Where to live in Spain?
If you were free to choose where in the world to live, where would you find yourself? One likes Bangkok, one likes Imatra and one likes Fuengirola. We were faced with this positive problem before and in this blog post I’ll open up about the things we considered when choosing a new city to live in Spain and my experiences of living in these Spanish cities.
“Were” is a bit of a misnomer though, as no final decision has been made yet, but there are only two options left. Before that, some background, the cities in Spain we were considering, and the pros and cons of the different cities. If you’re interested in cities, the cost of living, renting an apartment or other aspects of living in Spain, then keep reading.
Two Years of Barcelona Behind Us
After living in Barcelona for a couple of years, about two years ago my girlfriend and I started talking about whether we should try living somewhere other than Barcelona. “This is a great city, but…”, often started the conversation. Also, our first apartment together was a very nice summer apartment with a backyard, but 6 months of the year it was cold, no natural light and of course, in the Spanish way, a lot of mould all over the apartment.
So for the next winter (3 months) we moved 300m away to a better quality tower block in Barcelona’s Poblenou. Expensive, but definitely a good move for a short time, the photo above was taken from the balcony. It was nice not having to go outside in the winter to warm up. It may sound like a joke, but unfortunately for many people living in Spain it’s everyday life.
With the decision to move made, I began to investigate, with an engineer’s science, possible other places to live, of course, by opening Google Maps and seeing what options were available to us. The list was quite short, although the criteria were only:
– Spain
– On the Mediterranean coast
– a Spanish town or a city, not a village (this line is of course blurred)
Cities on the Mediterranean
So time to open Google Maps and sit on the corner of the sofa under a couple of blankets to look at potential destinations. From north to south, the places meeting the above criteria were:
– Tarragona
– Valencia
– Alicante
– Malaga
Torrevieja, Cartagena, Fuengirola, Marbella, Gandia, Benidorm, etc. were left out, either because of their size or because we thought they were too full of tourists. We had also considered the Canary Islands, but the cities there did not appeal to us, even if the climate was wonderful.
Of course, there are plenty of places on the Sunshine Coast where there are even more foreigners, but there, for example, Sevilla and Malaga balance the numbers out nicely.
Tarragona was far too Catalan and rather boring, although a very pretty town, so we didn’t even consider it. Malaga, on the other hand, had for some reason not left a positive impression after a 24-hour visit, and when we had to narrow down the options, we were left with Valencia and Alicante. I hadn’t been to the latter, but from the pictures and blogs it seemed quite nice, and there seemed to be plenty of apartments by the sea.
Move to Alicante
From there, only a mere year later, we packed our bags and moved to Alicante for the spring, where neither of us had ever been before. It was a nice, exciting feeling to move somewhere we had never been, even if it was only for 2.5 months.
It was super nice to wake up to the scenery above, especially as in the previous apartment we had had to go all the way out to see if it was sunny or cloudy.
Alicante has about twenty huge fig trees, which are very impressive looking. Valencia has them too, but far fewer. The shade of the trees is much needed in Spain in the summer, and even nicer if you can enjoy refreshments in their shade.
I was very impressed with the price/quality ratio of restaurants in Alicante. In addition to the quality of the food, an exceptional number of restaurants were also really beautiful, such as one of my favourites, Burro (meaning donkey in Spanish and butter in Italian). Calling yourself a burro is quite common on padel courts 🙂
Update 12/24: The restaurant has changed its name and concept slightly.
Although the centre is small, there are a few really beautiful and in many ways pleasant squares or plazas where those giant fig trees provide shade in the summer. Although Alicante has around 340 000 inhabitants (Wikipedia), it feels more like a large village than a small town.
A great city to come from anywere in Europe for a shorter city and beach holiday, as you can find everything you need within a kilometre!
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FAQ
Autumn and Valencia
I hadn’t really liked Valencia when I went there, which perhaps in retrospect shows how much circumstances influence the mind of even a supposedly reasonably objective decision-maker. It had been very hot all week, I was always in a hurry to see some park or attraction, and a few ugly corners had somehow stuck in my mind exceptionally much. After a year of living there, however, I really liked Valencia.
Valencia is beautiful and modern, but the city centre is old, big and grand. Plus, the beach is really big and good. Compared to Alicante, Valencia feels like a big city with around 800 000 inhabitants (Wikipedia). The city is probably not nearly as well known to as Seville or Malaga, probably due to the smallish airport. Barcelona and Madrid can be reached by train in three hours, and Alicante in two.
In addition, the Ciudad de les Arts i les Ciències (read and see more pictures here), shown in the picture above, is still a very impressive sight. For city breakers, I highly recommend Valencia. More on all of these below when I finally get around to listing my pros and cons for each city 🙂
Valencia is a nice green city and the 9km long park offers a good opportunity to walk, cycle or skate along it. Valencia was also the 2024 European Green Capital.
There are about 60 000 students in the city, which, especially on this side of the campus, can be heard and felt in the atmosphere, especially when the dormitory and their courtyard are on the bedroom side. Although only twice have I had to call the police. I would have thought more than that 🙂
I think Barcelona has a lot in common with Valencia. Many people have fled Barcelona’s politics, the slight feeling of insecurity and the high prices for Valencia, where I also think you can get almost everything more and cheaper.
Valencia’s city centre is very impressive, with several different districts: the old town of El Carmen, the centre around the Plaza del Ayuntamiento below, the Gran Via with its chic restaurants, and Russafa with its trendy shops and bars. To name but a few.
As is usual in Spain, the districts are very different from one another.
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Barcelona
The best and worst of Alicante, Barcelona and Valencia
After brief introductions of the cities, we finally get down to the pluses and minuses and then drop one city from the game called life.
The Best and Worst of Alicante
+ Most coastal line
+ Cheapest housing (VLC +18% and BCN +60% compared to Alicante) and most new construction, especially by the sea
+ best price/quality in restaurants
+ the most convenient size for me (approx. 340 000 inhabitants)
+ the most Spanish-speaking of the three cities (least Valenciano/Catalan)
+ the small mountains next to the city (like the one pictured above) offer a nice change of scenery
+ downtown beach is ok, San Juan’s is the best I’ve seen in Spanish cities
– most modest downtown and small old town
– no city bikes
– by far the worst public transport
– remarkably dry terrain
– Cultural offerings
The Best and Worst of Barcelona
+ Most international
+ The most pleasant neighbourhoods also by the sea (especially Poblenou)
+ A variety of beaches and mountains from almost anywhere in the city
+ Great live music scene
+ Fastest to move around on bicycles
+ Best public transport
– Most Expensive of the three cities
– Lots of pickpockets in the city centre and metro
– Lots of tourists
– Too big for me (1,7M inhabitants in the city, and 4,8M – 5,6M in the metropolitan area)
The Best and Worst of Valencia
+ The 9km-long Turia Park in an old dry riverbed is stunning
+ The most beautiful and handsome city centre and old town I have seen in Spain
+ Good cycle lane network
+ Good public transport. Some bus lines are slow though
+ Good 100m wide and 3,5km long beach
+ Safe
+ A sense of space around the city, because Valencia has not yet been built to capacity
– Ugly suburbs near the sea
– Centre 5-7km from the beach
– Smallish airport
– The housing situation is bad and house prices, especially for those who have lived here longer, have risen dramatically, with rents reportedly increasing by tens of percent in the last few years. Valencia has become very popular with both Spaniards and expats in the last couple of years.
Time for Decisions!
Next weekend we’re off to San Juan (Alicante’s bigger beach) to watch the 100-tonne statues being doused with fuel and fires and firemen cooling down palm trees and buildings while people cheer and photograph the flames with beer cans in hand. There are probably fireworks every night. So it’s an experience called Spanish Midsummer. At the same time, we can compare cities again. We’ll be back in Valencia in September 2023 for at least two months.
