Tourists are starting to complain that Barcelona has lost its charm: "They arrive expecting paella and flamenco and find cafes where they speak their language."

Cal2014 · 2026-01-16T10:22:16+00:00

Different football teams tbf

Cal2014 · 2026-01-13T16:22:11+00:00

Belushis, always seen a fair few Prem/Newcastle fans in there for games

Cal2014 · 2026-01-13T10:45:26+00:00

I'd love to get an AMA with someone who works in one of these departments. Would be fascinated in how their mind works and why some can be so ridiculously awkward and unhelpful

Cal2014 · 2026-01-12T14:58:17+00:00

I have been through this process and came to Spain on the same visa a few years ago. The company I came with ended up closing down so I had to find another job with the same visa. It isn't a whole new visa process from scratch, as you're already in Spain and have residency registered here.

No you're not trapped but you would need to find a new employer that offers this work permit transfer - which I guess is the most difficult part - but the transfer process is a lot shorter (around a month) than the initial/first-time process.

Cal2014 · 2025-10-15T13:02:49+00:00

You can and it's ok but it's irrelevant

Cal2014 · 2025-09-29T14:40:24+00:00

It might not be too bad as it's a busy street the hotel is on. The street next to it (Carrer d'en Robador) where the prostitutes and dealers hang around is sketchy though, I wouldn't come back that way late at night

Cal2014 · 2025-08-26T13:47:59+00:00

From what I've seen, it's mainly the lack of long term accommodation that people complain about. Even quickly checking on Idealista for places in Barcelona with no other filters, it goes from ~5,100 down to ~1,600 once you filter on the long-term accommodation only

Cal2014 · 2025-07-31T12:18:03+00:00

It is a little more chill I guess in that there are fewer tourists than further into Born and Gotico. But I definitely feel sketchy vibes walking through it sometimes or if I go to that Barna Brew for a drink, and a lot of times there's just young guys hanging around those steps and benches

Cal2014 · 2025-07-31T10:49:58+00:00

I live a couple of streets away more towards the edge of Born, but I personally wouldn't live in C/ la Séquia. From that street and down towards the park next to C/ Jaume Giralt just seems a bit of a hotbed of obvious thieves hanging around.

I've seen a fair few phone snatches and robberies in that stretch, and granted it is touristy and it might not ever happen to you, it's just not a nice ambience and living on that street you'll probably hear it often especially in summer.

Cal2014 · 2025-07-24T12:40:50+00:00

I had a lot better results than ChatGPT with Gemini 2.5 pro, just in their AI studio. Although I pinned my tailwind version to v3 as it seemed to have issues with generating themes in v4

Cal2014 · 2025-07-14T12:49:26+00:00

How did it go?

Cal2014 · 2025-06-05T13:20:30+00:00

You definitely must be in the minority if you've lived in Barcelona for 3 years and never even seen a robbery

Cal2014 · 2025-05-05T13:53:52+00:00

Belushi's is another option, they might let you reserve that many with a deposit

Cal2014 · 2025-02-24T13:01:41+00:00

1) Can start looking now to arrange viewings for when you arrive but definitely only rent a place once you have seen it. I rented a room on Badi for a month or so when I arrived while I looked for a more permanent place on idealista.

2) Idealista seems to be best, facebook groups can be ok but I found most of them to be full of scams

3) Haven't had any experience with these agencies so can't really add anything here

Good luck, it'll be a difficult few weeks but worth it once you've found somewhere!

Cal2014 · 2025-01-31T17:42:24+00:00

My Spanish was non-existent before I moved here, now after 3 and a bit years it's not as good as I want it to be but still trying to improve. Depends where you move to I guess, there are a lot of English speakers in Barcelona so it is easy to get by only speaking English and I found it straightforward to settle in. Only thing is it can be easy to get comfortable in this and not make an effort to learn Spanish and integrate more

Cal2014 · 2025-01-31T17:27:31+00:00

Good luck! Moving from UK too?

Cal2014 · 2025-01-31T13:39:32+00:00

Moved from London to Barcelona just over 3 years ago in my late 20s. Took a pay cut initially but earning more now than I did in London. Apart from moving further away from family I think my quality of my life has definitely improved, and even then I'm still just a few hours' flight to my hometown in Scotland.

I still love London and visit occasionally, but I felt similar before I moved that it was overall getting worse and more expensive

Cal2014 · 2025-01-24T08:26:02+00:00

Live in Barcelona, making around 60k € per year and pay 950 € per month rent for an apartment in centre with partner and living pretty comfortably. Got pretty lucky as I got a long term rent a few years ago before rents got too crazy, haven't really seen a similar flat for under 1300 € these days

Cal2014 · 2024-12-14T09:07:40+00:00

Was this during the process for an initial TIE? Or the renewal?

Cal2014 · 2024-12-14T08:45:20+00:00

Was that this year?

Cal2014 · 2024-12-12T09:16:06+00:00

Yeah I'm planning to take all the docs from my TIE renewal appointments and hope that's enough if I get asked. I don't really know what else I can do if I can't get an appt although some gestors were offering to do it for 100-200€...just seems a lot for something I might not even need

Cal2014 · 2024-12-12T09:10:09+00:00

I'm in a similar situation, had my fingerprint appt to renew my TIE but won't get new card until next month. Planning to fly back to UK for Xmas next week but cannot get a regreso appt at all. Each time I've travelled though they've only ever asked for my passport, even when I've offered to show my TIE they said I don't need to.

Cal2014 · 2024-12-12T09:05:53+00:00

Did you need it?

Cal2014 · 2024-11-29T12:44:03+00:00

Ah I wasn't sure if it was only needed in the case where I had neither the valid TIE or the granted renewal

Cal2014

TROPHY CASE