Enjoy Javea at Your Own Pace
Jave is a small town that won't take you long to get to know. So our first tip is 'enjoy it at your own leisurely pace'. Here are some other tips:
Before You Arrive
Booking your villa, hire car, flight, currency exchange, airport taxi, or hotel.
In and Around Javea
Saving money on eating out, food shopping, down the market, wine and beer.
Tipping and Cover Charges at Restaurants
Most waiting staff in Javea depend on tips to top up their income and the local authorities expect this and therefore levy a tax on this. If therefore, they don't get any tips it really affects their pocket. Tipping in Javea remains very much down to the customer. Its rare to get poor service or a bad meal, and the restaurants work to please their cusotmers. Ten percent is usually a fair tip, but it doesn't have to be exact and they would prefer tips to be left in cash, rather than to go on the credit card.
Cover charges are traditional is Spain, however, not all restaurants will levy this. If they do, it isn't normally a great deal of money (from 60 cents to 2 euros). If this concerns you, check with the head waiter or on the menu before you sit down at the table. Most restaurants will offer you 'Alioli', fresh warm bread with garlic mayonaise dip. Some will bring this to your table automatically, whereas others will ask first. It is customary to charge for this.
Emergency Medical Assistance
It is always wise to arrange for travel insurance cover for your holiday. Travel insurance is not expensive anymore and can remove some of your major headaches if you run into trouble overseas. However, when travelling to Spain, you should always go down to the post office before you travel and pick up an E111 form. If you fill this out before you travel and carry it with you it will save you further hassle and you won't need medical cover included in your travel insurance. The E111 allows you to benefit from the medical services in Spain by virtue of being a citizen of the European Community. The medical authorities use the form to claim back the cost of any treatment from the UK and this means that you won't have to pay for certain types of treatment first and later having to claim back the money you spent on medical treatment. Both local hospitals and local doctors should accept the form. Certain homeopathic and alternative treatments may not be covered using this form.
Remember that there is a hospital in Javea and that local doctors have emergency telephone numbers for out of hours treatment.
Safety and Securitv
Javea is a very safe place, but touirsts tend to invite the opportunist thief to easy pickings. keep valuables out of site. especially at the market.
Drinking Water
The tap water in Javea may be safe to drink according to some, but as it has a potted history, we don't take any chances. Bottled water is so cheap down at the supermarket that there is really no need to take any chances.