Beautiful house for sale in the hills above Benissa

Here is another beautiful house for sale in the pretty Village of Benissa, midway between Valencia and Alicante.
There is a main house and a great casita for guests, all set in the most wonderful terraced gardens. The gardens are around 100m2 and consist of great shadey areas and there is a small dip pool with wooden chalet (for more guests!) The Main house comprises large salon, kitchen, two terraces (one glassed) two huge bedrooms and two bathrooms. The casita has one room finished as a large bedroom and space for at least one more bedroom and bathroom. There is over 7,500 m2 of land
This is a wonderful buy at only 590,000 euros
click the headline to be taken to our property pages

Beautiful Fully Furnished townhouse for sale in Altea

Want to live by the sea in a well-established resort town just over an hour from Valencia and Alicante?
Here is your chance, this is a lovely townhouse with spectacular views over the town to the sea. It is 3 storeys and has 3 bedrooms (one of which is enormous) two bathrooms, fully equipped kitchen and lovely roof top terrace overlooking the town and the sea.
As we said before, it is fully furnished and ready to move into.
The Price? 450,000 euros
get in touch now by following the link on our main property page by clicking the headline.

THE RACE FOR VALENCIA HAS JUST BEGUN

The continuing development of Valencia as a property hotspot has been in the news of late, not least because of its growth as a sporting centre of excellence. Just as Barcelona saw its image improved and its waterfront transformed by the 1992 Olympics, so Valencia has been enjoying the benefits of hosting the Americas Cup this year. It also saw huge investment in the redevelopment of its marina and waterfront, an added bonus to the attraction of the city. The successes of the local football team has also played its part in recent years, with Valencia CF winning the Spanish league title, triumphing in the UEFA Cup and reaching two Champions League finals to prove there is life beyond the giants of Barcelona and Real Madrid. The new Mestalla football stadium is being built and the foundations are being built as we speak on the edge of the city.
The America’s Cup aside, the most exciting news has been the recent announcement that the city will become the home for the Formula One European Grand Prix from 2008-14. This will not only ensure further sports tourism, including the wealth that comes with such a high-profile event, but will also create possible prime buy-to-let opportunities for those with the resources to obtain houses with a direct view over the Monaco-style street circuit that the city will create.
Investors looking for a piece of this action will be glad to know that the ease of low-cost access is growing. Easyjet,Ryanair, Clickair, thomsonfly and Jet2 fly here from UK, with Ryanair opening Valencia as a hub in the November.
Overall, there can be little doubt Valencia is booming. Prices have risen by one hundred per cent in the past six years and are still increasing, something Barcelona and Madrid cannot match. Much of this is undoubtedly due to the America's Cup, with the advent of the Grand Prix next year providing a further boost.
And it's not just Sport, the city was already making a name for itself, thanks to the incredible Millenium Project that is the City of Arts and Sciences, with the beautiful new Opera House, Palau de les Arts, about to embark on its second season of international Opera and concerts.
Valencia is now firmly on the map as a city attracting the wealthier set looking to live or enjoy a holiday home here; something which investors in property will no doubt be interested to learn. The city is also beginning to attract middle-class professionals and younger people who want a city which is both safe and has a vibrant nightlife.
Investors who miss the boat will be left to stare wistfully after those already lined-up on the grid. Pole position hasn’t yet been decided. What are you waiting for?
More on this and the new Ryanair hub - click the headline.

Anita on heat, and Punctuallity

It looked warm and sunny out this morning, and I had had the fan on all night as I slept, so I got dressed in last year's silver thong sandals, my thinnest black skinny trousers and a plain, loose, white tee shirt and had a light chicken salad and some chilled water for lunch in my best efforts to remain refreshed and unruffled. Then I left the flat and stepped out on the street and boom! Right into the blast of someone's hot air-dryer. Or so it seemed. But no! Alas, I was mistaken, it was just the lovely end-of-June air blowing a gentle breeze across my face. Or rather, the lovely end-of-June 40º gale blowing its way into the City from the lovely and cool Sahara desert. Running late, as always, I could barely move through the soup-like air to cross the bridge but the plus-side was that my wavy hair was poker-straight by the time I staggered into the office to be greeted by puzzled glances at my otherwise dishevelled appearance. And immediately broke into a sweat. Or, as I am a lady, began to glow, as my grandmother would have me say.
read her full column now by clicking on the headline!

Jason Webster - Author of Guerra! - Talks exclusively to thisisvalencia

I’m currently working on something looking at the Spanish Civil War. Modern Spain was forged by that period, and is still trying to move on from what was a great cataclysm in many ways. Even today, ‘The Two Spains’ are very visible and the right-left divide in politics is much more important than, say, in Britain. To understand what’s going on today in the country you have to know what the Civil War was all about and the loose-ends it left behind. Also, I’m trying to look at some of the darker sides of living in a foreign country. It’s not all ‘driving over lemons’.
Read the full interview by clicking on the headline

The New Mestalla - The works begin

Work has begun on the new Mestalla, home to the Valencia Football Club.
This amazing building is to be located by the huge blue head you see as you enter Valencia from the CV35, La Dama Ibérica by Manolo Valdés.

The F1 Urban Grand Prix in Valencia

A provisional date of 24 August 2008 has been announced by the FIA for the first Formula One Grand Prix in Valencia. Work has now started on the 5.4km circuit which will have its paddocks in Port America's Cup and will pass by the AC Team houses. The circuit has 25 bends, eleven to the left and fourteen to the right and will pass through areas close to the City of Arts and Sciences.

Flats for rent in Valencia

Delightful 2 bedroomed attic flat in Ruzafa - 950euros PCM

Avenida de Francia, on the proposed rute of the Valencia Formula One Grand Prix - 1300 euros PCM

Lovely Flat in the heart of the Barrio Del Carmen - 950 euros PCM


The rental market here in Valencia is very fast moving, and it can be very hard for someone to find a medium-to-long term rental in the city.Thisivalencia.com are here to help, If you want to rent in Valencia and the surrounding areas take a look at our flats for rent page and let us know what you want. We will send you details of what we have on offer at the time of your enquiry.

Let us know dates of arrival for rental, number of bedrooms, location, budget and length of lease require, along with any other information you think will be helpful.and we'll get back to you by return.

If you want to buy a flat in Valencia or the surrounding towns and villages - we can help too! We have an extensive list of excellent, extremely well-priced properties for sale here

We also have holiday rentals, bed and breakfast, small hotels - click here

As Nature intended...

There is a pool on the roof of my complex. On Tuesday, innocently wandering up for a swim, I came across a naked man calmly drying himself before settling into a lounger. Forced to beat a hasty retreat before being spotted (we English, of course, never wishing to embarrass our fellow man) my mind gallops through endless scenarios, mostly involving children, I mean, suppose I had been a child and not a mature adult …. but wait, he’s not one of my mine. He’s a native. Do Spanish children suffer those excruciating spasms of fear, disgust and shock that we Brits, who have been brought up to revile nakedness, are racked with? To which even those of us who went through the horrors of the boarding school system are not exempt. Of course not. I am over-reacting. After all, it’s not as if he was old, or ugly, or misshapen, disfigured or tattooed with snakes and cockroaches. Actually, he was in his early thirties, dark, slightly curly hair, with big brown eyes, clean-shaven and kinda cute and … isn’t it amazing how much the human eye can record in only two short seconds? I wonder if he has a swim routine?
Thisisvalencia.com has a great woman's page, Anita Darling, Lolita Devine and Barbara O'Neill have regular columns on Life as a woman in Valencia. Read more of Barbara O'Neill's latest column by clicking on the headline!