Reviews written in capitals are written by Brian all others written by Tanya.
We live in Cheltenham...
Reviews written in capitals are written by Brian all others written by Tanya.
We live in Cheltenham with our children Courtney 7, Oliver 4 and Samuel 11 weeks.
Member since:25.01.2004
Reviews:50
Members who trust:14
My Parents moved to Spain around about 3 years ago, they live in Alicante. When we go visit we stay in Torrevieja. Torrevieja is in Costa Blanca Southern Spain. Torrevieja is accessed from the main coast road - the N332
We normally land in Alicante, but this time our flights were changed and we were flying into Murciaairport. When in the plane, looking out the window, it looks nice you are coming to land over the sea and onto the runway. Murcia airport is a former military base. This airport I have to say is the smallest ive seen.
Torrevieja is about 25-30 minutes away from both Murcia and Alicante Airport. My parents picked us up, Parking is a nightmare at the Murica airport, and they don't seem to have any logic about parking spaces, its more park where you want.
With a 30 minute drive ahead of us to Torrevieja, the down side aswell to this route is you have to pay for 2 toll roads which is around 2,75€ each. Normally in winter they put the price down for the toll roads to around 1,30€.
There isn't anything really to look at on your journey to Torrevieja its just Barron land. Few trees here and there.
Once you're in Torrevieja it is spot the crane. There are loads of them. It seems every street has them. The building once finished looks nice.
We were in walking distance to most places, but it was very hot (we went on 13th June-27th June this year)
Temperatures an average are (in Celsius) Jan -16, Feb -17, Mar -19, Apr - 21, May -26, Jun -30, Jul -37, Aug - 34, Sep - 28, Oct - 25, Nov -19, Dec -17
As we went in June the Temp was a lot higher, it was around 38 Celsius by midday.
My Boyfriend & I find there isn't a lot
to do there, it is quite boring place.
The only beach that we think is good is La Mata beach, which is about a 10-minute drive away. This is a sandy beach which bars and restaurants along side it. There are a few Todo shops at La Mata too, always look out for these; they are like our poundland shops but cheaper. You will find these all over the place.
The bus service is fairly good. If you didn't have a car you would have to speak fairly good Spanish or have something to show the driver to make them understand where you wanted to go, as they do not speak a word of English.
But all the main beaches are blue flagged . On the main beaches you will find all the usual water sports, pedalos, jet skis etc. Most have a beach bar where you can buy snacks, drinks ice creams, and most have sun lounger hire.
Torrevieja was once a fishingvillage, so the seafront has a lot of rocky beaches. They have boat harbour on the seafront. You can get boat trip to Tabarca Island. The boat trip is about 45 minutes. When coming up to the island I kind of got a feeling I didn't want to be left on this island. It was of course very small. You get off and the boat leaves you there and tells you to be about at pick up time. By then if the boat is late you're thinking about swimming back. There's me thinking id be able to put my umbrella up so we would not get sun burnt to find it's a tarmac beach. They have some lovely little shops that sell a whole wide range of clothing, little gifts to remind you of the island. They have bars, restaurants, all serving hot food. Being not the adventurous type with food, I decided to have burger and chips, to my horror the burger smelt funny and was still raw. YUK!
The boat journey back was good as it was a glass bottom boat. I can't say there were any good points to the boat trip it just wasn't worth the money (cost about £16 each)
Along the seafront you will find a market that is open 7 days a week from around 11am till late at night. You will find Children's clothes, adults clothing, football shirts, hand made jewellery, handbags, purses, personalised items, people that will braid your hair, henna tattooing, ice creams, pus many more.
There is also an open-air market every Friday morning. This market is very big; you can pick up bargains, sells everything from Spanish handicrafts including ceramics and shoes to clothing and jewellery and a wonderful variety of fresh local produce. But you do have to be very careful of pick pockets and bag snatchers. I still can't get over how big all the fruit and vegetables are compared to ours.
Behind this market on the seafront there is a small fair; all the rides are what I thought expensive. The children's rides where 2 Euros each, but you did have the option to buy more tickets for the same ride for a little cheaper.
One ride that my boyfriend & my brother went on was a Wild West rodeo ride. There are about 5 on them in a row; all having to hold on while the rodeo moves getting fastest as time goes on. I was killing myself laughing, and so were all the others watching too. When the ride had finished my boyfriends trousers where ripped and my brother has slightly cut his face, so
Pictures of Torrevieja (Spain)
Torrevieja's Sea Front (the rocky beaches)
it wasn't a good ride for them. But it was the best 5 Euros ive paid to have a good laugh at them. You will find lots of bars, restaurants that serve a whole range of food. They do seem to have a lot of Chinese restaurants, but they don't seem to taste like the ones we have. They might be missing a few spices here and there.
They have plenty of supermarkets. Carrefour's being there biggest, similar to ASDA, it sells everything you would need from electrical goods, TVs, computers etc, to all the food you could think of, although it is short of "English" brands. You will find that you will pay a lot more for English branded food; there is a Quick Save where they have English staff working their aswell. Be prepared to pay a lot more for them.
The water park is good, but it does get very hot in the day. You have to hire you own sun loungers once in the water park; this isn't included in your entrance fee.
Aquopolis - Water Park, Price is Adult; 14,50€, Children; 3-10years 9.80€, Infants; free, the water park opens in late June and I think it doesn't open for very long. Around August time it will close again.
I always feel that it gets too hot for children by midday and you don't normally feel how hot it actually is because your in and out of the water constantly. You aren't even aloud t-shirts over the top of your swimming cosy's to keep the sun off.
There is a park called 'park of the nations' which is lovely, there is a lake in the middle and a train ride for the children, with a park which has slides, climbing frames, swings etc at the bottom. You will always find an ice creamhut or seller here too.
While we were there nothing is open on a Sunday, once into July the 'bigger' supermarkets will open up. But still there isn't a great deal to do.
If you're a smoker the cigarette shops get very packed out, as they are obviously cheaper to buy.
There are a few Internet cafes spread out in Torrevieja all ranging in price but all very affordable.
I would say that Torrevieja isn't child friendly. We went on a 2 week holiday and if it wasn't for the fact we have family living in Alicante we would have been serious bored.
The curbs are very high and if you have young children it's a nightmare trying to get them up and down them.
The Spanish road system is unbelievable, they drive way to fast and there is always road works going on down the main parts of the pavement area, meaning you have to walk on the road. Traffic light system, when we have a green man it tells us we can walk, in Torrevieja a green man does mean walk but you still have to be careful as cars still are allowed to drive through.
When you see a red and white striped humps, cars have to stop but as your in Spain anything goes really.
There are a lot of 'ladies of the night' hanging around roundabouts apparently this isn't illegal to do this; it's the picking them up that is.
I think if im honest and wanted a holiday Torrevieja wouldn't be on my list, its dirty, on going building site, where they drive like nutters. I would defiantly say a car is needed if you are planning on staying.
This is place to stay to see my family. If they didn't live in Alicante I would never have made a visit here.
After our visit in June, ill defiantly need another 2 years to prepare myself for the torture of staying in Torrevieja again.
Benidorm is a hours drive away, this would be defiantly worth a visit.
Murcia airport when checking in to go home has to be the smallest check in ive seen too, it has about 6 check in desks, so they do not open up check in till the last minute. It gets very busy with people arriving early thinking they can check in.
Some poor woman got stuck in the toliets when we were there, doubt they will fix the door tho!
There is a cafe which serves hot food, sandwiches also a few shops selling newspapers, sweets etc. They do not sell cigarettes at all in the airport.
Once given our boarding passes, you can go through to the waiting lounge. its not very big, with a shop that is suppose to be duty free kind of shop. Most of the shelves were bare. Seats arent the nicest either. Lucky our plane was running on time.
Id say if you were planning a visit fly into Alicante Airport, alot nicer, bigger, more modern and up to date. plus they have a nice departure lounge and its the same travelling time to Torre-V-Horror
You can say we was very happy to board the plane.
I have rated it average mainly because of the sun, can not fault that! You will come home with a fantastic suntan!
Torrevieja/Orhuela Cosra and surrounding area is a very nice place, Murcia is a beauitful city as well as Orhuela and many other places. Torrevieja is growning and you will expect that in any growing city. The sea front there is beautiful and so relaxing, no chavs like benidorm or the likes.
clara57 19.06.2006 16:50
hi i have also been to Torrevieja i used to live abouth 30 mins away the other side of murcia airport. I enjoyed reading your review and i can understand completely what you mean. very well put. thanx ;)
arnoldhenryrufus 10.11.2005 20:32
Its a shame you were not happy with the area, especially as your parents live there - lyn x
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
We propose some unforgettable holidays in "El Capistrano Villages", in Nerja, the privileged balcony of the Costa del Sol. "El Capistrano Villages" is, possibly, the most beautiful and exclusive Urbanisation on the Costa del Sol.
Advantages: The climate; extremely cheap even with the change from the peseta to the euro; and the fact that it's a residential area so no high-rises! Disadvantages: Extremely busy in the summer months now that it's becoming a more popular destination to live and to visit, graffiti
bestmum 25.10.2002 (25.10.2002)
·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Alicante (Spain)
Are you the manufacturer / provider of Torrevieja (Spain)? Click here
Jul 26th, 2005
(Jul 27th, 2005)
very helpful by (91%):
helpful by (7%):
not helpful by (2%):
