Agost is a very small town in the Valencian region, about 18km from the larger Alicante. Although pretty, it is not on the coast and tourists tend to avoid it in the peak summer season. Whether this is a boon or not depends on who you speak with, but nonetheless it remains largely undiscovered.

Getting there

The closest airport to Agost is Alicante , which offers direct flights to most of the major European cities. From Alicante, you can catch a train or coach to Agost, with services running a few times a day (except Sundays when the services drop off dramatically).

Expats

Unlike nearby Alicante, there are relatively few expats calling Agost home. In fact, this is one of those towns that most people don´t discover until they arrive in Spain. It is worth the wait though, if you appreciate a more rural lifestyle. Agost has the charm of a small town with the convenience of close proximity to larger centres.

If you have your heart set on sending your children to an international school, you will probably need to travel at least as far as Alicante, where international schools offer the British curriculum or International Baccalaureate. The perk of living in Valencia, or anywhere in Catalunya is that the government offer free language classes to foreigners. This is to encourage the use of minority dialects (Valencian) and languages (Catalan) that are at risk of dying out. This goes double for foreign children, who are often able to access intensive language courses (at no charge) before the school year begins, if they are enrolling in a local school. Additionally, all education for children up until the age of university is free - not a bad deal really.

Getting Around

Public transport is minimal in Agost. There are buses and trains, but don´t miss one - you could be waiting a very long time for the next one. If you don´t have a car, the easiest way to do things like grocery shopping is to buy one of the shopping-bags-on-wheels that everyone seems to own in Spain, shop at the open-air markets early in the morning and then have a leisurely coffee (or Chocolate and Churros - rich hot chocolate with Spanish doughnuts) while you wait for the next bus. Or just buy a car; private transport is widely used in Spain.

Settling In

In some parts of Spain, the postal service can be a little odd. For instance, if you are not a citizen (whether or not you have residency) the local post office may refuse to deliver your mail. How they know you aren´t a citizen, or the fact that this refusal isn´t strictly legal, is irrelevant. A PO Box will cost you about 65 Euro per year, so if there are holdups with your mail, just get one of these - it is much much easier than going head-to-head with Spanish bureaucracy.

Property

Property in Agost is amazingly inexpensive. This is partly because of the economic downturn and partly because Agost is not a well-publicised Spanish town. A three bedroom, two bathroom chalet with a large pool on 7,000 square metres of land will set you back about 250,000 Euro – and that´s the pointy end of the price spectrum. Something similar but a little older (think DIY weekends) can cost around 170,000 Euro. For renters, budget about 400 – 500 Euro per month for three bedroom apartments (the latter will be newer, with two bathrooms while the former will be more pedestrian).