Where do you own a place abroad?

[gklmr]

Hi there. I’m brand new to this site so please forgive any etiquette I’m missing. I’ve done some searching already but not found what I’m looking for so far. So here goes.....

We’re thinking of buying a place within 3 hours flight of London airports and within 90 minutes drive the other end. Kids are currently 3 months, 4 and 5 years. Were hoping to own for many years and spend all school summer holidays there.

Where do you own and why do you love it? Maybe you haven’t bought but you keep going back to the same place year after year.....if so why do you love it so much to keep going back?

I’m really interested in places (towns/villages/resort towns etc.) rather than specific hotels or just countries/islands.

Ideally we’d like somewhere with a long season as we’d like to go in Easter and October half terms too. Must have plenty of restaurants and some nightlife (not clubs just nice bars).

Greatly appreciate your thoughts.

depends on your budget? Majorca is lovely

We went back year after year to the algarve, carveiro in particular. Short flight, short car journey from airport, super family friendly.

We bought a villa last winter in Chiclana on the Costa de la Luz (Southern Spain). 2.5 hr flight to Gibraltar or Seville or Jerez and just over an hour’s drive from airport (40 mins from Jerez but only Ryanair fly there!).

We rent it out during the intense 10 week summer season as it’s just too hot for me for more than a week. Very Spanish, mainly Spanish guests. Best thing we did was invest in a pool heater so that when we go off season we can still swim. We go as often as possible during school holidays and absolutely love it.

I love that we’re having to try to learn Spanish as do few English visit most menus aren’t even translated. We love having the beaches to ourselves outside of July/August - 8km of golden sand. Lots of places to explore nearby (Roman ruins, hilltop towns, Cadiz city, water parks, hill hiking, surf beaches, horseriding schools, water sports, sailing, whale watching - all within an hour’s drive).

Off season is very quiet but there are always a few bars/restaurants open.

If you decide to buy in Spain trust no one! Research to find a good lawyer and triple check everything everyone tells you about whether a house is legal. There are lots of sad stories around of people being conned, even now.

We own in Isla Canela also on the Costa de la Luz.
We fly to Faro n Portugal and it’s about 40 minutes away.
Also like PP we don’t go over summer as it’s too hot and busy, we rent to Spanish and Portuguese families and go ourselves in May and October ( when it’s warm enough to still swim as long as you are quite hardy) we absolutely love it
To be honest though I wouldn’t buy now due to Brexit as we don’t know what restrictions we will face ( not scaremongering I would just wait to see what the situation is before buying in Europe).
Also, don’t underestimate taxes, in Spain younget taxed for everything!