Looking for a Holiday Home you won’t get bored with for a long Time?

Andalucía, in third place after Turkey and the Balearics for British and German holidaymakers, has already welcomed record numbers in the first 5 months of this year. It is easy to get carried away and buy a holiday home simply because it’s so cheap to buy in Spain at the moment. However, when you are surrounded by palm-lined sandy beaches, sparkling blue seawater and bronzed bodies you are apt to make choices not with your head but with your heart.

Hold off signing on the dotted line for just a moment. Ignore the estate agent’s sales patter and take a good look around you. Is this really the place you want to spend your annual holiday year after year?

Finding a property that won’t bore you after a couple of family holidays is surprisingly easy, provided you look in the right location in the first place and you are honest about the way you and your family really like to spend your holidays. Don’t be lured to a golf development with the promise you’ll get a good rental yield from golf tourists when you’re not using the property - if you can’t stand the thought of a round of golf before breakfast and your eldest daughter suffers from hay fever, stay away from golf developments.

Be realistic: the expense of buying a property is considerable and without a significant price increase in sight for years to come, your Costa del Sol holiday home will have to serve its purpose for perhaps the next 10 years.
 
If your kids are small, your family will find plenty to do when you buy a small villa in Benalmadena, Estepona or Fuengirola neighbourhoods. With Selwo Adventure Park and zoo just outside Estepona, Fuengirola Bio Park and Selwo Marina at Benalmadena, your kids will never be without entertainment and you’ll have peace and quiet on your sun terrace when your kids have worn themselves during the day.

Selwo Marina is Andalucía’s first dolphinarium, where sea lions, penguins and dolphins as well as a Sea Life Centre with an underwater tunnel full of colourful marine life can be enjoyed.
Or take the family to one of several water parks, where they can splash, squeal and slide down water shoots all day. Older kids will enjoy a day out engaging in laser or paintball combat.

If your teenagers are apt to complain of boredom five minutes after you’ve arrived at your holiday destination, you are better off buying in a Marbella neighbourhood close to beach clubs, discos, bars, cinemas, sports and music venues. Elviria in the east of Marbella is just a short drive from the centre. Leafy and quiet, the area offers plenty of choice to buyers with brand-new 2-bed apartments often costing less than EUR 150k.

For well-to-do property buyers without kids but a hankering for active holidays there is the Sierra Blanca urbanisation overlooking Marbella’s Golden Mile and the Mediterranean Sea. With easy access into the mountainous background of Marbella, hikers and climbers as well as paragliders will find the luxury apartments at Sierra Blanca are just right. Prices start at around EUR 500k for 2-bed resale apartments.
Torremolinos already has a number of well established expat communities and is reknown for its partying and fun activities. At the Crocodile Park in Torremolinos you certainly won’t get bored when you and your family watch amazing demonstrations. There are more than 300 crocodiles on display from among 12 different species of these ferocious beasties. There’s a mini zoo and a croc nursery, where small kids and teenagers alike will be suitably impressed by being able to get their picture taken with a baby crocodile.

If you are retired and are looking for plenty of things to do without the need for car hire or lengthy trips on the bus, head for property in Puerto Banus, a 10 minute drive from Marbella centre. Here you can visit Gran Marbella cinema on a rainy day or meet friends for a coffee in an outdoor cafe overlooking gleaming white super-yachts of the rich and famous. For the more energetic, there are 2-hour whale watching trips, superfast jet-ski rides, kite surfing and windsurfing, diving, sailing and speed boat charter to choose from.