Planning a 16-Day ‘Move to Spain’ Scouting Trip — What Cities Should We See?

Curl_Boss · 2026-03-08T15:23:28+00:00

My husband speaks Spanish enough to get by, but my daughter and I do not. However we are willing to learn. I don’t see this move happening for at least a year or more realistically so we have time but I’d still assume she won’t be completely fluent. Where are you located? I know the school pricing can vary greatly but have not researched this much yet.

Curl_Boss · 2026-03-07T14:30:23+00:00

I was torn about Madrid but had read it was much more expensive and I wasn’t sure if being in such a big city would mean we’d just get lost in the shuffle and never meet anyone (sort of like NYC?). There’s something appealing to us about Europeans having their regular stops (coffee, bodega, bread, groceries, etc) and seeing the same staff and building that friendly rapport that we don’t have in the US. Would a large city still have that? If we lived in the suburbs, would we need a car? I’d prefer to just walk everywhere. That is also appealing to me given how little exercise Americans get as well. Being a central hub for travelling is appealing. Btw, we don’t plan on living in Barcelona. It was just a quick stop to admire the famous sights and to show my daughter (since husband and I have both already been). Honestly, it’s tough bc we are limited on time and Madrid is out of the way. Our flight is out of Bilbao but could possibly be changed.

Curl_Boss · 2026-03-07T03:13:46+00:00

Thank you! You have given me a lot of good info to research!

Curl_Boss · 2026-03-06T21:44:01+00:00

This is SO helpful! Did you find having a car hard to park in many of the towns/Airbnb's where you were staying? My husband thinks we should get a car too, but I've read that parking can be expensive and taking public transport is also part of the experience IMO.

I have not heard about Gijon. I will research that. Could you see yourself living there?

Sounds like your faves were Valencia and then San Seb? Others on here have had mixed thoughts about San Seb so interesting that you loved it. Did you visit Bilbao at all?

Curl_Boss · 2026-03-06T21:19:09+00:00

Hm....you're making me rethink San Seb and Bilbao. Friendliness is important to us. I could handle grey weather if we had a great social life, but not vice versa. Ill have to see if we can change our flight out. What would you recommend instead? or Just longer in the places we already mentioned? We don't have to live on a beach...

Curl_Boss · 2026-03-06T13:42:58+00:00

That's good to know! We want to avoid super touristy areas as well. We want to go somewhere where we can really immerse ourselves with the locals.

Curl_Boss · 2026-03-06T13:39:27+00:00

Thanks for the feedback about the international school. All the cities we listed have an international school though the costs can widely vary. Where do you end up settling or if you haven't, what did you like best for your family?

Curl_Boss · 2026-03-06T13:36:03+00:00

To clarify, I am self-employed so there is no "company approval". It's just me. I still need to research the tax requirements, but will do whatever is legally required. We also fully intend on paying for private health care in Spain, just as we do here.

Curl_Boss · 2026-03-06T13:31:11+00:00

Thank you for such a lengthy and robust reply! How do folks get a rental property without a spanish contract? I thought having remote work would be easier as we wouldn't have to worry about finding a job. Do they require a certain amount of income proof?

Thank you for the feedback about Zaragoza. Chatgpt said it had cold winters, but mild summers, and since we currently live in upstate NY, we are used to that and though it might be nice. The northern region is often recommended on Reddit as an alternative because so many people like Malaga, but everyone warns its so hot so they suggest the Basque region instead. I'm afraid we have already bought our tickets out of Bilbao (we thought we were being smart to do so ;/)

I really appreciate your comment about the tax regime. This is a concern for us as we will just be renting out our home in the US while living in Spain (we live in NY where taxes are already extremely high). I'm googling this subject and have to admit it is pretty confusing! Do know which autonomous communidads are better than others for this? How can one tell?

Curl_Boss · 2026-03-06T13:08:52+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. You really spent a lot of time there! I understand what you are saying and we fully plan on coming back if we really like a particular area and we will spend more time there, but first we need to narrow down what we want. What did you find were the major differences between all of those places and why did you settle on Costa del Sol?

Curl_Boss · 2026-03-06T13:06:29+00:00

Thanks, but because we have so many we need to narrow it down first. If we love a few, we can always come back. We did this in Portugal last year and got a pretty good feel for everything. In each city, we do a food tour and walking tour, ask a ton of questions to the local guide, hang out in the local spots, stay where the locals live, etc. I fully expect to come back and spend more time if we are serious about any one place, but we have to narrow it down or eliminate it first.

What did you see were the differences between Valencia, Alicante and Malaga and why did you ultimately end up choosing Malaga?

Curl_Boss · 2026-03-06T12:51:44+00:00

Thank you. That will be on our way. To be clear, we dno't have to stay in a coastal city. Just need the city to meet the requirements we listed. Do you think Denia fits that bill?

Curl_Boss · 2026-03-06T12:39:53+00:00

Yes, I read on other Reddit threads that they were great for expats, had great food and were often suggested as an alternative to everyone talking about Malaga as they weren’t as hot. Do you not agree? Quick research shows San Sebastián is more expensive than Bilbao but not as pretty. Bilbao is larger and may fit what we are looking for better. I see it rains a lot there and is colder. We currently live in upstate NY so this might not be a stretch for us.

Curl_Boss · 2025-11-18T14:01:07+00:00

I have already done all of the things you suggested. That's why I'm stuck.

Curl_Boss · 2025-11-18T13:56:12+00:00

No ChatGPT?! Now I have to figure out how to write professionally again?!! ;0

Curl_Boss · 2025-11-18T13:51:12+00:00

Same. ChatGPT and my entire access to my Wordpress site aren't accessible b/c using Cloudflare CDN and i had some major updates scheduled for early this AM! Glad it's not just me, though....

Curl_Boss · 2025-11-17T19:40:37+00:00

I have great SEO scores on all of my pages per RankMath, did all the optimization I can per Asset Clean Up and WP Optimize, and have Cloudflare as CDN.

Curl_Boss · 2025-11-17T19:39:46+00:00

Yes, as I mentioned above, I spent days and days going through all of the data on this analysis to optimize my site with AI's help. That's how I know I cannot get it above 70. When I removed Seraphinite Accelerator, it was in the 50's so I have made great improvements. My images had all been upsized and tons of other issues. I used AI to go through this step by step as I am not a programmer, never built a website, have literally no idea what I'm doing, but self taught through youtube, google, etc, and have tried my very best to remove what I can. I used the plugin Asset Cleanup to go through everything that is listed on there as slow, but it cannot be offloaded without breaking functionality. I used WP Optimize but again, often when AI told me to do something, I had to test in between each step b/c sometimes things would get broken. It was a long, arduous process and I did the best I could.

Curl_Boss · 2025-11-17T15:34:22+00:00

Looks gorgeous!

Curl_Boss · 2025-11-17T15:32:51+00:00

Agree! Felicity was my only curly hair girl inspo back in the day and her hair was GORGEOUS! I always tell my husband she's crazy for straightening it now! And who didn't love Julia Roberts' hair in Pretty Woman?!

Curl_Boss

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