I began this series by explaining how we planned and ended up getting to Spain safely. Of course, there were lots of other important tasks that were undertaken before we left Canada. And there were lots of things we had to do shortly after arriving here – logistical considerations. I will will begin to address those in this post.
The most important task we had to undertake while at home was to book accommodation. We have done this three times before, so not a particularly bothersome task.
This year, we booked an apartment through Airbnb. We also used this site in 2017 to book a place in the city of Marbella … where we find ourselves once again this year. In 2019, we booked a place in the town of Fuengirola through a website called “spain-holiday.com”, a purely Spanish Airbnb type of rental site. In 2018, we used a property rental company that is now defunct to find a place in the town of Nerja.
If you have read any of my other pieces about wintering in Spain, you will know that winter is the off-season in the Costa del Sol (often simply referred to as “the Costa”) . The result is that the area is awash in rental properties, and they are nowhere near as occupied in the winter as they are in the summer. So, it’s not terribly hard to find a nice apartment, especially if you are flexible about what city or town you want to stay in. I will be examining the towns in which we have stayed in some depth in another episode.
I am going to undertake the “accommodation” discussion in three parts. I would like to share many pictures with you so that at the end of it all you have a reasonable understanding of the types of places that are available… not doable in one post. I would also like to provide you with an overview of the pricing and thinking that goes into our rental decisions and discuss issues that arise.
Our 2022 Rental
As mentioned, we are back in the city of Marbella for the second time. Believe it or not, one of the driving factors in picking this particular apartment was that one of us insisted on having a bathtub… no finger-pointing here, no way I’m going to say who that was. 🙂
The other major deciding factor was health-related. As you may have read previously on this site, I had a near-death experience a couple of years ago, and the outcome of that was that my fingertips and all my toes became necrotic and had to be surgically removed.
Surgery on the feet is messy business, and it is only now, about 14 months post-surgery that I am finally feeling that my feet are 100% healed up and it is time for me to engage in tons of exercise. First, this means learning how to walk again with a normal gait and building up my general fitness level after a couple years of health and pandemic related inactivity. So… we decided that we needed an apartment in a location that was relatively flat, with limitless walking opportunities, a grocery store very close by… and a bathtub. An apartment in Marbella checked all the boxes.
The net result of all this is that we are paying approximately $4000 per month for this unit… way more than we would normally expect or want to pay.
After I have shown you our 2022 and 2019 properties, I will show you the ones we used in 2017 and 2018 in the second post. That is also where I will discuss the sorts of things we think are important when choosing a rental location, things that can go bad, and how to interpret the listings on places like Airbnb… Not as easy or as straightforward as it may seem.
1) This is the building we are in. Our apartment is an end unit on the fourth floor – on the right-hand side in the photo. It did not dawn on us that our apartment occupies the entire end of the building until we were showing some friends back home around via Zoom, and one of them noticed that every room had a window in it. We were too busy getting settled in to notice.
2) Here we are on the very first morning that we arrived. Veronica, the agent who managed the rental for the owner, handing me over the keys. It is not uncommon for owners of these units in the Costa del Sol to have some sort of realtor or agent handle the rental, the meeting of the guests upon arrival, and any problems that arise… more on that in Part 2. Veronica has been great to work with.
3) Here is the view from our terrace. We are not directly on the Mediterranean as we were the last time we rented in Spain, but having any sort of sea view of the is always pleasing. And, as you can probably figure out, we are within very easy walking distance of the waterfront.
4) The main living area. Lots of wonderful light pours in every day. According to the compass on my Apple Watch we face due south. That means we get to enjoy sun on our terrace from just after sunrise in the morning until sunset in the evening.
5) The main sitting area. Lots of comfortable seating in a bright and airy setting.
6) The kitchen and dining areas are open and modern. Cooking in a kitchen in Europe can be very different from what’s involved at home. The stovetop in this unit, and in the one we rented in 2019, are “induction” stoves. You can read this brief explanation I found by doing a simple Google search, but the basic difference is the “burners” generate heat using an oscillating magnetic field. You must have a pot or pan sitting on the burner area for heat to be generated at all. One of the things I read in the online article that I never knew before is that when these stoves work they can impact a pacemaker – be advised.
The oven in this case is a multi-functional one. It cooks using a combination of microwave, grilling, and forced air. Each function can be used independently as well. Electricity is very expensive in Spain. Apparently its cost has gone up over 40% in the last year… So many folks use specialized appliances to minimize its use.
7) Looking back towards the entry hallway off of which the two bedrooms and bathrooms flow.
8) It is important that you find a bed configuration that is big enough and comfortable enough for two people when looking for a place. This is a very typical main bedroom set up. It is not immediately obvious, but the arrangement consists of two individual twin beds pushed together to form a shared bed that is the same size as what we would call a king size bed at home. If you look closely, you can identify the two separate box springs.
9) The main bedroom in this year’s rental unit has lots of closet, drawer, and shelf space. We each have two sizeable closet units for our use.
10) The ensuite bathroom. There is a separate shower stall to the right that isn’t clearly visible in this photo. There are two full bathrooms in total in the apartment. The second however, does not have a tub, just a shower stall.
11) This place also has great laundry facilities, which are very important to have. You do not want to be running off to a laundromat every time you need clean clothes. Often the machines are combo washers and dryer. We tend to simply dry our clothes on the generous outdoor rack that is provided. You can see it leaning up against the wall here. To repeat, electricity is very expensive in Spain… more on that in Part 2.
Our Rental Apartment in 2019
12) This is the building we were in in 2019. We paid €1500 ($2,173.92) per month rent. This has been the unit that offered the very best value for what we paid during our stays in Spain. The building looks kind of “grotty” from the outside, but the unit itself was lovely.
13) As you can see, this unit was not dissimilar to the unit we are in this year. The seating and dining areas are reversed in comparison to what we have this year. While we were there, I did think that the two spaces should have been reversed. The place where the dining table is sitting would have allowed for a much larger and spacious seating area.
14) Bright and sunny, and yes, right on the waterfront.
15) Again, the master bedroom in this unit had twin beds set up in a king-like configuration. These were adjustable beds. You might have noticed that the nightstands here are identical to the ones in the unit we are renting this year. Everybody loves IKEA! 🙂 The local one is in Malaga.
16) The second bedroom in this three-bedroom apartment could easily have been used as the main bedroom. The unseen small third bedroom had a single twin bed in it.
17) Here is the view from the terrace. I took this picture on the first or second day in February after we arrived. The day was so clear that you can see the snowcapped peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountains way off in the distance. That is near the city of Granada.
18) There were two bathrooms, neither of which was very distinguished. The second one did have a shower stall that we used.
19) This was our view every morning, beautiful sunrises.
Next Up: Part 2, where I will show you our apartments in the town of Nerja and our original one in Marbella.
Very useful information. We fully intend to do some long-term stays in Spain in the future. Thank you for sharing your observations.
I don’t think you will be disappointed. It sure beats dealing with snow and ice.