Local News | Shopping In the Javea area

I usually write about statistics and trends in the property market. But, as we are still waiting for the official quarter 4 figures, I´ve decided to write something a little more light-hearted.

Anyone that knows me will know that I love shopping, but not only shopping, shopping for bargains! I have an aversion to paying full price for clothes, shoes and homewares and always search out the sales and discount centres. Usually, products are reduced when sales come around or can be found in an outlet centre. So, I thought I would give you a guide of where to shop and save between Alicante and Valencia.

Starting in the North in Valencia city centre, around 1 hour 15 minutes drive from Javea, my favourite shop is El Corte Ingles, a department store with many concessions of well-known brands. They usually have promotions going on throughout the year with discounts, but the main sales are in the winter starting after three kings on the 7^th January going through until the end of February. The summer sales start around the end of June and goes on until the end of August.

There are many other shops around El Corte Ingles and some very interesting Spanish smaller luxury brands. These stores also have winter and summer sales.

One thing to look out for in Spain is 2^nd sales, after a few weeks of sales there is usually a further discount “segundas rebajas”.

I drive to Valencia and park in an underground car park and my usual one is Pàrquing Plaça de Cánovas. This is around a 10 minute walk to El Corte Ingles, passing by the Mercat de Colon, where I stop for a coffee, this leads to the streets that have smaller boutique type shops on the way to El Corte Ingles. Near to this carpark are several really nice restaurants for a late lunch after shopping. My favourite in this area is Kamon, a Japanese fusion restaurant.

Alicante also has a great El Corte Ingles and several shopping streets, a little smaller and not as busy as Valencia, especially in the winter before the tourists arrive. My favourite place to park here is Parking La Montanyeta, very close to the shops, good restaurants and around 1 hour drive from Javea. I really like Kaf Restaurante, a middle eastern fusion, although, it is alcohol free, but their non alcoholic drinks are delicious and if you’re driving this isn´t a problem.

Now we move on to the Outlet centres. These are where you can find some real bargains. El Corte Ingles has several outlet centres. The closest 2 are Gandia and Benidorm about a 30 minutes drive from Javea.

In the Alicante Outlet centre where there is another El Corte Ingles, there are also many other outlet stores, sports shops including Nike, Adidas, Puma, Asics, as well as Sketchers, Bimba and Lola, some household stores and other shoe and clothes shops. You may have seen this from the motorway as you drive to Alicante airport, the town is Sant Vicent del Raspeig, the university is here too.

There are several local shopping centres to Javea, Benidorm (Finestrat) La Marina, Portal de la Marina Ondara, and Gandia Centro Comercial La Vital, these centres include well-known high-street brands like Zara, H&M, Bennetton, C&A, Cortfiel, Guess etc. If you are looking for sales, then it is best to visit these centres during the winter or summer sale period.

Happy Shopping!