What is Spain like to visit and live in?

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dart

That smell is probably the olive oil which is ubiquitous in the cooking. I had a classmate who simply COULD NOT STAND the smell of it! Personally, I love it! Cook with olive oil a lot myself. And, I'm sure you will love the food!

The south is wonderful, but if you REALLY want to live in SPAIN, you should know that much of the area around MÃ¡laga is full of retirees from England and Germany...choose a place that is TRULY Spanish. Personally, I prefer inland...fewer tourists, more real people.

I went to University for a year in Sevilla, so I am naturally prejudiced towards the city. Really great place, warm, sweet, fun people. Love to party! (well, that's true for most of Spain)

Expensive? Depends what you think is expensive. I believe it is about comparable with the US. But the places are much smaller. I was looking on a real estate site not too long ago, and small apartments are going for around 80 - 100,000â‚¬ or so (figuring to purchase, about 1% per month, that would probably work out to around 800 - 1000â‚¬ / month payments. I would assume that rentals run similar.

And I'm pretty sure that salaries are a bit lower than in the US.

If you are looking to move there, you will want to be sure you can work legally. If you are from an EU country, that is not a major problem. If you are American, then you need a work visa. I'm not sure what his status is...he needs to check with the authorities regarding the ancestor thing...there are some benefits.

Health care is socialized if you are working there and insured.

Benefits? I'm not sure what else you mean...people are great, partying is great, life is pretty laid back there. I think, if you plan it well, you should be able to have a really great life! (planning is key...you can't just pick up a back pack and drop it in Spain and set up
housekeeping, anymore.)

Warnings: Well, one would be that red tape is really difficult to negotiate, there. I have heard that you can go to an office, get all the paperwork, all the regulations, leave, get everything done and taken care of, return the next day with everything filled out and be told that there are new regulations that you haven't complied with. It can be daunting.

I loved Sevilla. Great place for anyone of any age. Lots of great smaller (bedroom community) towns where you could actually put down roots, then work in the city, or have access for other things.

Monica B

Love Spain especially the south of Spain. I am going to be moving in a few months to Malaga so I'm not to sure about long term yet. But I have stayed for 4 months and had a blast love it. It is very inviting and sexy in its own way. You'll see if you ever go. The only bad thing I can tell you about it is that their is a smell in there foods (not all) that I just can't get into:) But if thats my only complaint I'll survive. It is not as expensive as the rest of Europe and finding work is a challenge for everyone there. But the benefits are that you don't spend alot there and every time you look there having a festival of some sort. I have to say I love living near La Plaza del Merced the birth place of Picasso its full of culture. Have fun and hope to see you there.Hope this helps. And try to visit www.sol.com its all local info even weather.

Alejandro B

No, life in Spain is not expensive comparing to the States and most European countries and salaries are lower, so.

Our health care system, our gastronomy and Mediterranean diet ( healthiest in world ), our relaxed way of living ( that three things make Spain the country with the highest life expectancy ), our beautiful landscapes and Natural Parks ( you won't find that in Costa del Sol, whose coast landscape has been completly destroyed by especulation with buildings ), our History and patrimony, and our security ( maybe not in Madrid or Barcelona, but in most Spanish towns a young lady con walk on the street coming back to home at 3 am without caring about mugging or rapping ).

barrybarrios

Hi, I've been to Spain recently. I've been there for 6 months. I've been to Sevilla, Cordoba, Ubeda, Barcelona, Pamplona, San Sebastian and Madrid.

Sevilla - pros: is a fabulous city the people are very open and friendly, expect to have a good time there.
cons: Hard to understand Andaluz accent. Not a good place if you want to learn Spanish.

Same goes to Cordoba and Ubeda, the Andaluz accent is very strong and don't be surprise if you understand the initial part of the conversation and be totally lost in the middle where they skip and delete a lot of words and you say to yourself huh? repeat that again,lol.

Barcelona, Mainly speak Catalan. The people are friendly, and are very pround to be Catalanes and not very proud to be Spanish. They speak spanish as well and they speak very clearly and very well spoken. However, all the signs are in Catalan, and most of the time you will hear Catalan, but if you do hear spanish it will very clear. Also, there are a lot of immigrants so the spanish accent will vary as well depending where the person comes from as it is a cosmopolitan town. The drawback about living in Barcelona is the noise pollution, the town is too close together unless you live in the nearby mountains which are very expensive and only rich people live, expect not to sleep well, as the streets are busy 24/7, no joke. It's a fantastic city to go out, and see beautiful museums and Gauid Architecture, but not a good city to sleep.

Pamplona- a very small town. The people are very different than the people you will meet in Andalusia, a huge contrast. The people in Pamplona are very reserved and the people in Andalusia are very open. That is not to say they are not friendly, I have many friends from Pamplona and they are very friendly. The people as a whole are very reserved and conservative. Another difference is that they don't listen to the same type of music as Andalusia, you will not see people listening to flamenco as the people in Andalusia do. They listen to another genre of spanish music which is very great as well.
Pamplona is in the middle between the Basque and Spanish language frontier. So the signs are in both spanish and Basque. Not many people speak Basque as you may know, as the Basque language is very difficult to speak and write. The Spanish spoken in Pamplona is very good and clear. If you want to learn spanish, this town is another good town to speak Spanish.

San Sebastian- this is my favorite city of all cities in Spain. Partly because the food is great. There are a lot of great restaurants in San Sebastian, and the beaches are very beautiful as well. Very classy city and very elegant.

In terms of most expensive to least expensive city in Spain:
1) Madrid
2) Barcelona
3) San Sebastian
Those three cities are very expensive places to live in, in that order.
During the time of Franco, he intentionally made northern spain well off, placing all the most powerful banks: BBVA, Santander, etc. in the North while the South(Andalusia) is underdeveloped. You will see a huge contrast in terms of living standards when you go from Southern Spain to Northern Spain, the general picture that is. Of course there are some fancy places for tourists in Sevilla. But in general, this represent the structure of wealth distribution in Spain.

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