Property for sale in San Fulgencio

Buying a house in San Fulgencio usually means buying in La Marina, the large urbanisation of the municipality, a few kilometres from the village itself. That village was founded in the eighteenth century on drained marshland, lies low and flat among the orchards and has stayed an ordinary Spanish farming village. La Marina was built from the eighties onwards, towards the coast and Elche, and has grown into a place to live with a large international community, mostly British. Shops, doctors and bars and restaurants stay open there outside the summer too.

Most buyers look in the La Marina urbanisation, with its parts La Escuera and El Oasis, among orange groves, salt flats and pine woods. Mind the name: right next to the urbanisation lies the coastal village of La Marina, which belongs to Elche, with a different town hall and different taxes. The old village of San Fulgencio lies a few kilometres inland; there you live among Spanish neighbours. The nearest beaches are in Elche and in Guardamar del Segura, and the salt pans towards Santa Pola lie to the north.

In La Marina you mainly buy detached villas, as well as bungalows and flats in complexes. Many homes date from the first decades of the urbanisation, and there is new building too, mostly villas. In the village it is village houses and flats. With an older home in the urbanisation, have it checked whether extensions, such as a covered terrace or an added room, are licensed and registered. And with a plot on the edge of the built-up area, look at the zoning: with the flood barrier and the new local plan, things may change there.

La Marina suits people who want to live in a large international community, with English spoken in shops and clubs, and those looking for a detached villa with a garden who are happy with the coast a short drive away. It suits those who want to live by the sea less well: neither the village nor the urbanisation is on the beach, and without a car you get nowhere. If you want Spanish village life, the village itself is the better choice. Mind the water too: in the great flood in the Vega Baja, San Fulgencio was one of the hardest-hit municipalities. Have the flood map checked for each address.

Alicante airport is half an hour to three quarters of an hour by car from the village. The N-332 runs along the coastal side of the municipality, and the CV-91 takes you inland to the AP-7, which has tolls through the Vega Baja. The village has a health centre; for hospital care San Fulgencio falls under Torrevieja. For an international school you drive to Ciudad Quesada or San Miguel de Salinas, and you play golf in Rojales. La Marina has a weekly market. Read more about the area on the page about the Costa Blanca South.