Totally Tropical: ’s Coastal Hotspot

Granada’s forms a shapely coastline of gently developed resorts and hidden beaches, where the sun ripens mangoes in summer and lights up the ski slopes in winter.

You didn’t know Andalucia had a tropical zone? It doesn’t, although the name “Costa Tropical” should give you a clue as to the healthy total of sunshine hours notched up every year, enough to ripen the avocado, mango and custard apple orchards that clothe the fertile plains of Granada province’s very own coastline. Summer temperatures rise to around 30C in July and August, and rarely dip below 8C in winter, while rainfall is low, providing ideal conditions – and not just for fruit!

Historically, climate has shaped the Costa Tropical from its earliest times, with extensive sugar cane plantations thriving as early as the 12th century. Today, the region’s fortunate location is an even more potent attraction. Granada and its exquisite Alhambra Palace are just 45 minutes through the leafy Lecrin Valley from Salobreña. And with the ski slopes just over an hour away, a skiing day trip offers a wonderful contrast to the beach.

Around 60 kilometres (38 miles) of snaking coast road, the N340, ties together a region of contrasts in landscape and lifestyles, stretching from west of Almeria city through the bustling administrative capital, , and along to pretty before merging into the beginnings of the at . Smaller, scenic roads taper inland to new property hotspots such as Velez de Benaudalla. Take the N323-N902 and wind through the lush Lecrin Valley and ancient white villages that lead to Granada’s picturesque city.

However, for the right location to live, work and play, pass over resorts like over-the-top Almerimar, west of Almeria, set in a shimmering sea of plasticultura greenhouses, and keep driving past boom town El Ejido and its drab cousin Adra. You might love Calahonda and Castell de Ferro – if you’re a scuba-diving fan. Or be tempted to tarry at Motril’s smart new golf resort, the Playa de Granada.

However, many British and Scandinavian settlers agree that the most beautiful stretch of the Costa Tropical begins when you get to Salobreña, its sugar-cube houses clinging to the fortress rock on which the built a castle in the 10th century. Climb to the top of the old town on a mild spring day through narrow streets blazing with vivid flowers against whitewashed walls – the sweeping views of mountains and sugar-cane plantations are worth it.

Simon Lumb of Costa Tropical Estates says that while Salobreña, especially the upmarket Monte de los Almendras area, has been a favourite with Scandinavian buyers for years, British buyers are showing increasing interest, “though in my opinion, it’s more of a holiday place than a year-round permanent home destination,” he says.

1 Development in Salobrena is gentle and the population is less than 15,000, so except during hot and heaving August, you’ll find a table at excellent mid-priced seafood restaurants such as El Peñon, where you can all but dip your toes in the waves as you eat. From snorkeling and diving to mountain biking and fishing, with its parks and playgrounds, Salobreña is a wonderful base for a family holiday home or investment buy.

Ten minutes along the coast road towards Malaga is Almuñecar, the Costa Tropical’s main resort town. Phoenician traders settled here 3000 years ago, followed by the Romans. They named it and turned it into a bustling commercial centre. The Moors moved in around 800 AD to begin almost 800 years of prosperous rule, until the Christian reconquest in the late 1400s. Throughout, exports of fruit and excellent seafood ensured its prosperity. Today, Almuñecar’s dramatic lookout point, the Mirador de la Cruz, looks down on no less than 26 beaches, many secluded.

Almuñecar is increasingly popular with British and other Northern European settlers, though Spanish language and culture still set the tone. Simon Lumb says the year-round amenities, wide range of meeting and eating places, and good transport links definitely swayed his family’s decision to settle there. “It’s got a life beyond the tourist season,” he says. Eric Rasmussen of Omega Estates is also a fan. “It’s not just holiday homes, there’s a thriving community,” he says. “Almuñecar doesn’t shut down for the winter.”

For beak-and-feather fans, the Loro Sexi Ornithological Park is heaven – over 100 different species can be seen here. And there’s ancient history, and outdoor activities from diving, hiking and pony-trekking to paragliding, abseiling and even (gulp!) gorge- crossing, for those who like their sports extreme.

Between Almuñecar and neighbouring La Herradura is Marina del Este, a luxurious residential beach development built around a pretty yacht marina and popular with British, Scandinavian and Spanish buyers, though it’s definitely more of a summer home or investment location.

Last stop on the Costa Tropical is La Herradura (“The Horseshoe”) named after its curving bay. Its popularity as a summer retreat for Granada’s urban Spanish population ensures an authentic Spanish ambience, though there are plenty of British and Scandinavians too. With the usual exception of August, La Herradura’s wide beaches never seem overrun, and its clear waters attract many watersports enthusiasts.

For those considering relocating with family, local schools generally get excellent reviews from families who have settled here. Almuñecar alone boasts five schools catering for kids from reception to school-leaving age. There’s a growing mix of Spanish and northern Europeans and classes tend to be smaller. Almeñucar is also home to the International School, an independent, fee-paying day school catering for ages 3 to 18. Teaching is based on the GCSE curriculum, and there’s a good teacher/pupil ratio, with around 200 pupils and 20 teachers.

2 Accessibility for these towns on the eastern Costa Tropical has been enhanced since last year, when low cost airlines including Monarch, EasyJet and Ryan Air inaugurated routes into pleasantly dinky Granada Airport. As a result, you can now choose to fly into Malaga or Granada from many UK destinations, with just over an hour’s scenic drive either way.

The coast is also served by cheap, regular bus routes between Granada and Malaga, and Almuñecar bus station has a reliably frequent service to and from Granada.

Health centres can be found in each town, with a state-of-the-art hospital in Motril. In addition to great shopping in Velez-Malaga and Granada, there are daily fish/meat markets, weekly general markets and boot sales and monthly markets in Almuñecar.

The Costa Tropical has escaped much of the overbuilding and commercialism of neighbouring Costa del Sol. With the delights of Granada and the added dimension of winter sports in the Sierra Nevada, it’s a great place to live and work as well as enjoy downtime. And of course you’ll never run short of exotic fresh fruit!

3 HOME THOUGHTS (1)

Home thoughts from…

Amanda Nye, 37 and Mark Meredith, 39 (Richard – I only interviewed Amanda)

Hailing from Surbiton, Surrey, the couple have four kids: Harley aged 16, Izzy, 9, Indiana, 7, and Sonny, 3. Mark has a UK-based decorating business and Amanda runs home and family life in Marina del Este near La Herradura, They moved to in August 2003.

Why did you choose the Costa Tropical? My dad lived here and we came out for holidays. We loved the relaxed lifestyle and wanted the kids to grow up in this environment. It’s still predominantly Spanish, which we prefer, but the British people who are out here actually want to learn Spanish and integrate. It’s great for the kids to have both cultures and languages to draw from.

What do you love about the area? Any drawbacks? We’re part of a friendly community, and our Spanish neighbours have been fantastic. When we first moved here and a local tradesman overcharged me, they went to the town hall, lodged a complaint and demanded the money back on my behalf! The only thing we miss is seeing the family.

What type of property do you own? We wanted to find a house and pool in Salobreña but couldn’t get what we wanted, so we’ve bought 70 square metres of land in Melegís, a small town in the Lecrin Valley, and we’re now applying to build, working with a local Spanish architect. It’s going to be more of a holiday/summer place. Meanwhile, we’re renting a super house here in Marina del Este, and just a short drive to La Herradura. We’re paying 1000€ a month for a four- bedroom detached house with its own pool!

How did you find your land and how much did you pay? Elaine Bell, a local independent estate agent, helped us find the land. We paid 39,000€.

How has the family settled in? We’re really happy here. For the past year, Mark has been commuting between here and the business in Surbiton, working there for two weeks each month. We miss him, but then he is here for two weeks and we concentrate 100 per cent on being a family. Learning the language is important; I’m studying at a local language school twice a week, and taking part in a language exchange with a Spanish friend – I’m not fluent yet, but getting better with practice.

4 How are the kids doing at school? The three youngest are at a fantastic Spanish school in La Herradura, which has quite a few English-speaking kids. There are good after-school activities there. Our eldest daughter, Harley, is doing very well at the International School in Almuñecar. With only eight or nine girls in her year, she’s also having great fun!

How good is local healthcare? With the kids, we thought it was best to take out good private healthcare with a reputable Spanish provider. There’s an excellent local clinic, and standards at the hospital in Motril are very high. When Sonny was a baby and cut his head badly, the doctors and nurses were fantastic. And it’s not so expensive here for preventive care such as mammograms.

HOME THOUGHTS (2)

Home thoughts from….

Nick Westby, 37 and Nicola Westby, 38

The couple, both from Stockport, have two children, Charlotte, 8 and son Alex, 6. Nick, who was an estate agent and Nicola, formerly a probation officer, now run WiseMovetoSpain.com, advising would-be buyers about all aspects of settling in Spain. They have been in Spain for almost two years.

What attracted you to Spain and to this area? Nick was often away working in France and Spain, so we decided we might as well move here permanently. We researched thoroughly, both in France and other Spanish cities before settling here, but chose Cotobro here in the Costa Tropical for its great mix of beach life, skiing not far away, and also because we’re near Almuñecar, which is lively throughout the year, not just in summer. That was important for the kids, too.

What kind of property did you want and how long did it take you to find it? We wanted an affordable house big enough to entertain family and friends. It took us almost two and a half years to find it, and we paid 515,000€. We bought through an agency in Almuñecar.

Where is your home and what is the area like? We live in Cotobro, a development or ‘urbanizacion’ of just 1500 residents. Many of the properties are second homes for Spanish owners, and there’s a sizeable German community, with a higher proportion of retired people. It’s small enough to be a close- knit community, which is great for networking!

5 What is the property like? Our house was originally divided up into apartments with a pool and attractive gardens. It had plenty of room and just needed updating, as it was built over twenty years ago. We had to put in an internal staircase, and make some other alterations, including creating an office for Nick.

How have you settled in? The first 6-12 months were the hardest, even the simplest phone calls are an ordeal when you don’t speak Spanish! Giving up regular work was also tough at first. But we’re really happy here now and feel we made the right choice of area. The kids are in good local schools with small classes, and academic expectations and standards are high. Any advice for would-be buyers? Don’t rely totally on agents, do your own homework and take advice on taxes, mortgages, etc. And think hard about year-round living; yes, there’s sunshine and blue skies but you can also feel isolated. It’s important to seek out the right balance of occupation and leisure and the right location for your lifestyle.

6 Costa Tropical/Property Market Overview:

A Climate Where Dreams Can Grow….

With its year-round pleasant climate, low-intensity development and exhilarating contrasts of Mediterranean and mountain ambience, the Costa Tropical has been steadily growing in popularity with buyers from Britain and elsewhere in northern Europe. Since 2004, when house prices in Andalucia shot up by 21.4 per cent (against a national average of 17.5 per cent), bargains are more likely if you’re prepared to go a little way inland. For example, in Motril, the main town of the Costa Tropical, properties cost on average 30 per cent less than in the resort towns, according to Eric Rasmussen of Almuñecar-based Omega Estates.

Officially, the Costa Tropical begins just west of Almeria. But the plasticultura greenhouse industry, drab landscape and overdevelopment make this a no-no for most British buyers. Further west, La Rabita, Castell de Ferro and Calahonda are pleasant small resorts, especially for watersports enthusiasts. At , near Castell de Ferro, a 60-home development is “98 per cent sold to British buyers, mostly as holiday homes,” says Rasmussen.

Heading west beyond Motril, Salobreña, Almuñecar and La Herradura, together with their satellite villages and developments or ‘urbanizaciones’ are the main focus. In Salobreña, upscale Monte de los Almendras, with both ocean and mountain views, is a sought-after development attracting mainly higher-spending Scandinavian buyers and some British. 170,000E in Salobreña will buy you a three-bed, one-bath apartment in town, or you can splash out on a penthouse overlooking the sea and the golf course, for a mere 360,000E.

In Almuñecar, the main resort town on the coast, the Old Town is attracting interest and there are still some bargains to be had. For example, Omega Estates has twin townhouses there, offering 130 sq m of living space, for 150,000E, although admittedly in need of complete renovation. Elsewhere in Almuñecar, prices could range from 88,000E for a one-bedroom apartment in the town centre, to a five-bedroom, four-bathroom house close to the International School.

La Herradura, a pleasantly low-key resort built around its horseshoe-shaped bay, is increasingly popular with British buyers mingling with an already established Scandinavian community. A cortijo just outside the town will set you back around 200,000E, while a handsome villa in the town goes for around 525,000E, and of course plenty in between.

Inland, the traditional town of Velez de Benaudalla has gone “from nothing” to attracting a growing stream of mostly British buyers over the past two years. In Velez, you can expect to pay around 130,000E for a two-bedroom apartment, and 220,000E for a new townhouse with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, depending as always on location and other factors.

7 Rasmussen notes the small traditional towns of Lobres and Molvizar as ‘sleepers’ for next year, both a few minutes inland but “very well placed and with great amenities.”

Both Simon Lumb and Eric Rasmussen envisage more modest percentage rises in property values for the coming year; as Lumb feels “nowhere could maintain year on year increases at the levels we’ve seen recently.” Rasmussen says “reckon on about 7-8 per cent value rises for 2006.”

Simon Lumb of Costa Tropical Estates, cites the opening of new cheap routes into Granada Airport as a great boost to the area. “Improved access is bringing genuine opportunities to enhance residential tourism here,” he confirms, “but there’s also a more considered approach to development.” Both Lumb and Rasmussen stress that rigorous building regulations and low-density development make the Costa Tropical a safe bet, especially for off-plan buyers. “All urban land is parcelled with individual building regulations to preserve the local feel, new builds carry 10-year warranties and utilities such as mains sanitation have to be provided,” says Lumb. “Local authorities are keen to preserve the ‘Spanishness’ of the area as a key to its success.”

QUIRKY FACTS:

• Sugar cane plantations once spread along the Costa Tropical from Motril to Malaga, and ‘sugar barons’ brought great wealth to the province in the 19th century.

• You can find lychees, limes, mangoes, pawpaws and avocados growing in the sub-tropical climate here.

• The Roman name for Almuñecar was ‘Sexi’. It was a huge commercial centre for producing ‘’, the salted fish gut sauce that Romans were mad about.

• The Cuevas de Nerja, a few kilometers from La Herradura, contain the world’s largest stalactite.

• The Costa Tropical is one of the world’s leading producers of cherimoyas (custard apples). The Spanish love this fruit. Cut in half and scoop out the sweet creamy flesh with a spoon.

• The Majuelo Botanical Park in Almunecar’s historic centre boasts a collection of over 200 different and rare species of tropical plants - a mini jungle in the heart of town!

• Over 1500 exotic bird species live at the Loro Sexi Ornithological Park near Almuñecar.

8 • On 24 June, bonfires are lit in many Costa Tropical towns for the feast of San Juan. People throw old belongings, even bad memories into the fires to burn away and start fresh.

• On the same night, skewered sardines are barbecued and eaten with ‘oil buns’ baked with a boiled egg in the centre.

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