Property for sale in Dénia

Buying a house in Dénia means buying in the largest town of the Marina Alta, a place with its own hospital, a ferry port and a centre that simply keeps going in winter. The town lies flat between the Montgó and the sea, and the facts block measures from the centre, with the Punta del Raset beach within walking distance. North of the harbour a long sandy coast begins, to the south a rocky coast with small coves. For a buyer, those two coasts are so different that you can treat them as separate markets.

In Les Marines, north of the town, urbanisations and flats lie behind a long sandy beach; further north comes Les Deveses. Les Rotes, on the south side, starts with a beach and turns into rocky coves, with villas and clear water that is part of a protected marine reserve. The old town and the harbour are where you do everything on foot. Inland are the slopes of the Montgó, a natural park, and towards Pedreguer the La Sella golf resort, on the boundary between the two municipalities.

In the town and around the harbour you mostly buy flats, from older buildings to new builds. In Les Marines it is flats and villas close to the beach, in Les Rotes and on the Montgó villas. If you buy on the front line in Les Marines, you also buy the coastline: the beach is regularly topped up with sand and partly loses it again in storms, and Costas has put a new boundary of the public coastal zone there out for consultation. Have an adviser find out what that means for the property. Current projects are on the new-build page for Dénia.

Dénia is right for people who want a real town with every amenity, all year round, while still living by the sea, with the Balearic Islands a boat trip away. It is less right for frequent flyers: Alicante and Valencia are both more than an hour’s drive away, and there is no train. In summer Les Marines and the harbour fill up, and the N-332 through the Marina Alta is often jammed. In heavy storms, the buildings behind the Les Marines beach have flooded. And in Les Rotes you cannot simply fish from the rocks: the water is a protected area.

Ferries sail from the harbour to Ibiza, Formentera and Mallorca. Dénia is the end of the coastal tram line to Benidorm, which runs along its whole length again; for Alicante you change in Benidorm. The Marina Alta hospital is in the town and is once again run directly by the regional health service. The British international schools are in Jávea and near Cumbre del Sol. You can read more about the neighbourhoods, the old town and life by the harbour on Living in Dénia.