Lara moved to Spain from Iceland in 2017. She was only going to stay for the winter. Now she lives in Torrevieja and doesn’t regret it at all.
I’m from Iceland. I moved here in September 2017. I never intended to move here, I was only going to stay here for the winter, but I just never left again. I’ve “lived” in multiple short term housing and Airbnbs between Almería and Gran Alacant. At the moment I’ve been in the same house at the edge of Torrevieja for two years now and didn’t intend to move anytime soon. I like it here, the neighbors are nice and the neighborhood is quiet and safe. Besides the house is close to perfect for me and my dog.
My favorite places are Torrevieja and surrounding areas, because of the different clash of nationalities and the weather.
Also there is a natural park with two vast salt lakes. They’re very beautiful, pink and it looks like they kinda glow in the twilight, and you’ll see storks all over them.
Pros and Cons of living in Spain
Pros: Prices, healthcare.
I’m from the most expensive country in the world and was expected to live off of about 1500€ a month. In my home country you can’t even rent a tiny place for less than about 2000€ a month.
In my home country I was buying groceries for about 200€ a week, in the cheapest store they have. Here I’m buying groceries for about 250-300€ a month in Carrefour and have it delivered to my house.
Besides, there isn’t much scarier than telling doctors the name of my medical condition and they ask: “what’s that?” I know it’s rare, but it’s not that rare. But here pretty much every doctor I’ve seen is very knowledgeable about it.
Even the public sector is amazing.
Weather is mostly awesome. There’s a descent stability of sunlight and darkness all year round.
Cons: It’s one of the few things I miss, the ability to take a long hot shower or a bath. Waterboilers are so small. Super short showers. Unless you have gas. Electricity and water is so expensive. You have to be borderline rich if you want central heating and/or AC. Houses get cold during winter and hot during summer, because I can’t afford heating and cooling.
Read also the story of Stan, who moved to Spain from Scotland.