Where to live in Spain?

Unless you’re relocating for a specific job, a university place, or a volunteering role that tells you exactly where you need to be, moving to Spain comes with a surprisingly big, and often overwhelming, question: Where is the best place to live?

For most families, choosing where to live in Spain is the hardest part of the entire process, because Spain isn’t one experience. It’s dozens. And the version that works beautifully for one family can feel completely wrong for another.

When we speak to mums, the ones who seem to settle best are those who slow down long enough to understand their family’s hopes, wants, and needs before choosing a location. But that process alone can be tricky. One mum shared the process she followed with her family:

Start with your anchor

Before you think about beaches, villages, or city life, you need to find your anchor. This is the one thing that must work for your entire family, the priority that everything else sits around. Anchors vary across families, but they need to be in place for everything else to work, and could include:

Education: perhaps it’s a specific curriculum (British, American, IB, Spanish), a particular school, or a learning environment your child needs to thrive.

Work: do you need access to reliable internet, co-working spaces, or proximity to business hubs?

Travel: do you need to be close to an international airport for visiting family or other essential travel?

Healthcare or support: does your family require specialist medical care, accessibility needs, or being close to a trusted support network?

Visa or residency requirements: some visas quietly dictate where life will be easiest.

The anchor isn’t always glamorous, but it’s essential. Getting that right means you can focus on the more exciting aspects of life in Spain.

Once you’ve identified it, your options immediately narrow. And that’s a good thing. It turns an overwhelming country into a manageable shortlist.

Then define your deal breakers

Once your anchor is clear, it’s time for everyone to get honest about their non-negotiables.

These are the things that, if missing, will quietly drain your energy over time, even if everything else looks perfect on paper.

Common deal breakers mums mention include being able to walk to daily essentials and access to green space or nature. It might be a local community rather than a transient tourist feel with year-round living, not just summer towns. Or maybe the priority is child-focused activities and facilities.

This is where it helps to be brutally realistic. A sleepy village might sound idyllic, until you realise you miss coffee dates, gyms, or adult conversation. A vibrant coastal town might look perfect, until summer tourism takes over. Naming your deal breakers early saves you from falling in love with places that won’t love you back.

Now dream a little

Once the practicalities are clear, you can explore the lifestyle you want and how you want your days to feel. This is where many families skip ahead too quickly, but it’s also where alignment happens.

Ask yourselves:

• What does a good weekday look like and how do weekends feel?

• Do you want to be outside most days and do you picture slow mornings or busy schedules?

• Are hobbies part of daily life or occasional treats?

For some families, the dream is a slower rhythm, walking children to school and long afternoons outdoors.

For others, it’s cultural life, museums, music, events on the doorstep.

Neither is better, but they don’t always exist in the same places.

Who do you want around you?

This is a big one, and often overlooked. Community doesn’t magically appear because you move countries. Think about:

• Do you want an international mix or a more local Spanish environment?

• Is it important to meet families in a similar life stage?

• Do you need English-speaking support at first?

• Are shared values, education, faith, work, or lifestyle, important to you?

Some families thrive in international hubs. Others feel disconnected without deeper local roots. There’s no right answer, but not thinking about it now, can leave you feeling isolated later.

City, town, village… or somewhere in between?

Spain offers every version of life, but rarely all in one place.

Cities offer opportunity, culture, transport, and anonymity while tradiillages offer depth, tradition, and slowness, with fewer conveniences.

For years, I dreamt about living on a rustic Spanish finca with land and large spaces to host, but the reality is that would have been very isolating for my family and we might never have actually made any friends to host. This is about knowing yourselves, not chasing an aesthetic.

Planning for the whole family

Why not create a Spanish life vision board by doing this exercise as a family. Even young children benefit from being included, not in decision-making pressure, but in being heard. Of course, that doesn’t mean everyone gets everything they want, but it does mean fewer surprises later.

Even with research and scouting trips, it’s difficult to get a real sense of living somewhere and i’s not unusual for families not to land in their forever place. That’s ok, but moving with a very clear picture of what you want from life in Spain means you will be closer to finding, not the perfect place, but your place.

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