Bibliotekcafé in Torrevieja: a genuinely good remote work spot

Torrevieja is not overflowing with places to work from. There is no real coworking scene here the way there is up in Alicante city, so most people working remotely end up rotating between their own flat and whichever café happens to have a free table and a plug. Bibliotekcafé is the first place in town I have found that holds up for a full working morning, and it is worth knowing about before you waste another week trying places at random.

What the place actually is

It is a café built around a library. Books line the walls in several languages, most of them donated by customers over the years. There is no television, which on its own puts it ahead of most Spanish bars if you are trying to concentrate. The owner, Agustín Esquiva Brotons, spent years living and studying in the Netherlands and brought the northern European library-café idea back to his home town. That concept is the whole point of the room, and you can feel it when you sit down.

You will find it at C/ Ramón Gallud 16, right in the middle of Torrevieja.

The part that matters: can you get work done

Yes, and three specific things make it work rather than just look nice.

The wifi is properly fast. Not "fine for email" fast. I got through an entire working morning without once thinking about the connection, which is the only real test.

You can reach a plug socket. I had a laptop and a phone charging at the table at the same time. That sounds minor until you have spent a morning in a Spanish café nursing a dying battery because the only socket is behind the bar.

The noise sits in the sweet spot. There is light music on, but quietly enough that I took a phone call without going outside. You can also have a normal conversation without feeling like the whole room can hear you. Calm but not a silent reading room, which is a harder balance than it sounds and the reason this works better than a library or a busy bar.

What to order

A café con leche and the salmon, avocado and eggs toast came to 10 euro for both. The toast is a real plate of food rather than a token slice, and it kept me going well past lunch. They do specialty coffee with actual baristas, plus a menu of what they call tostadas de autor and filosopizzas.

For 10 euro and a few hours of usable desk time, that is better value than a day pass anywhere on this coast.

The one thing to plan around

They close for siesta. From what I saw it is somewhere around 2:30pm, reopening about 4pm. That is completely standard across Spain and nothing unusual, but it catches out almost everyone who has recently moved here and still thinks in terms of a nine to six day. You cannot use this as an all-day desk.

The way to handle it is simple. Do a long morning, pack up when they close, take the break properly the way everyone else here does, and come back after 4pm if you still have work left. Fighting the siesta is a losing battle, and honestly the forced break is good for you.

Worth being straight about the other limit too: this is a café, not a coworking space. No second monitor, no meeting room, no guaranteed desk if it is full when you arrive. If you need any of that, the coworking listings are the place to look. But for a laptop, a coffee and a few hours of focus, I would take this over a hot desk.

Practical notes

• Where. C/ Ramón Gallud 16, in central Torrevieja. See the full listing.
• Best time. Morning through to the siesta close. Get there earlier if you want a good table near a socket.
• Bring. Your charger. The sockets are there, so there is no reason to arrive on 40 percent.
• Calls. Fine for a normal call. Do not plan back to back video meetings, it is still a café and other people are reading.
• Check before a special trip. Their exact hours are not published anywhere I could find, so message them on Instagram or check their site first if you are travelling in specially.

See more

If you are working remotely from this end of the Costa Blanca, our guide to the best coworking spaces in Alicante covers the proper desk options up the coast, and we took a closer look at Genion Lab in Petrer if you are based inland.

I will be going back, which is the only review that really counts.