Hi everyone, I’m Lucy and I’m new to this forum.
I’m Canadian, but lived in Spain last year to go to school in Alicante. I’m back in Canada now, and hope to/ intend to/ will move back to Spain as soon as possible- next fall, if I can! Ideally, the move would be long-term or permanent.

I’m mostly here to see where people think are the best places to live in Spain. I have a few areas in mind, but I haven’t experienced living anywhere other than Alicante, so I feel like this is something that I need to research more.
I’m also here because I just really like to talk about Spain, so hopefully some of my experiences will help others out.

I hope to be accepted in to a government program for next fall, and apparently I can request an autonomous community. Since I will already have the job in place, I feel like I don’t necessarily have to go to a big city because of more potential for job opportunities. I am open to going anywhere, and the language differences doesn’t put me off of moving certain places either. So, if anyone has an opinion about where great places to live are (my biggest priority being safety), please feel free to give it to me- I’d love to hear it!

Thanks!

Hi Lucy,

I just saw your post and I am in exactly the same boat! I live in Sydney, Aust and I will be heading to Spain next year indefinitely.

I have never been and have no idea where to start!

Have you found anything out yet? What was Alicante like?

Portia

Hi Portia,

I haven’t really found anything out yet. The program I’m applying for, yo can’t apply until the 1st of December, so I still have a bit of a wait until then. I do have almost all my affairs in order for the application, so hopefully the process will be quick for me to get everything submitted.

Alicante was AMAZING. I love it there! It was easy to find your way around, I lived in San Vicente and would walk to downtown Alicante most days, my friends and I were always at the beach or at a bar watching football. We had a really good time! The people were all very nice, we got to know a lot of people just by living… certain people who work in stores we’d pass by every day started recognizing us in a couple months and would stop us on the street to ask how we are. Stuff like that really helps you to feel at home. I just found the winter absolutely freezing! I don’t think it ever went below 8 or 10 degrees out, but I found it really hard to deal with because it was hard to escape the cold. You definitely need a little personal heater or something. And it rained a lot and flooded in late September, so that was unfortunate, but it hardly ever rained after that.
Alicante is definitely a place I would go back to to live. I feel like I should explore an other option next year, just because I can, but I do love it there. It’s pretty, easy to navigate, easy to get to and from, the people were amazing, the food was fantastic, I had an easy time finding a place to live, and I always felt safe. I miss it very much.

Do you have a particular city you’re looking at moving to? I have heard that Madrid is the best place to start but I’m not sure if that’s totally true. I do love Madrid, though!

It’s nice to meet you 😊

You will need more than a little personal heater if you are anywhere away from the cost…Spain has been described as a cold country with a hot sun and that pretty well sums it up. Madrid can be extremely cold during the Winter, temps down to -10C, 20F are very common.

Granada, where I live is already seeing temps dropping down to around freezing at night from daytime temps of 23C / 70F.

If Granada comes anywhere within your thinking I’d suggest you take a look at this website…

http://www.granadainfo.net/english.htm

There is a wealth of information within its pages.

Granada is reasonably well served by rail and coach services with destinations all over Spain.

Granada does have its own airport but services now are very limited. The nearest major International airport is Malaga

Like I said though it can get pretty damn cold; the Sierra Nevada mountains which have Spains highest mainland peak already have a good covering of snow so the skiing season should begin early again this year…

Hope this helps a little…

fb