Best places to live in Spain as an expatriate

Deciding to move to Spain or buy a holiday home there is only the first step on your journey – by far the biggest decision you need to make is exactly where in the country would suit you best. Luckily, Spain has locations to suit every chosen lifestyle, whether that involves family life, working, rural tranquillity, city life, or winter or summer entertainment. Here's a round-up of some of the best areas to consider depending upon your criteria.

Best areas for cost of living

Although property purchase and rent prices and local taxes are generally much lower anywhere in Spain than in the majority of northern and western Europe, the cost of living varies vastly depending upon where you are based.

The cheapest places in Spain to live may not be the most practical for expatriates, however. Idyllic and rural, they are typically remote with limited or no job opportunities or transport links, and you are likely to be the only foreigner living there, meaning you will need to be fluent in Spanish. But if this lifestyle suits you, look towards inland provinces in mainland Spain – especially those municipalities which are keen to encourage new residents and offer incentives for people to move there. More details of locations and the average price of a property per square metre can be found in our article The cheapest places to buy property in Spain.

If you are seeking a location that feels like the traditional tourism belt but without the hefty price tag, you could try the coasts of the provinces of Valencia, Castellón, Tarragona, Murcia, and Granada, which have much smaller expatriate populations and just enough of a 'holiday feel' without being overcrowded. They tend to be much cheaper to buy or rent property in than the southern Costa Blanca or Costa del Sol.

However, if you have no upper budget limits and are seeking the ultimate luxury in property, you'll find it in areas such as Madrid, Barcelona, Marbella (on the Costa del Sol), Ibiza (in the Balearic Islands) or Jávea (on the Costa Blanca).

Best places for meeting other expatriates

As you may have inferred from the section above, cost of living outside of big cities is often closely linked to how cosmopolitan an area is. In general, the more popular a location is with incoming residents from abroad, the higher the price of property – although there are exceptions.

Among those exceptions are some inland rural areas in the provinces of Valencia and Alicante. In the province of Valencia, the small towns of Ontinyent and Xàtiva, and the remote villages of the Valle de Ayora-Cofrentes are not only very cheap for buying a home, but have a high European expatriate population. In the latter, where the headcount barely reaches 10,000, an estimated 50% of residents are of British origin. In the province of Alicante, towns such as Alcoi, Cocentaina, Castalla, Ibi, and Sax have a 'traditionally-Spanish' and countryside feel, with lower-priced property, but a significant expatriate community.

Huge expatriate communities, who far outnumber the local population, can be found on the Orihuela Costa area at the southern limits of the province of Alicante, as well as satellite residential complexes close to its neighbouring towns, Torrevieja and Rojales. Here, expatriates are most likely to be British, but despite the enormous presence of foreign residents, property prices and rent tend to be lower than the average for the Costa Blanca.

Other very expatriate-dominant parts of Spain include coastal or pre-coastal towns in the province of Málaga. Municipalities with a northern-European-origin population that ranges from 30% to 70% of the total headcount include Benalmádena, Mijas, Torremolinos, and Estepona. Here local services are likely to be available in several languages, which may give you extra time and flexibility in learning Spanish if you are not already fluent when you arrive.

German communities can be found in the Balearic island of Mallorca, and a sizeable Norwegian community is well-established in the coastal Alicante-province (Costa Blanca) town ofAlfaz del Pi. Meanwhile, Costa Brava towns such as Lloret de Mar are popular with French holidaymakers, and Barcelona has one of Spain's largest populations of French expatriates.

Belgium expatriates in Spain are normally found in the provinces of Alicante, Málaga, Barcelona, and on the island of Tenerife. The largest Italian communities are in Madrid region, the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands. Dutch nationals, like the British, are more spread out, typically found on the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca, although the village of Polopos in the province of Granada now has a large Dutch community.

Best areas for the weather

We know that many, many northern Europeans move to Spain purely for warmer weather. But we also know it's a common misconception that this is everyone's reason for moving to Spain. Indeed, you might be moving to Spain because you want to guarantee snow in winter. And in the right location, you can.

Effectively, if you want to enjoy summers that are always hot with no exceptions, almost anywhere in Spain will suit you. But Spain is a high-altitude country with numerous micro-climates, so you can practically choose the type of weather you want.

If you're a 'the hotter the better' person, the highest temperatures in the whole of Spain are found in the cities and wider provinces of Sevilla, Córdobaand Jaén, in the southern region of Andalucía. But these are all land-locked, so you might want to consider finding a property with a swimming pool for some respite in high summer.

For the warmest coastal locations, the southern part of the province of Alicante, and the coasts of the provinces of Almería, Murcia, Málaga, Cádiz and Huelva tend to enjoy higher average year-round temperatures.

Conversely, you may want to keep your hot weather experiences to a minimum, or perhaps you even enjoy cold weather. Those who love chilly climates should not rule out Spain as a holiday-home or relocation destination. The lowest winter temperatures are found in the centre-northern region of Castilla y León, the Aragón province of Teruel, or to the north-east of Madrid in the province of Guadalajara. In all of these, deep-winter temperatures are typically in low single figures, dropping below zero at night. In fact, even in Madrid city, it's common to experience frost and snow in the winter.

Northern Spain is typically colder in autumn, winter and spring than the south and east coasts, and summers may be shorter. That said, if you want a guaranteed summer that's pleasantly warm rather than baking hot, these areas are ideal. And if you want to enjoy a pleasantly-warm summer on the beach, the coasts of the regions of Asturias, Galicia, Cantabria and the Basque Country offer those. These regions are very geared up to beach tourism, but less-favoured by European expatriates and holidaymakers, so they are suitable for total cultural and language immersion and to avoid heavy crowds in summer.

The Canary Islands, although farther south, have a more consistent climate than the mainland and islands. Extremes of temperature are rare and humidity is usually lower in summer than on the Costas. Typically, winters almost never get colder than about 13ºC to 16ºC, and summer temperatures rarely climb above 30ºC.

Best places in Spain for entertainment

When it's not beach weather and you're not at work, it helps to have opportunities for leisure activities close to home. What you consider as 'entertainment' will be very subjective, so this may dictate where you want to live.

For entertainment in general, Spain is a great choice. It is officially the European country with the highest number of bars and restaurants per inhabitant, and even in small villages, you're rarely more than a few steps from an eatery or café. Nearly every municipality has its own local history museum, annual fiesta, sports centre, and theatre.

Arts and sports are very much part of everyday culture, but if you're seeking an endless range or 'something different', cultural events, galleries, films, plays and concerts are easier to find in a big city. Madrid and Barcelona are arguably the biggest suppliers of these, and Madrid has been named as the shopping capital of the world – although Barcelona is not far behind.

For city life that's every bit as buzzing as in one of the 'top two' but a little more 'manageable' and less high-pressured, Valencia is a great choice. Spain's third-largest metropolis has a vast seafront, very compact and walkable centre, a metro network, national rail links, ample shopping, and an attractive blend of ancient and modern.

Classical architecture, stately homes and a cosy historic centre with a lively café culture, along with the futuristic City of Arts and Sciences complex – spectacular in design, home to Europe's largest aquarium, venue for sports tournaments, arts and science-related temporary and permanent exhibitions, and one of Spain's most famous opera houses mean you'll never get bored.

Water sports are ingrained into the everyday culture in many coastal areas, including Costa del Sol (Málaga province), Costa de la Luz (Cádiz and Huelva province), the Balearic and Canary Islands, and the Costa Blanca. Scuba-diving, sailing, kite-surfing and similar activities are easy to find in these areas. At the opposite end of Spain, the coast of Cantabria in the north is described as a surfer's paradise - favourite spots for the best waves include Somo beach near Santander, Laredo, Santoña, and Ribamontán al Mar. One of Spain's top surfing locations is Mundaka beach in the Basque Country, and another is Pantín beach in Valdoviño, in Galicia's A Coruña province.

Best parts of Spain for beach life

When you visit the beach, do you expect to find near-perfection? If only the highest standards in sea and sand will do for you, then you've come to the right place, because Spain's shores are officially the best on earth. The country boasts the highest number of blue-flagged beaches in the world, and always has – its record has never been broken.

Of all the blue-flagged beaches in existence, 15%, or about one in seven, are in Spain. The Spanish region with the most blue flags is the Comunidad Valenciana, down the east coast, and its southernmost province, Alicante, is the outright winner with around 70 at any time.

After Alicante, the province with the third-highest number of blue-flagged beaches is Málaga, and in second and fourth place are the provinces of Pontevedra and A Coruña, in the far north-western region of Galicia.

Depending upon your criteria when searching for the ideal location for your Spanish home, you may now find you have far too much choice. To help you narrow it down, you might like to take a look at our Find Your Place in Spain section, where you can search by facilities and lifestyle factors that are most important to you.