My HomeExchange Story: Back to Malaga, Spain

Member Mike & Yvonne make Spain their second home with a trip to the lovely and sunny city of Malaga.

How did you find your exchange?

I contacted the other member in search of an exchange.

What attracted you to this exchange opportunity?

We love Malaga city and how easy it is to travel there from the UK. We also loved the look of the flat.

What did you see or do during your exchange?

For quite a while now, we've been entertaining the idea of a second home in Malaga. It makes sense on a number of levels - we're looking to expand our horizons, our UK home is connected by daily short and inexpensive flights to the city and having visited it several times now, it’s become one of our favourite places in the world.

With its beaches, renovated port area, museums, historical centre, trendy rooftop bars and restaurants, Malaga is no longer the poor relative of Seville. It has managed to retain its Andalucian heritage and yet exudes a wonderfully modern edge at the same time. But these same factors, coupled with the multitude of nationalities it attracts, its heady mix of culture, sunshine and being a gateway to the Costa Del Sol has meant that in the years we've been visiting, we've seen steep rises in property prices. Adding this to our concerns about what might happen after Brexit has made the prospect of buying somewhere in Malaga all the more uncertain.

This had been how the familiar conversation whilst sitting in a sunny cafe on our last home swap in Malaga, but something was different this time. An obvious answer was staring us in the face. Why would we even want to buy a second home in Malaga, with all the expenses and potential stress that it would entail?

We already had a 'second home' in this great city. In fact, we had many - and all without the expense and upkeep of a house or apartment hundreds of miles away from home. It was called Home Exchange.

And with our flexibility on travel dates, being able to stay for points or reciprocal swaps, and with so many users having second homes of their own, we've never had a problem finding an exchange in this city. We had the ease of a second home, but without all the hassle!

So we’ll be saving our money for now. Maybe one day, buying a place in Spain will be the right decision, but for the immediate future, we'll be sticking with HomeExchange.

What was the favorite memory from your exchange?

Simply sitting in the squares absorbing the atmosphere and spending time in the flat itself.

How would you describe home exchange to your family and friends?
I couldn't recommend it more!