El Buen Ocio holiday rental

11/05/2025

Today's restaurant recommendation is for the Mount Himalaya Indian Restaurant in Gandia. The food is wonderful and they even offer an extensive menu del dia menu on a Sunday!

A three course meal, with drinks for 4 adults was less than €82.00.
The only problem us that the food was so good I forgot to take photos of the main courses 🤦‍♀️🤣
Oh dear, I guess we will just have to go back again.

Ps Stuart Anderson the chicken lababdar was amazing. Thank you for the suggestion 😘

https://www.facebook.com/share/15ycTiCTat/

11/05/2025

The soft sandy beaches along our coastline are stunning. However there are also several places nearby to go 'wild swimming' which our guests love. This is one of our favourite places. It's only about 30 minutes inland from us. Why not try both when you visit. 🌞

🏞️Río Sellent en Bolbaite

Si buscas una ruta con baño final, este paraje de La Canal de Navarrés es perfecto.

¡Será un chapuzón muy especial, rodeado de cascadas y naturaleza!

➡️ https://bit.ly/3SuJE2Y

La Canal Territorio turístico |

10/05/2025

Another restaurant suggestion for our guests to try, Al Bon Gust, in Oliva.

Lots of people had recommended it to us and we finally went with some friends on Thursday. Lovely food, a modern interior and a great value menu del día.(Just €15 each on a weekday lunch time).

https://www.facebook.com/share/1C7C8rcSBj/

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 The extra months added to these passports are no longer valid.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 😘).