Another year has ended and with the new year comes a time for plans, resolutions and hope. We hope it comes with many house swaps in your travel plans. There are many users that have written us to let us know that they already arranged all the house swaps they wanted for 2012, and we are looking forward to reading their feedbacks and reviews. For those still searching or just getting started, we know you will find what you are looking for, explore our tools and contact our Customer Service team if you need help.

As for the blog, 2012 finds us in an exciting tour along the European Mediterranean coastline, that we hope will be useful for users that are exploring options in this vast area. We are encountering destinations that would be perfect for next Summer, but that are not to be dismissed by those considering a winter-swap.

Marbella, Malaga, Almeria and Alicante have been the main spots we covered, with many smaller picturesque cities and towns nearby that may as well deserve a visit, like Fuengirola, Benalmadena, Benidorm, Torrevieja or Torremolinos. If you have not found your next home exchange destination among them, just wait and read… Next stop: Valencia.

Image: Vlado / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We could tell you that Alicante has beautiful beaches, an amazing historic quarter, attractive festivals, a tasteful cuisine, a myriad of natural treasures and a varied entertainment menu, but let’s get pass the obvious and tell you about a single thing that will make you want to exchange houses to visit Alicante:

The walks.

Yes, it is that simple. Alicante is the perfect place to walk. It’s mild weather makes it perfect for taking a stroll any time of the year. If you like the coast you can walk near the marina, in “La Rambla” or in the beach; if you like to discover little colourful streets then you can head on to the old town to get immersed in its characteristic Mediterranean style; for a “cultural walk” we can suggest the museums and for a more active “walk” you can choose one of the many golf courses, any of the nearby Nature Reserves , or defying Benacantil mountain.

You are invited.

Image: Guenter Wieschendahl / Wikimedia Commons.

We are going to sound repetitive because we do say similar things about every city we write about, but Almeria is a truly a beautiful city and will be a pleasant surprise to home swappers that arrive only enticed by its beaches. Born in the 10th century as a defensive fortress , it is now the capital city of the homonymous province and shares the Muslim heritage with the other provinces in Andalusia. Almeria stands out has the largest citadel ever built in the Caliphate of Cordoba.

Honouring the origin of its name, related to a watch-point, from Almeria you will view natural, architectural and cultural sites.  Almost untouched beaches bathed by the Mediterranean Sea, the nearby Nature Reserves of Sierra Nevada and Cabo de Gata-Nijar, the historic quarter, the Alcazaba, the Jayran Wall, the fortress-temple cathedral…

An interesting fact: Almeria is one of the European cities with the most registered sun-hours per year which was the inspiration for the 20s motto “where the sun spends the winter“, would you care to discover if this is true?

Image: Photograph by Frank C. Müller / Wikimedia Commons.

Winter is here and since we are travelling along the Spanish portion of the Mediterranean coast, it would be good to remind you that there are great places in Spain to enjoy a winter house swap, specially if you like winter-sports. If you enjoy skiing, we have an interesting fact for you: Spain has 35 ski resorts of varied sizes and almost 1000 kilometres of ski slopes. Would that be enough for you?

The Spanish Pyrenees, besides beautiful, are the largest area for skiing and enjoying other winter-like activities, something always attractive to people of all ages. But today, since we were supposed to move west from Malaga to Almeria, we cannot but mention what is probably the second most important ski area of Spain and the one with the best view: the Nature Reserve of Sierra Nevada, in Andalusian territory.  Here is the deal you can get:  skiing in a designated UNESCO Reserve viewing the Mediterranean coast while you go downhill with the warm sun hitting your face. Sounds like a good deal!

We’ll mention more about Sierra Nevada’s surroundings in our next post, when we do arrive to Almeria, but if you would like to know more about your skiing in Spain, visit ATUDEM’s website (in Spanish).

Image: BY-YOUR-⌘ / Flickr.com

We leave Marbella behind and we now head on to another lovely destination in the Spanish Costa del Sol, it is time now to invite you to visit and discover Malaga.

An important detail that you should keep in mind when you look for home exchange opportunities in this area, is that between Marbella and Malaga there are other smaller but equally sunny and enjoyable cities, like Fuengirola, Benalmadena or Torremolinos. Our Map Search could be the key tool to find a great place for your next holidays, or alternatively, use the Search filters: select Spain and then Malaga (Region) and choose from the list of cities at the bottom of the page (see image). 

If you want beach, sun and entertainment, you can’t go wrong with the 300 Km (~190 miles) coastline in the Costa del Sol, and the city of Malaga is the area’s main hub. A unique attraction is the Malaga Picasso Museum in the Andalusian Renaissance style Buenavista Palace. A must for art lovers and anyone who wants to take a peek at the genius’ work.

We wrote more about Malaga in a previous post

In our second post of this tour along the European Mediterranean coast, we continue in Marbella because there is more to share about this city to entice the avid home swapper.

Beaches: Marbella has more than 25 different beaches along 30 Km, the most famous and most visited are in the area of Puerto Banus but since it is a city visited by the rich and famous, any beach has amenities nearby, good bathing conditions and sometimes even services right on the sand

Sports: There are many sports you can play in Marbella, not all related to the sea, but it is fair to say these are quite popular. You can golf, bowl, go trekking, rock climbing, horse riding or hiking in the near mountains (there are 4×4s available if you are not that into “actively” enjoying nature), and of course there are tennis courts and football fields as well.

For nights and rainy days: There are literally hundreds of bars, pubs and nightclubs in Marbella, so you won’t have problems finding things to do with your nights during your house swap. But also, you can attend flamenco shows or a show in a bullring (not only bullfights) which are a patrimony of Spain.

Image: bk images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The first city we are going to make port in is Marbella. In our last post we said we were going to start in Malaga, but then we decided we couldn’t leave Marbella out simply because a sunset in Marbella can be breath-taking.

Marbella (Spain) is nowadays a modern tourist city, but this development only came by the second half of the 20th century. Before that, it was a fishing port, an agricultural area, or a land rich in magnetic iron. It was also of interest to Romans and Muslims, and it preserves historic remains to show this rich past. There are even footprints left behind by prehistoric inhabitants, with Palaeolithic and Neolithic remains in the area.

The city is easily accessible with connections to main roads, airports, high-speed trains and of course, it has a strong connection to the sea and its four marinas welcome small and medium-size vessels. You won’t find trouble to get to Marbella and chances are you are going to find it during a bright sunny day!

Image: cubanjunky (Barbara Walsh) / Flickr.com

Home exchange offers in cities bathed by the Mediterranean waters come from a large number of HomeForHome users.  For example, the main four cities in the Spanish Mediterranean coast, Malaga, Alicante, Valencia and Barcelona, represent over 2,500 houses ready to receive swap offers.

There are some points that make this area a good choice for your vacations, other than the natural beauty and the tempting beaches. For example, it has a very good service network and infrastructure to receive tourists.

In the following posts we are going to introduce you to the best destinations along the northern coastline, covering the best of Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece and Turkey, so you can dream about the waters of the Balearic Sea, the Tyrrhenian or the Aegean before you find your swap and pack your bags. We are going to travel together from Malaga (Spain) to Antalya (Turkey), discovering the magic of the Mediterranean.

Image: Public domain image taken from Wikimedia Commons.

People are swapping almost anything that is not perishable: clothes, books, appliances, and probably anything you can imagine. So why not swap houses too? The advantage over swapping items is that it doesn’t need to be permanent, a house swap can last from a weekend (or even less!) to several months at a time but you will return to your home sweet home.

Swapping is cheaper than buying and that is why it has become so popular these days, besides, it is said to be a green practice because things get used and reused until they become obsolete or broken, instead of just sitting hidden in a shelf or closet somewhere around the house because you don’t use it any more. The deal with house swapping is similar: it is cheaper than paying for other types of accommodation and it helps travellers reduce how their trips impact on the environment.

Seems like a good combination for a deal: cheap and green. How better can it get? We invite you to join today and start enjoying the benefits of being part of our community of house swappers.

We do not write about this option very often, but students can become an important force in the swapping world. Mobility programs abide and there’s no better way to solve the accommodation problem than to swap houses with a student coming to your city (does not need to be to the same University).

We have the Study exchanges forum for people who specifically want to swap houses driven by academic related motives. Right now, there are mostly offers of people looking for an opportunity to improve their skills in a foreign language by experiencing it first hand, living as a local - one thing home exchange is perfect for. But, you can expand this and swap houses while you take a semester or a post-graduate program in another country. If you find the right partner you won’t have to sub-let your place, it will be taken care of, and you’ll have a home away from home without spending any extra money. It also works for teachers, professors and researchers!

Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net