance of marinas in the area; on the Spanish side of the border are Isla Canela, Ayamonte and Isla Christina as well as a natural marina at El Portil. A new marina is also being built in El Rompido. Windsurfing and kite surfing are very popular. Favourite spots include Isla Canela - the furthest south-west point of Spain - and El Portil with its lagoon inlet nestled behind the sandbank which provides a picturesque setting with good water conditions.

Costa de Almeria
Having a surface area of over 8,769 km², Almeria is the most Easterly Province of Andalucia. Its coastline stretches for 214km and consists of many isolated beaches and makes up a approximately 25% of the whole coastline of Andalucia.

Almeria's skies are the clearest in Europe, meaning that Europe's most powerful telescope has been installed here, near Gergal. With an annual average of 3,000 hours of sunshine, it is also home to Europe's largest solar energy plant, the Solar Platform of Almeria (PSA), an EU solar energy research centre. Even if you're not allowed in, you can peer over the wire fence and marvel at the rows of futuristic heliostats reflecting the sun's rays into the towering solar oven and many other devices for turning the sun's energy into electricity.

The provincial capital and port of Almeria is overlooked by a vast, sprawling Moorish citadel, complete with fort and castle. Also well worth exploring is Almeria's old town, peppered with interesting monuments, including a cathedral with an impressive Gothic interior, a 300-year-old hospital and great tapas bars.

Almeria province is famous for its cave houses, where many homes are dug out of soft sand-coloured cliffs. These casas-cuevas provide excellent insulation from the dry, desert-like heat typical of this province. They often have a conventional facade with windows and tiled roofs, while above are chimneys that jut up from the earth behind. Chimney-like skylights are dug for interior lighting of the cave.

As well as the casas cuevas in the Barrio de Chanca area in Almeria city, the most interesting cave-dweller settlements are Alhabia, Gador and Benahadux, in the region around Santa Fe de Mondujar and near the recently excavated site of Los Millares, the largest Bronze Age settlement in Europe with a prehistoric fortress built 2,000 years before Christ.

Mojacar is the largest resort on the Costa Almeria, popular with foreign residents, many of them British; around half of its population of 5,000 come from the EU. Mojacar is divided between a stunning hilltop old part of the town, Mojacar Pueblo, and the newer seafront Mojacar Playa, built alongside a superb sandy beach. A more low-key resort is San Jose, the centre of the extraordinary Cabo de Gata-Nijar Natural Park, with some of Andalucia's most magnificent beaches such as the Playa de los Genoveses and the Playa de Monsul.

Costa Del Sol

The Costa del Sol has over 100 miles of coastline ringed with high mountain ranges and studded with glamorous international resorts like Marbella and Puerto Banus, plus attractive towns like Ronda and Antequera inland.

There are Michelin-starred restaurants at Ronda, Malaga and Estepona, as well as hundreds - maybe thousands - of beachside bars and restaurants all serving excellent fresh food.

There are over 40 golf clubs here - the highest concentration in continental Europe - and 11 marinas. Cycling, rambling, tennis, horseriding and pot-holing are also available.