Moving to Velez

Hi there,

I have been living in Velez for 5 years now and am still loving it. As anywhere, it has it's better and it's worse areas. It is a very Spanish town, although there are a number of European immigrants, mostly English and Scandinavian. Most of those live in the pretty old town up the hill. However, many gitanos live up there, too, and with that come the associated problems of drugs and petty crime. And the noise of course. On the first night I was thrilled when I heard flamenco being played in the street outside my holiday home, guitars being played and the girls dancing and clapping their hands, but it wears a bit thin after a few nights, especially as in the summer, this goes on until the early morning hours, every night. As you probably know, the Spanish are a loud people in any case, but the gitanos are VERY noisy. Think radios at full volume, barking dogs (they all have one), teles blaring through the always open windows. Saying all that, they generally  are a friendly bunch and I have never felt threatened anywhere in this town. But, if you don't want the noise, stay away from the old town. Another area I would not recommend is around the new sports stadium,  where you find a curious mix of the well off posh houses in La Mata and Limonar right next to social housing. I have heard that it is near the stadium, where you go if you want to find a drug dealer or a prostitute. Everywhere else in town is completely fine. I like particularly the areas around Cruz Verde and Cruz Cordero in the North and Olivos in the South. 

I have lived in Germany as well as in England before and Velez feels safe to me. I am not scared going anywhere, any time of day or night, on my own.

Hope that helps. 

Kind regards

Hi, thank you so much for all the info ! I did have my eye on a place in the old district, Calle Carrasco, I hope that would not be too noisy ! I have been living in Malaga for 5 years now, and I love it, but I am ready for something new and preferably now on a ground floor instead of an apartment. I still love my apartment here, it has great views and is sunny and spacious, but I miss a real outdoor space. Hard to find in Malaga, so I set my eyes on Velez, also closer to quite a few friends I have in Nerja.  I think it is a give and take, you leave something, you take something, 100% perfect will not exist, the noise does worry me a bit though, I am a light sleeper ! Thanks again, saludos !

You should hopefully be ok up there, it is not a gitano area! Good luck, any more questions, fire away!

Why not take an Airbnb in the area before buying? 

I have only been there once so i cannot really speak to the area but it seemed to me on that very short visit to be quite "Spanish:" (ok guys yes i know this is Spain) but that brings with it situations you may not be familiar with.  The cost of selling and buying again in Spain would definitely force me to use short term rental before I bought again.

Good luck!

Very good advise!!

Hi, thank you for replying! I know it is quite Spanish, that is where I live now in Malaga , in a 100% Spanish neighbourhood, I am probably the only "foreigner" in a 1 km radius, already for 5 years, and I haven't seen any expats since ! So, I am used to it, I do speak Spanish reasonably well, otherwise you can literally get a little "lost". So I know what to expect ! Thanks again - Patricia. 

Hi Patricia, also worth noting is you'd be close to some major procession routes e.g. Semana Santa and Los Reyes Magos.

We're up the hill in the older part of town, though I know C/Carasco and round Plaza las Indias and I always find it fairly quiet and friendly.

Paul