Hello,
I’m so grateful I found this website, I think it’s going to be very helpful !
We are a family originally from France but we lived 8 years in Vancouver (Canada), we love that place but we are ready for a change now and we are missing the family, being at a driving distance from France will simplify our situation.
Anyway we have 3 kids 5,7 and 8 that are going to the Canadian school here in English, and because they are mixing already quite a lot French and English when they are speaking, we were thinking having them in a school in Spanish might be too much, any advice on this ?

Also I would really like to hear from people having been in Barcelona and Valencia to help us decide. I like big cities to have access to all amenities, culture etc… but I don’t like crowded places (living in Paris wasn’t very pleasant for us).

Also, here in our neighborhood, we have a good size house but are at walking distance from the beach and the stores, is something like that possible in Barcelona or Valencia or would it be impossibly expensive?

Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Sandrine

Bonjour Sandrine,
decision difficile certes.Si mon experience peut vous aider!
je connais bien les deux villes et meme si toutes les deux sont extraordinaires, il y a toutefois une qui remporte la palme c est Barcelona.
I moved in Bcn 5 years ago and I really love it.Valencia is a small provincial town.
I ve been leaving in London for quite a long time : I have 3 kids
One goes to the french Lycee and the others to the American school of Barcelona.This years they are starting the IB International baccalaureate.which is great for Europe.
The black spot on Bcn is that the spannish school don?t exist .It s catalan.
The girls have learnt Spanish very quickly at patio time ( recess?)
The language in our family is quite a mess.We speek French most of the time, watch tv in English and Spanish with friends…
If you need any help, vous pourrez me trouver plus souvent sur mon site que nous avons fait pour accueillir les expats a Barcelone.
A bientot J espere

Hello,
Thanks for your answer, I went browsing on your website and found it very useful. It interesting to see that you are in a similar situation , French speaking at home, kids in English school, Spanish speaking country.
We don’t know already where we are going to go, but because we are not travelling light (3 kids and a dog) it will be more easy if we decide before travelling to spain. And I know , somebody was saying this on the forum that the fact that we will like or not a place depends a lot on us, and our efforts to feel integrated.
Anyway I’m going to make a list of pros and cons for Barcelona and Valencia, I’m interested in feed back:

Barcelona:
Closer form France- More planes, bigger airport                    
Bigger city more things to do ,culture, shopping…                 
Very interesting architecture-beautiful city                          
We already have contacts there friends of friends…                 
more cosmopolitan city, lots of French and English speaking folks  

big population density, crowded, traffic jams
pollution?
more insecurity
real estate twice the price of Valencia, smaller places
catalan , we already have to learn some spanish
Is it a good place for families?
                                     

Valencia :
Medium size city comparable to Vancouver                                
Some interesting things to see and to do (aquarium cite des arts…)         
Nice covered market ( you can order online !)                               
People seem less defensive about speaking Valancian                        
real estate half the price, more houses, bigger places                    
less crowded beaches
safer?

less cosmopolitan city?
less planes, further away from France
less opportunities for work and culture ?
more conservative ?
lots of Madrid folks on vacation there,can be crowded?

This article made us think more seriously about Valencia :
http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/09/17/travel/17surfacing.html

Sandrine

Vancouver has about 2.5 million inhabitants, Valencia has 3/4 million, BCN has about 4.5 million in the greater area. Valencia is more like Ottawa, or maybe Victoria really.

Just my 2 cents on that one.

yes, you’re right, I see now that Valencia is smaller than what I was thinking.
Then I was reading your post about the neighborhoods of Barcelona :
http://www.spainexpat.com/spain/forum/viewthread/1048/
, it’s very helpful and informative, sounds fun and interesting but it doesn’t sound like the places I would choose to live in with small kids
Thanks for the replies.

Hello sandrine,
I have 3 kids, and I can tell you that bcn is a really easy going city for kids.
My 17 years old take does mountain byking every week ends with friends.The mountain is litteraly 10min from the city.( Check with google earth )
15 and 13 years old girls go horseback riding : 15 min by car and you are in the middle the country side.
My favourite beach is 10 min away from the center..unbelievable.
My husband flies once a week and the airport is 12 min away by car.
During winter we go skiing : just 2 hours from bcn by car.
We?ve got easyjet and vueling ( 40?) to reach european cities.
Barcelona/ New york direct flight.
One english school, 2 american schools, 3 french schools.
Catalan: never had a problem: they all speak castillano.
Bcn: cultural city; hundreds of museums
Aquarium
Movies : vo
week ends : costa brava .A wonderful coast
It?s the perfect city for kids!
why don t yo come and spend the summer to see the difference
Summer Valencia 40?....
I hope it will help

Yes, thanks for your reply, that’s good to hear.
We will come this summer but we are trying to sell the house before, and we want to live in Europe for a while so the kids can be closer from the family (in France).
Sandrine

Peregrine - 06 June 2007 12:47 PM

Hello sandrine,
My favourite beach is 10 min away from the center..unbelievable.
My husband flies once a week and the airport is 12 min away by car.
During winter we go skiing : just 2 hours from bcn by car.
We?ve got easyjet and vueling ( 40?) to reach european cities.
Catalan: never had a problem: they all speak castillano.
Movies : vo (version original)
week ends : costa brava .A wonderful coast
Summer Valencia 40?....
I hope it will help

I just quoted my favourite reasons above, and it should be ‘nuff said. BCN is the best city in the world.

Note however, that Valencia’s beaches have nicer sand and warmer water, but are harder to get to. That’s about the only thing I like about Valencia over BCN.

I go for Valencia, but then im biased.

Valencia is not a village it used to be, there are plenty of foreigners here now but not enough to make to so harsh and impersonal as in Barlelone. here you still have the personal touch.

It is a very busy airport and you shouldnt have any problems with flights.

How much culture do you need? Will you want to be doing it 24-7? If not, valencia has more than enough.

Jobs wise you want to think not the absolute number of jobs, but the intensity of competition for thos jobs.