Things I wish I had known before moving to Spain.
There are a lot of good things about Spain. I’ve written about them here. But I wouldn’t be honest if I said that Spain was all peaches and cream. In fact there are quite a lot of things about Spain that I don’t love or, in fact, don’t like at all.
I’m going to get in trouble with this post, I know many won’t agree and will tell me the predictable “if you don’t like it you should go back home”. That’s fine. A lot of people don’t want to hear anything negative about their adopted home.
But no place is perfect and since I’ve previously written about all the rosy aspects of Spain, I’d like to balance that off with the negatives. Many are of the “things I wish I had known before moving to Spain” category. We’ve lived in Spain almost 5 years now and looking back we had certain ideas about Spain, some based on the narrative espoused by expats, others based on the conventional stereotypes that come to mind when typecasting Spain.
Why write this post? The first is that people thinking of moving to Spain should know both sides of the coin. The second is just being honest with both ourselves and people reading this.
You may not agree with some of what I’ve written below. People have different experiences and those experiences shape their perspectives. I’m open to different opinions.
Having said that, I’m going to tell you some of ours.
Things I wish I had known before moving to Spain
1: About the openness and friendliness of the Spanish
We always heard (and still hear today) about how the Spanish are friendly, open and embracing of foreigners.
We thought it when we moved to Nerja in 2020. We lived in Nerja 2 ½ years and I did a video at the time of the pros and cons of Nerja, citing as a pro the friendliness of the people. Of course Nerja is Spain-lite so maybe the locals weren’t representative of the Spanish at large…
I recall a conversation I had with a long-time expat back in 2023 when we were considering moving into the interior. We wanted to get away from the “expat colonies”, we wanted to experience the “real Spain” among the Spanish. I recall my friend’s reaction, the way he looked at me and said “why would you want to live among the Spanish?”. I was taken aback.
When we moved to Antequera we were initially puzzled by the locals. Lissette (who’s Latina) would get hard stares. People were short, unsmiling or just rude. There was no courtesy – making room on a sidewalk is a foreign concept to the Spanish, as is the concept of personal space. Get in a line at the supermarket and the person behind you will be huffing and puffing like they’re a doctor with a heart-saving operation to attend to…but when it’s their time at the cash they’ll take all the time they need, counting their change while having a conversation with the teller. Suddenly you don’t exist.
It was such a shock from life on the coast in Expatlandia. We thought with time things would get better, that places we frequented would get friendlier with time. And in a few places it did – we became friends with the lady who owned the local bar and the other lady at the fruteria. But friendly encounters were otherwise few and far between. We never felt as isolated in a place as we did living in Antequera.
A year ago we moved to Granada. We wanted a slightly bigger, more international city. And Granada definitely is that. It’s also a beautiful city (which Antequera is as well by the way – it doesn’t get much recognition but I really do think it’s one of Spain’s most beautiful cities).
Our experience in Granada has been much better than in Antequera. People haven’t been as overtly disagreeable as they were in Antequera. But again, we don’t find them “friendly” and generally find them closed off to foreigners. Again, we have a few Spanish acquaintances we speak to, all neighbours.
Asides from our neighbours, our regular interactions are with the Chinese lady at our favorite China store, the Panamanian at the fruteria, the Venezolana at the panederia and the Chinese couple who run our favorite sushi restaurant. All wonderful people and they are open, talking to us about their experiences and lives*. But again, none of these people are Spanish. We’ll go to our favorite Spanish cafe or tapas place and we’ll get a smile and a “what do you want to order?” but that’s the extent of it.
*some of these people have been in Spain 20 years and speak perfect Spanish. But they feel exactly as we do about the openness and friendliness of the Spanish. They all say that they have no Spanish friends and that any conversations they do have with Spaniards are superficial.
We’ve enjoyed the history and beauty of Andalusia’s interior cities. Both Granada and Antequera are fascinating cities and, with the train connections, they make travel to other destinations easy. But as far as living and potentially making friends, I don’t think that would ever happen. Understandably, the Spanish have their families and their group of friends. But it’s more than that, I think in the end that the Spanish generally are just not very open to foreigners.
It’s completely changed the way I feel about Spain and where I want to live. I told Lissette that the day we want to settle down in Spain (and I mean “settle down”, maybe buy a place etc), it’s going to be in a place with a fair-sized expat population. In hindsight, my long-time Spain expat friend was right. And he’s not the only one, since then I’ve had other long-term expats in Spain telling me the same thing.
So the Spanish being friendly, open and embracing of foreigners? I don’t really think they are. It’s come as a surprise to us.
2: You have to learn Spanish if you’re going to be fully embraced by the culture
This is related to point 1. You can speak perfect Spanish and you may still feel like an outsider.
Language is the reason we chose Spain and not Portugal or Greece or Turkey. Lissette speaks perfect Spanish. I’m at about 75%: I can get anything I need to done in Spanish but can’t have a deep conversation unless that person dumbs it down to simple Spanish.
Readers who know us know that we’re travellers. We spent the 6 years prior to living in Spain travelling the world. Along the way we lived in Croatia a little over a year, spent 4 months in Ukraine, spent over 6 months in Thailand.
We didn’t speak the native language in any of those places but we never felt isolated. We met people, had friendly interactions, even met some friends that we are still in touch with today.
Knowing what we know now, speaking the language was overrated as a factor in choosing a base. Sure, it helps in getting things done. But it hasn’t gotten us closer to the people or the culture.
3: Spain is a 1st world country where your consumer rights and regulations will be protected
I’ve never felt scammed or had as bad service anywhere in the world as in Spain.
It’s happened with large Spanish companies like Vodafone, Movistar and Renfe. I wrote about the Movistar and Renfe experiences here.
I flew Iberia to Mexico City and arrived 36 hours late because my first flight was delayed. I wrote about that here. EU regulations state that passengers incurring delays of more than 3 hours are due compensation. Iberia refused my claim with no reason given. I’ve written the AESA (the Spanish regulatory board in charge of passenger rights) twice and 7 months later still have not had a reply email from them. So I had to laugh when the EU recently decided to change the 3 hours of minimum delay to 4 hours and the Spanish objected to it, stating it was detrimental to passenger rights. Precious.
It’s one thing to have rules and regulations and regulatory bodies overlooking them…but it all means nothing if those rules and regulations are unenforced and regulatory bodies are just a place to hire family members who do nothing.
4: The “Healthy Mediterranean diet”
You hear about the Healthy Mediterranean diet and dream of grilled eggplant, zucchini and fresh tomatoes drizzled with olive oil, with a sprinkling of walnuts on top.
Sure, you can find the ingredients for your salad in Spain, just as I can find the same ingredients at the local market in Canada. But if you’re thinking of finding a fresh California-style salad at your local Spanish restaurant then dream on. What’s on offer is fried pork and fried fish generously sprinkled with salt. The only salad might be a Russian salad (diced veggies in mayonnaise) or some kind of tasteless mixed salad.
I had dreams of tasty Mediterranean cuisine based on our travels through Greece, Croatia, Italy and Turkey, places where grilled vegetables and yogurt-based dips and spreads are prominent. You’ll find none of that in Spanish restaurants. In fact, I find Spanish restaurant food about the unhealthiest and least vegetarian-friendly of just about any place I’ve been.
As I say, you can buy fresh fruit, vegetable, cheese and nuts in a fruteria and make yourself a healthy and delicious meal at home. And Spain produces more olive oil than anyone. But don’t expect any of that eating out – eating healthy is something you have to plan for and make for yourself.
5: Quality of homes
In your typical Spanish home there is no insulation and they get freezing cold in winter. So while you might come to Spain for the warmer weather (and it is definitely warmer outside), inside you may find yourself colder than you ever were in your home in Canada, Norway or Sweden.
Again, that’s due to lack of insulation but also because of the draftiness of Spanish buildings. Even when we moved into a brand-new apartment in Antequera we were freezing in the winter and had to buy portable heaters.
Indoor temperatures are rarely comfortable: bitterly cold in winter and overly hot in summer. We’ve lived in 3 different places in Spain and that’s been a constant.
It’s something we never expected.
6. Rats and roaches on the coasts
We lived over a year on the coast in Croatia and never saw any vermin. So it was a shock when we moved to Spain and had to constantly battle huge cockroaches. Our 2nd year we had a cockroach infestation in our 1st floor bathroom.
Rats were also an issue in our complex. We fixed that by affixing fencing material to our gates. But every year the cable company had to come and replace some cabling – the technician would tell me that it was because of rats chewing through the cables lying under the ground in the common space.
We haven’t had any roach or rat issues since moving into the interior (we’ll see the occasional dead roach lying somewhere but they seem to be much less numerous than along the much more humid coasts).
On that note: just a week ago we spent a night in Torremolinos because of an early morning flight. And predictably, we ended up having a huge roach in the bathroom (a 200 euro/ night room, which just goes to show that roaches are just a part of life on the coast).
As I say, these are things I wish I had known before moving to Spain. They may not have resulted in a different decision (as I’ve written, there are many good things about living in Spain) but they wouldn’t have come as an unpleasant surprise.
Related: Comparing Supermarkets in Spain. Which is the best?
Related: Your rental rights in Spain (and what to look out for)
Nine years living in Spain so far and I think I agree with all the things you’ve raised. From afar Spain is very seductive and, yes, there are some wonderful things here. But, go deeper, and without going into too many details, many things stink enough to have convinced me to move on. Moreover, climate change and increasingly intolerable summers have sealed the deal. I’m heading back to northern Europe. The one good thing is I bought my apartment in Valencia shortly after moving here, and in the current market it’s worth more than double what I paid for it.
Great article and food for thought for those of us contemplating this.
Thank you very much!
Not having lived in Spain, but traveled extensively throughout the country, I concur with your assessment of Spanish food. Most of the really enjoyable meals have been in non-Spanish restaurants, with a few exceptions.
We’re the same Jan, we’re not fans of Spanish food and when we do eat out it’s usually Indian, sushi or Chinese. It doesn’t help that Lissette doesn’t eat meat. We still often go out for tostadas, tapas etc but for meals it’s usually non-Spanish.
I’ve lived in Madrid and Valencia, and have traveled to Spain many times, from Bilbao to Sevilla, and many more towns and cities.
Luckily, I have never had an encounter with a rat or vermin in any house, (on the coast of Valencia,) or inland, apartment or hotel I’ved stayed at, on six continents. Perhaps you’ve simply suffered lots of bad luck?
I know it’s gotten worse, tons of people on the coasts complaining this year about roaches. With warmer temps and resistance to pesticides there seem to be more every year. But yes, other than Spain and Mexico, we have not had cockroach experiences overseas either.
“Plaga de ratas
Las ratas se multiplican en España: casi 20 millones de ratas, cuatro por cada diez habitantes
Ciudades como Vigo, Talavera de la Reina o Getafe han tenido que implementar medidas urgentes por la invasión de estos roedores.”
https://www.antena3.com/noticias/sociedad/ratas-multiplican-espana-casi-20-millones-ratas-cuatro-cada-diez-habitantes_2024082266c61f6dddf3680001754722.html
Wow! Gracias Jaime.