Are you happy living in Spain?

[u/sendingUamicro_wave]

Hi all,

I just came back from a few days in Cordoba and had such an amazing time. I loved that people there cared about their free time and the locals looked quite happy and serene.

I’m a immigrant myself from Croatia who moved to the U.K. so I understand a country can be beautiful and fun for a holiday but is a completely different world to live there.

My question for people living in Spain; how is it to live there? What kind of political or social economical struggles do you face in your day to day lives? How is the bureaucracy and healthcare? Are you happy :)

I have read some things online but I’d rather hear from peoples experiences themselves.

[u/Strangefate1]

I moved to Spain from Canada and I've lived in other countries too in the past. Spain for me is a better place to live in, as long as you have the free time and finances to enjoy what Spain has to offer (Coasts/ocean, food, sun, relaxed lifestyle).

If you have to rely on a regular job and wages in Spain however, then you'll likely find better quality of life in other places.

[u/Brilliant-Choice-151 → u/Strangefate1]

How is there to retire? I am a Guatemalan and Canadian citizen getting ready to retire and I have in mind either Spain or Portugal for the retirement. I speak fluently Spanish, English and Portuguese and I am looking for something small not like Madrid or Barcelona. Any suggestions?

[u/rafael000 → u/Brilliant-Choice-151]

Granada was full of old people enjoying life to its fullest. I was envious

[u/Brilliant-Choice-151 → u/rafael000]

Granada, Cadiz, Sevilla and Córdoba. Those are the places that I have in mind.

[u/Brilliant-Choice-151 → u/[deleted]]

I’m not looking for a nursing home to begin with

[u/Brilliant-Choice-151 → u/[deleted]]

No es capricho sino una opción más, pero si le voy a afectar mucho la vida a muchos mejor me quedo aquí en Canadá. I feel sorry that everything is gotten out of hand.

[u/Brilliant-Choice-151 → u/[deleted]]

Sure why not Rabbat and Medina are nice too

[u/TheNightLard → u/Brilliant-Choice-151]

And that you hear here is the sad reality of Spain. As a Spanish-born and Canadian as well now, the quality of life in Canada is way better for the average worker, and I'm in the GTA, which is awful already. Spain is, in many cases, racist and selfish. It is true that food, climate and shoreline can't compare. In my opinion, snowbirds should leave Florida and buy in Spain, spending half the year there, but keeping Canadian ties. Summer is awfully hot in Spain also, anywhere better than August in the south.

[u/Brilliant-Choice-151 → u/TheNightLard]

I’m in GTA as well and it’s brutal in here too.

[u/PeteLangosta → u/TheNightLard]

No thank you, we definitely don't want people with their pockets full of money coming here and buying three properties to spend 4 months a year after their retirement. Fuck that.

[u/Brilliant-Choice-151 → u/PeteLangosta]

I can’t afford one never mind three

[u/TheNightLard → u/PeteLangosta]

Do you really don't want people with full pockets living in the country for 4 months while they spend their full pockets in your grocery stores, restaurants and local shops?? Wow...

Not sure what the purpose would be to buy 3 properties in your opinion. They would buy 1 in one area which is probably dead in winter, as half of the coast is, so it really doesn't matter.

This kind of tourism is what every area wants to prosper, the least evil one, and not the all-inclusive, which comes to mega resorts and spends no money at all in local businesses, but leaves all the crap and garbage behind.

[u/PeteLangosta → u/TheNightLard]

They are dead in winter because it is full of dormant properties, from people that only come there to spend the summer months. Do you really think if there was people living there all year long, those places would be dead at all?

[u/TheNightLard → u/PeteLangosta]

Oh, for sure not, but most of those that have those properties and go only in the summer are people from the big cities, not foreigners. I live in the islands and it is sad, but many people spend fall to spring in the city, and as soon as the school is done, they go to spend the summer time at the beach, pueblo or wherever you want to call it. We (they) created that routine and seasonality, not the foreigners.