Live In Spain? Give Me Some Advice?
 

Thinking of moving to Spain. Can anyone give me some advice on a good location?

- I have two kids
- Low crime
- Good hospitals
- Near the sea
- English-speaking
- Not expensive (I'll be renting and I don't want to pay more than 1,000 euros a month, really)
- Nice weather
- Not stuck out in the country. I'd like to be in town or a city and able to walk to most places.

Any help, much appreciated! And feel free to throw any other info at me!

I am assuming that your kids are financially dependent on you. In this case, you will have to provide for yourself and your kids. You'll need to find a place to live in with many rooms! Good luck.

That applies to any country we live. And you assume right - they're 16 and 9.

Hi Kristian, have you considered the Canary Islands? We lived on Tenerife for six years and it ticks all your boxes...

Hey emjay. I went there a couple of times as a kid and loved it. Great to know it ticks the boxes. I used to love it there. Do you have a preferene on a particular island?

Well, Tenerife, not least since it is the largest island and is easier to get back to 'civilisation' if you want/need to. Tenerifeforum dot com is a useful resource btw...

That's very helpful. Thanks, dude!

Well, you didn't mention having a wife, so... you can pick up cheap hookers around every corner in Spain. The country has somewhat of a problem with prostitution, if you want to call it like that.

do they speak English in Spain?

HAHA!

I actually do have a wife. Didn't mention her because her requirements are the same as mine (low crime, near sea, etc).

I've lived all over Spain currently in Alicante but moving to the mountains of Aragon soon.

English speaking... nowhere. If you're going to live here learn Spanish.

If you want sea and nice weather then its the med and that means any town/city will have crime.

Maybe Valencia.. because it a big city there's a lot to do, it's on the coast and there's a big park that runs through the city so it's one of the only cities in Spain you can cycle around safely. But your kids will be taught Valencian about 6 hours a week..

But if you go to Barcelona they will be taught in Catalan the whole time.

To get away from stupid regional dialects on the Med you'd have to go Murcia or Andalucia, and personally I wouldn't bring up a kid in Andalucia, your kids would learn to be the laziest people on the planet. Murcia city is o.k but not on the coast.


So maybe the Balerics... Although they are expensive places to live.

Thanks for taking the time to give me that info. Much appreciated! What are your thoughts on Tenerife?

I am still happy in Mallorca.:)

I loved Barcelona and Mallorca, but...

They should speak Castellano at least. Living in Barcelona or Mallorca, learning Catalan or Mallorquin would be a plus if they will go to a British or international school. Think of sending them to a public school, it´s much easier for the kids to make friends. But they are tought in Catalan/Mallorquin.

It always depends on the part of town where you are living.

There is no problem with spanish hospitals or medical care.

Houses with ocean view are usually much more expensive. If you just want to be able to get to the beach in a short time, that´s no problem.

Forget about it. You are required to speak Castellano at least.

At the moment you can rent houses cheap, but I don´t think you´ll get one below 1000 € per month.

No problem.

Try Costa de la Calma. About 20 minutes from the airport, nice beaches, many English folks living there.

http://www.mallorcaweb.com/portal/im...la-calma-2.jpg

- Tax (NIE#)
http://www.abc-mallorca.com/nie-number/

- General information
http://www.abc-mallorca.com/relocation/

- Your car in Spain
http://balearics.angloinfo.com/count...toregister.asp

Keep in mind that you are required to register your car in spain if you are living or working there. (183-day rule) Some people do not comply to this law but it can cause much truble if you get caught. Your car could be taken and it costs about 20 € per day. Prepare to wait for your car about a year to get it back once it has been taken by authorities.

A British discussion board you can find here:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=75

And let me repeat it: If you´ll move to Spain, be sure to speak Castellano at least!

Visited there never lived there.. the Canaries would bore me quickly because of the same climate all year round... And the cost of everything is shocking because it all has to be shipped there.

I wouldnt want to live in any seaside EU country if I could make a choice. They are all expensive as fuck and hoping not to pay 1000/month for a rent (especially near the sea) is pretty dreamy.

At first I would choose a place with low tourist density as countries that are preferred tourist destinations are the most expensive ones.

If think, you will have to loosen your criteria :)

nice area

I've got a 4 bedroom place in a gated community with private gardens, swimming pool, tennis and basketball court for 800 euros a month.. I'm looking at the med out my window, out my other window is the mountains. So yes you can get a place for under 1000 euros.

I guess thats an apartment but I thought he wants a house on or near the beach, but still I consider the price pretty unusual and rare. I would pay almost the same in our capital and I live in a central European post-communist shithole - shitty weather, horrible hospitals, stupid people, no sea and no tourists, LOL.

There's not many houses in the cities and towns. it is an apartment but its 130m it's a fair size. I like the gated places as basically my kid lives in the middle of a small park with his friends and its all safe. He lives outside bombing around on his bike all day.

But there are some houses for around that price.. but no pool etc. If you go up the coast to the tourist villages you can get houses with pools for under 1000 but I wanted to live in the city as it's not to touristy.


There's alot of property to rent at the moment as no one is buying so the banks are renting all the property on their books..

Must be the crisis.

I heard that rent is crazy high across the EU countries, at least the western countries, 800 sounds like a great price for me.

I too prefer living on a quiet places, I hate cities filled with tourists.. is there such a place on Tenerife?

Tenerife.. I have no idea.

Spain's cheap in certain places.. The sunnier places are the cheapest.. the north is far more expensive, but far more beautiful, if you can put up with shitter weather.

My favourite city is San Sebastian up on the Atlantic in the Basque Country.. but that is the most expensive city in Spain to live in.

Thanks for the info guys. I just got back from the cinema or I would have replied sooner.

I'm not fussed about a house or an apartment. But I consider renting dead money so I don't want to pay much. And I'm not moving somewhere I've never lived before and buying straight away like some idiots.

Anyway, thanks for the info. I'm going to do a little more research now. Cheers!

I spent 6 months on Mallorca, living west of Palma de Mallorca. Lot's of ex-pats so you can usually get by in English. You'll need Spanish for dealing with government or the phone company (no English there). Banks and most larger business usually have someone who speaks English.

Rents are reasonable as long as you don't expect to live on the beach. But you're always near a beach since your on an island. Check out http://www.thinkspain.com/properties...in/4/4/54/4930 for a better idea.

Valencia is where I am planing to move some day.

Payaya

http://img2.pict.com/81/2f/5e/3578536/0/payaya.jpg