# Moving to Spain.



## Monkey104 (Aug 24, 2014)

Hello

My wife and I are thinking of moving to Spain in a couple of years when I retire.
We are not sure yet which area we will settle in but we will be selling our house and buying a property from the sale of our house.
I will have a pension each month but was wondering what is the minimum required to cover monthly costs not including a mortgage of course.

Regards

Andy


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Monkey104 said:


> Hello
> 
> My wife and I are thinking of moving to Spain in a couple of years when I retire.
> We are not sure yet which area we will settle in but we will be selling our house and buying a property from the sale of our house.
> ...


I guess the best rule of thumb IMO is whatever you spend in English pounds, would be round about the same number in Euros ie £1000 in UK, 1000€ in Spain. BUT thats a loose guide, because you'll do different things in Spain, you'll find different things are dearer or cheaper.

Have you lived in Spain before??? Have you thought about renting for a few months to get an idea of where you want to be and whether its something you want to do forever??

Jo xxx


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

Depends where you eventually settle, different areas have different prices, here in the Canary Islands our equivalent VAT is only 7% so, apart from property, we are far cheaper than elsewhere. Monthly outgoings excluding alcohol and meals out are 800 to 850 Euros


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## Monkey104 (Aug 24, 2014)

We were thinking of renting for about a year in some different locations in order to get an idea of where we would like to settle, what type of property and to get an idea of costs.
I like the idea of Almeria purely for the all year round temperature.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Monkey104 said:


> We were thinking of renting for about a year in some different locations in order to get an idea of where we would like to settle, what type of property and to get an idea of costs.
> I like the idea of Almeria purely for the all year round temperature.


If you want all year round temperature, you need the Canaries. Most areas of southern Spain have wet, windy and occasionally cold winters, interspersed with a few nice days, but the evenings are cold. I know the Costa del Sol does, and I dont think Almeria is much better????


Jo xxx


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

jojo said:


> If you want all year round temperature, you need the Canaries. Most areas of southern Spain have wet, windy and occasionally cold winters, interspersed with a few nice days, but the evenings are cold. I know the Costa del Sol does, and I dont think Almeria is much better????
> 
> 
> Jo xxx


I think a more accurate picture of the winter weather in the South of Spain would be that some years the weather can be wet, windy and cold with a few nice days, but in most years the majority of days are sunny and comparatively warm (up to low 20s by midday and stays that way until 4/5pm depending on what time the sun starts to set). Early mornings and nights do feel cold, though, although actual temperatures provided you are on or near the coast don't normally drop below 10C. Further inland, and the higher up you live, the colder it gets.

People may think the temperatures sound quite warm, but once you live here it DOES feel cold in the winter and you would be putting winter woolies on when it's 18C, which would be a fairly decent day in the UK. That's because you get used to temperatures in the 30s in the summer, and also because most Spanish houses have tiled floors and don't have central heating.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Lynn R said:


> I think a more accurate picture of the winter weather in the South of Spain would be that some years the weather can be wet, windy and cold with a few nice days, but in most years the majority of days are sunny and comparatively warm (up to low 20s by midday and stays that way until 4/5pm depending on what time the sun starts to set). Early mornings and nights do feel cold, though, although actual temperatures provided you are on or near the coast don't normally drop below 10C. Further inland, and the higher up you live, the colder it gets.
> 
> People may think the temperatures sound quite warm, but once you live here it DOES feel cold in the winter and you would be putting winter woolies on when it's 18C, which would be a fairly decent day in the UK. That's because you get used to temperatures in the 30s in the summer, and also because most Spanish houses have tiled floors and don't have central heating.



I had some bad winters when we lived there - especially the 2009/2010 (I think??) winter. Torrential rains which had us housebound, floods, landslides....... We couldnt get out to buy anymore gas bottles for the fire and hot water, the electricity kept cutting off, my doggie died because I couldnt get him to the vet. That was our bad time and it coincided with snow in the UK and the ashcloud, preventing my OH from coming back from his commute to England. It rained almost continuously from mid December to April that year. I also remember quite regularly having to scrape ice of the windscreen in the mornings to do the school run, altho we were slightly inland of Malaga - just behind the airport in Alhaurin de la Torre.

Sorry to rant about it, that was a really bad time for us and thats why I do bang on a bit about Spanish winters lol

Jo xxx


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

jojo said:


> I had some bad winters when we lived there - especially the 2009/2010 (I think??) winter. Torrential rains which had us housebound, floods, landslides....... We couldnt get out to buy anymore gas bottles for the fire and hot water, the electricity kept cutting off, my doggie died because I couldnt get him to the vet. That was our bad time and it coincided with snow in the UK and the ashcloud, preventing my OH from coming back from his commute to England. It rained almost continuously from mid December to April that year. I also remember quite regularly having to scrape ice of the windscreen in the mornings to do the school run, altho we were slightly inland of Malaga - just behind the airport in Alhaurin de la Torre.
> 
> Sorry to rant about it, that was a really bad time for us and thats why I do bang on a bit about Spanish winters lol
> 
> Jo xxx


I've had 3 winters out of the 8 I've lived here when it's been pretty wet (which are probably the same ones you had), but luckily where we live we've never been affected by any floods or landslides. We've had hailstones here occasionally but ice, never, and snow only seen on distant mountaintops (which is where it can stay as far as I'm concerned). Take a look at this site for Nerja weather, the info isn't based on personal perceptions, but on detailed records:-


Nerja Weather - Daily Averages

I don't think, in all honesty, that anybody could look at those and say there are only a few nice days in a Southern Spanish winter.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Lynn R said:


> I've had 3 winters out of the 8 I've lived here when it's been pretty wet (which are probably the same ones you had), but luckily where we live we've never been affected by any floods or landslides. We've had hailstones here occasionally but ice, never, and snow only seen on distant mountaintops (which is where it can stay as far as I'm concerned). Take a look at this site for Nerja weather, the info isn't based on personal perceptions, but on detailed records:-
> 
> 
> Nerja Weather - Daily Averages
> ...



I spent a fair amount of time in Nerja last winter and the one before and it was by no means warm. We had some nice days where we could wear jeans and tee shirts. But the evenings were so cold. I had two duvets and a hotwater bottle evey night lol - But I do feel the cold terribly

Jo xxx


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

jojo said:


> I spent a fair amount of time in Nerja last winter and the one before and it was by no means warm. We had some nice days where we could wear jeans and tee shirts. But the evenings were so cold. I had two duvets and a hotwater bottle evey night lol - But I do feel the cold terribly
> 
> Jo xxx


That's what I said - the nights and early mornings DO feel cold - because the temperature goes down so sharply once the sun starts to set.


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## GUAPACHICA (Jun 30, 2012)

Lynn R said:


> I think a more accurate picture of the winter weather in the South of Spain would be that some years the weather can be wet, windy and cold with a few nice days, but in most years the majority of days are sunny and comparatively warm (up to low 20s by midday and stays that way until 4/5pm depending on what time the sun starts to set). Early mornings and nights do feel cold, though, although actual temperatures provided you are on or near the coast don't normally drop below 10C. Further inland, and the higher up you live, the colder it gets.
> 
> People may think the temperatures sound quite warm, but once you live here it DOES feel cold in the winter and you would be putting winter woolies on when it's 18C, which would be a fairly decent day in the UK. That's because you get used to temperatures in the 30s in the summer, and also because most Spanish houses have tiled floors and don't have central heating.


Hi - I've experienced five Cádiz winters, so far - and can vouch, personally, for the fact that winters here, although very short (normally mid-Nov.-mid March/April) are blxxxx freezing...! The reason is that this city's location on the coast, with the Atlantic on three sides, brings incredibly damp and chilly weather, which renders all outside locations very wet and very cold, once dusk descends!

The expat./immigrant/Erasmus student joke around here is that we're always warmer out in the street than in our own homes - although that's not actually true, as there is nowhere, literally, to get warm, when all unheated bars and cafeterías have their doors wide open, in the hope of attracting clients and shops don't pamper either their customers or staff with any form of heating! 

The main problem is that here in the ancient city centre, most buildings are also ancient and stone-built with tiled interiors - designed to let the summer heat out, as fast as possible! Given the high cost of electricity here and the increasing cost of the portable gas 'bombonas', it's unsurprising that most Gaditanos and resident foreigners spend those chilly winter days and nights wrapped up in all their warmest clothes, whilst exclaiming; ''Qué frío!'' to all and sundry!

A British friend, previously resident here, but now based back in London, used to claim that she'd given up attempting to remonstrate with Spanish friends who would state; ''But, it's much colder in London, no?'' As she had tried, often, to explain - we were never so cold in London, because we had central heating/insulation, carpets/double glazing and we were usually in a lovely warm pub, or coffee bar or even in an overly -heated shopping centre..! In my family's home, there, I would wear T shirts whilst indoors, throughout the Winter!

IMHO, our Spanish friends and neighbours, here, are in denial re. coastal Andalucía's Winter temps. They moan, endlessly, about the cold - but do nothing to make their homes and buildings more comfortable during those few damp and bone-chilling months - but, what is hilarious, is that Cádiz experiences almost all of its annual rainfall in Winter and most local residents detest being outdoors, if there's even the suggestion of rain! 

In fact, on rainy evenings, we foreigners can count on having Cádiz's 'Casco Antiguo' (ancient centre) all to ourselves, including those spare seats in our favourite bars and live-music venues...no doubt, that's why we choose to endure the extreme damp - which, with luck, if one is fortunate enough to be back in the UK for a centrally -heated Christmas and New Year, doesn't really last so long...!

Saludos,
GC


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## Justina (Jan 25, 2013)

*Chilly Cadiz*



GUAPACHICA said:


> Hi - I've experienced five Cádiz winters, so far - and can vouch, personally, for the fact that winters here, although very short (normally mid-Nov.-mid March/April) are blxxxx freezing...! The reason is that this city's location on the coast, with the Atlantic on three sides, brings incredibly damp and chilly weather, which renders all outside locations very wet and very cold, once dusk descends!
> 
> The expat./immigrant/Erasmus student joke around here is that we're always warmer out in the street than in our own homes - although that's not actually true, as there is nowhere, literally, to get warm, when all unheated bars and cafeterías have their doors wide open, in the hope of attracting clients and shops don't pamper either their customers or staff with any form of heating!
> 
> ...


Well yes and no. The flats in the historic centre are jolly cold although if you are lucky there is still a fair degree of sun around to heat up a bit of the flat. In my case the sitting room during the day is fine until around 3pm and then we put a heater on.
Since I grew up in a Victorian flat in Glasgow before the days of central heating I know all about closing doors so as 'not to let the draught in'.
However, most of the bars here now have heating systems for their terrazas, so one can still have supper outside and a few ****, too.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

GUAPACHICA said:


> Hi - I've experienced five Cádiz winters, so far - and can vouch, personally, for the fact that winters here, although very short (normally mid-Nov.-mid March/April) are blxxxx freezing...! The reason is that this city's location on the coast, with the Atlantic on three sides, brings incredibly damp and chilly weather, which renders all outside locations very wet and very cold, once dusk descends!


I'm sure that accounts in no small part for the fact that I didn't like Cadiz - I chose to visit in November and it was soooo much colder, wetter and windier than at home!

Anyone wanting to come to Southern Spain for warmer winter weather needs to choose their location very carefully, although as Jo said before, nowhere on the mainland is going to be as warm as the Canaries. Not surprising really, when you look at a map.

Even in the Canary islands though, they've been known to have violent storms, torrential rain and landslides on occasions - I've seen tv coverage of the damage caused. Not an everday occurrence, of course, but they're not here either.


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