I'm seriously considering moving to Spain next year, so i'm looking for advice on where to move to. I'm looking at it purely on a mountain biking level as i work three weeks on three weeks off in the north sea so would not require work.

From my limited investigations Granada looks like a good bet. But i would welcome all suggestions for locations and any other advice any one has to give. I would be looking for a long term let rather than to buy initially.

Cheers, Allan.

Granada would be awesome, my folks have a house in Ventas del Carazal, about 40 mins north of Grananda. We did a bit of the Sierra Nevada in May and it was truely stunning.
We hired from these guys Ride Sierra Nevada based in Monachil just outside Granada. Shaun the owner was ace, very knowledgable, has lived in Spain a long time now living the good life with his partner and kids. Cant wait to get back over next Spring! We would love to move to Spain, its my dream to be a mtb guide in the Sierra Nevada.
My Dad worked the Piper B in the North Sea when we were kids, 2 weeks on and off, we lived the good life in a cottage in the middle of nowhere.
Good Luck!

I was living in Gibraltar for 2 year. Granada would certainly be awesome, and also to the west (and just north of Malaga) you also would have access to some awesome riding too.

The riding to the west of Marbella is much more chilled and mainly farmtrack as opposed to singletrack, so Granada gives you some brilliant biking in the mountains, plus some amazing sierras within a 2 hour drive away should you want something different.

You may want to check up on airports, as Malaga may offer more convenience if you are flying a lot.

You should get yourself a copy of the bikefax Southern Spain book for an idea of local riding, but yeah, as Roper and I have done, it is also great to go out with the local guides even if you live there, at least initially.

Happy memories!

Simon's right about probably basing yourself closer to Malaga airport if you'll be flying in and out regularly.
I used to live in that neck of the woods and knew a few people in the oil industry who commuted from Malaga airport to Norway, Algeria, Libya and Southern Africa. Granada's airport is pretty limited but Malaga is huge and expanding to include transatlantic flight soon.
Anywhere between Marbella and Granada would be a great base, though steer clear of the coast as it's minging…

try eck in spain of this parish, he's in madrid but his wife is from galicia and both have ridden a fair bit. im just back from a couple of years in madrid, great fun but probably not the best place for mtbing. email me if get stuck though

Thanks for all the input guy's. The airport being close would be handy, but not essential. Locality of the best trails and a good local scene are more important to be honest. A nice size town close by would also be good.

Yeah i intend to suss it out with a holiday company for a week or two before i move proper. Also some kind of part time job with a guiding company would be ace. Pay not essential!

Loulabella, those pic's are seriously working up an appetite for some dusty singletrack 🙂

madrid

Beautifull shot fontmoss, is Madrid not a bit pricy though?

Santender/Potes/Picos de Europa? Good air and sea links etc.

Just been looking at some property sites. You can get a lot for eur500 pcm.

maybe have a word with Rob from http://www.aeadventure.com/

Just been looking at some property sites. You can get a lot for eur500 pcm.

Not in Madrid!!
The riding outside Madrid is fine, but without transport it can be a PITA:

For what you're planning, I would listen to the guys above. Somewhere further south would be good Granada, Sevilla etc.

Have you thought about Barcelona and access to the Pyrenees?

I would chose very carefully (I am sure you are !) I lived in Spain for 6 months, and chose a spot near where I knew people. Which was good but it was very ex-pat which can be good and bad. The villages in the mountains are stunning.

However, a lot of the smaller villages can be not as modern as you might be accustomed. Spain was under Franco until 1974 remember, and if a region was on the wrong side in the civil war (most of the South I believe) it was left to rot. A lot of the older people never went to school and certainly didn't learn English. Women still wear black for a month after somebody dies etc.

This is a lot of the reason for the minging developments on the south coast ! They needed the money. Anyway history lecture over, just saying a lot of Spain, esp the South, is very traditional.

If I was to live there again I would pick a medium sized town, in fact I would live in Alhama de Murcia, nice and close to the big motorway to Murcia airport and loads of good riding in the Sierra Espuna.

The food is great, people friendly and the weather awesome and you have the option to stay in the UK when it gets to 45 degrees sounds good to me.

@ DonSimon, no not Madrid haven't looked for there, i was looking round Granada/Malaga. Which has some amazing places.

hels, yeah thats pretty much what i had figured from a bit of teabreak internet investigation. Kind of like the sound of the quiet village thing. Plan on trying to get to grips with basic Spanish starting soon. I'll probably get a six month lease or something first which is only four rotations so if i don't like it i can try somewhere else. I'm definately going to try to have transport there with me. I'll def check Alhama de murcia listings at some point.

Thanks for all the pointers so far, keep them coming. It's really perked me up mid trip off-shore (the middle week is the worst). I feel like i'm already getting ready to go. The next six months can't pass soon enough!

Anybody had any experiences with spanish landlords, good or bad?

Cheers, Allan.

Btw i don't mind ex pats as long as they're the out in the mountains on two wheels type, rather than the bronzed Essex, sovereign ring, "i dont eat any of that foreign muck" stereotype!

TBH there arent many places in Spain that arent good. Different regions have different characters. Granada is lovely, The costa del sol is as bad as some make out if you choose the right town. Madrid is an excellent city with good riding. Where I live, the Basque country, is perfect for me, excellent food and drink, good riding, nice people, less of a "manana" attitude, green, interesting towns and cities to visit. But, it is a little more expensive than most of Spain.

I'm in Madrid, the biking's pretty good round here although you'd need a car unless you live (like me) outside town… which makes getting to the wonderful Madrid nightlife (for example) a pain. Depends on what you're looking for. Prices aren't too bad outside town, either.

If I weren't looking for work I'd probably head up north – Picos de Europa or Pyrenees. Round Barcelona way the biking's great, sea's close, and there's skiing nearby in winter.

Don´t write off the Costa Del Sol. It gets a lot of undeserved (and deserved sometimes) critisism. Lots of cheap rental property off season. Plenty of activities on the doorstep and at night plenty to do.
Malaga airport is very close, useful if you are flying in every 3 weeks.

Mountains rear up behind the sea giving it a much kinder climate in the Winter. Granada and the ski slopes just 2 hours away. Saying that I have spent half my life in Spain, North & South and never found a region which I disliked. Barcelona especially is one hell of a nice town, could definately live there.

Spanish Landlords ?

We rented a place for two weeks in El Berro from a Spanish Friend of an English friends cousin who owns the store in the village etc etc basically realised half way through the week that we had no idea who was coming around to collect the rent as the English friend was away touring in his camper van.

Went into the store (older people in Spain often speak a bit of French) and established paninfully that the flat was owned by Antonio who lives in Librilla and could often be found in a particular bar. Decided to wait it out, and wondered what the Spanish wifey downstairs who was about 100 kept saying to us.

Two weeks later, 2 hours before we need to leave, another Spanish wifey turns up. More bad French, she claims to be the mother of Antonio, and the daughter of the lady living downstairs, who had been trying to invite us in to watch terrible Spanish tv with her.

Long story short we handed the money to this lady in cash, who gave us 50 euros back as the house was clean and tidy, and that was the end of it really.

So I would describe Spanish landlords as hard to pin down, liking of cash and generally you end up dealing with their mother ! In French.

The villa was a steal though, 4 bedrooms, none of the mod cons, for 150 euros a week. If you book a place via the English agencies you will pay about 6 times that for short term lets.

sorry should have said madrid is expensive and not ideal for biking (but pretty damned good for a capital city) youll find loadsa nice riding and awesome to ride/live somewhere nice in spain tho happy hunting