El Buen Ocio holiday rental

15/04/2025

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: If you are thinking of travelling this year, check your Passport expiry and ISSUE dates, especially if you are British. Do not be one of the people turned away at the airport!

To travel to Europe (the Schengen area) your passport must:

1. have a ‘date of issue’ less than 10 years before the date you arrive, AND

2. have an ‘expiry date’ at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave the Schengen area (the expiry date does not need to be within 10 years of the date of issue)

If you hold a UK passport that was renewed before 1 October 2018, it may appear to be valid for more than 10 years. This is because the UK used to add any unused months from your old passport onto your new passport. The extra months added to these passports are no longer valid. THEREFORE LOOK AT THE ISSUE DATE, NOT THE EXPIRY DATE.

Also, do not forget that UK passports of children under 16 are only valid for FIVE years.

Check now, and do not be one of those people who misses their holiday.

11/04/2025

The spring flowers and various blossoms in this part of Spain are wonderful. In February we had the Almond blossom, now it's Orange blossom time and the scent is divine ☺️

05/04/2025

If you are a keen cyclist, this area with its quiet roads, beautiful countryside and varied terrain, is a perfect place to challenge yourself and test your fitness. There is a reason hundreds of teams come here to train!

If you time it right, you can even take part in an event like this one happening today - 132 km and passing by our village as I type this.... 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♀️🚵‍♀️

If you don't want to bring your bike with you, we can put you in touch with places to hire one, and if you prefer to cycle with other people, they also organise cycle rides.

04/04/2025

Lunch with our German guests yesterday.

As always the food at was excellent, and the value is amazing: €14.90 for a FOUR course menu del día. For Brits, that is £13.63!! We highly recommend that you make the 30 minute drive to this little inland restaurant.

03/04/2025

Thinking of having a holiday with us?

We've had a few enquiries that have raised similar questions so I thought I'd do a post to cover them all.

We do currently still have some availability this year, including part of May, and there are some great flight deals at the moment. Well at least outside the school summer holiday. However, there are some important things to know:

1. We are located in the Valencia region of Spain, thirty minutes inland (west) from Gandia, which is about half way down the eastern side of country. It's quite a rural location so suits people who want a relaxing holiday. Those who perhaps like to visit the busy beach areas and cities but also enjoy getting out into nature.

2. If you are flying to Spain, you can either fly to Alicante or Valencia (main) airport. Both are about an hour away. Murcia and Valencia CASTELLON airports are both about 2 hours away.

3. If you are flying from Stansted, you have the option of Ryanair or Jet2. If you are prepared to fly from Luton or Gatwick you have more choice, such as Easyjet, British Airways and Vueling. Personally we are happy to use Ryanair. As long as you read and abide by their rules, they are cheap and cheerful. Think of them as city bus rather than a luxury coach. For more comfort from Stansted choose Jet2, but note you may pay a lot more. 😘 Guests have also flown using British Airways but K believe for them you need to go to Gatwick.

4. This is vital: whilst our village/small town has all the essential amenities, YOU WILL NEED TO HIRE A CAR. Firstly, to get from the airport, and secondly to enjoy everything this wonderful region has to offer.

5. On the whole, driving in this area of Spain is a pleasure. The roads outside the big cities are pretty quiet. If you can drive in Cambridge, you should have no problem driving here. 😉

6. Whilst we are very happy to help you booking flights and a hire car, and can give you lots of guidance on how to get good deals and have a great holiday, we cannot offer to collect you from the airport. We would not be insured to do that, and anyway you do need your own car here and they are cheaper to hire from the airport.

7. If a swimming pool is important to you, please be aware that whilst the village has a lovely outdoor pool, it is only open from mid-June to early September. Personally though, we love going to the beach and the various lake and river swimming spots in the area. Teenagers especially seem to love the adventure of wild swimming, especially when there are waterfalls to swim under, rocks to jump off of and if they are lucky, the odd rope swing.

If a holiday here still interests you, please message us for any more information. We love this area and really enjoy helping our guests have a great holiday here.

01/04/2025

Our newest guests arrived from Germany yesterday to perfect weather and said they are looking forward to enjoying the outside spaces at El Buen Ocio. There is something special about being able to relax outside for much of the year. 🥂🍺

31/03/2025

What a stunning day!! ☀️🌞

Even though we had to drive to the airport today, it was a pleasure. The countryside is the greenest it has been in years which makes it look even more dramatic, and we detoured to have a very nice lunch at the beach. Just €14 each for a 3 course lunch and that included our drinks, what a bargain☺️😋.

We followed lunch by a walk along the beach in 26°C sunshine.

Although I must say, based on today, despite the great value food and stunning beach, Arenals de Sol is not somewhere I would choose to go on holiday. I think there were some bribes paid for some of the awful older buildings on the sea front 🫣🤔.

26/03/2025

It's a stunning day in Castello de Rugat, our normal, blue skies are back, and it's what we call an 'HD day' 🌞🌞.

The mountain you can see is Benicadell. You can walk up it straight from the village, almost to the very top. Or, if you prefer not to do the whole walk, there are a couple of places where you can drive part way.(We won't tell if you don't 😘).

25/03/2025

After an exceptionally wet couple of weeks, when I felt like I was back in the UK 😳, warm sunny days are here again ☺️ People are sunbathing on the beach, and a few 'brave' (mad?) people are swimming in the sea. Definitely not the Spanish, they don't remove their coats until May, regardless of the temperature 🤣😘.

In the countryside around our little village, everything is looking very lush and green. Already we have lots of spring flowers and the locals are out picking the wild asparagus.

Spring and early summer is usually perfect weather to enjoy walks or cycling in our stunning countryside, go sightseeing and maybe take a little 'stroll' up our mountain, Benicadell.

If you feel like treating yourself to to a Spanish break, we still have availability in May and June, but not April.

Contact me for more information.

23/02/2025

What a great way to spend a wet Sunday lunchtime - live music with Graham Foster band and friends - at Bar Almiserá just 15 minutes from home 🎸🎶

06/02/2025

Xativa's stunning castle yesterday - definitely worth the climb!

03/02/2025

This looks like an enjoyable way to support a couple of the many animal charities in this area:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18Dm3ChnEB/

Primer evento para recaudar fondos para el refugio!!!

Os presentamos el primer evento de la asociación junto a la asociación de para la presentación del proyecto de refugio de animales en Villalonga🥳🥳🥳

Estamos muy ilusionadas de poder compartir este día como vosotras y presentaros el proyecto.♥️♥️♥️

Nos encantaria tener la máxima colaboración y difusión para poder recaudar y empezar a construir el refugio💜

El evento consistirá en todo un día de actividades, concurso de paellas, rifa solidaria y la actuación de varios grupos.🎸

Podéis adquirir los tickets para el concurso de paellas en .pels_villalonga o en el bar Casa Carmen en Beniarjó.
También os podéis poner en contacto directamente a través de WhatsApp al 644311336 📞📞

Agradecemos la máxima difusión posible!!! 🫂🫂🫂

APUNTATE Y COLABORA!!!😃😃😃😃
pels_villalonga





Corinne Richter

Ajuntament Beniarjó

01/02/2025

There is so much going on in the little village of Rafol de Salem today. ☺️

01/02/2025

There is always something going on in our corner of Spain. This was today in the little village of Rafol de Salem. The bread is being taken to the church to be blessed...

28/01/2025

Yet another great, and inexpensive, day out. Yesterday we took our guests to the fantastic, immersive Tutankhamun experience in Valencia. We then walked into the old city centre, before visiting the City of Sciences.
We are so lucky that Valencia is just an hour away.

27/01/2025

Friday was another beautiful day, perfect for a walk with our current guests.🌞