Moving to Barcelona - Currently in Asia

Welcome to Expat-blog CWW!

You should also view the Barcelona expat network where you could establish new contacts and get answers directly from the expats living there.

Regards,
Sheetul

Very dissapointing that so many people read the message but don't reply ! Surely someone can help ?

Hi CWW,

I've read your message a couple of times, but I only ever seem to pop onto here when I don't have much time to spare, and your questions are pretty big.

What exactly do you mean by a 'nice, not glamourous lifestyle'?
I don't think that we have a very glamourous lifestyle, but we do spend quite a lot on going out (and babysitters) just because there is so much on offer in Barcelona.

I will try to sit down this evening and write  you a proper reply.

Cheers for your reply.
The kind of lifestyle we are looking for is just a nice place to live, in an expat area preferably a house with its own pool or shared pool facilities. Minimum 3 bed but 4 would be better.
In terms of a nice lifestyle I mean we would like the above property, a car, schooling for our kid/kids when the youngest is old enough and enough cash to eat out / drink out whenever we want and not whenever we can afford it. Quite honestly we would probably only be going out 1/2 nights max a week.

At the moment we live in Singapore and there is a lot of expat pressure to live luxuriously and spend all you can and that's just not our style. We prefer a decent family life where we have the opportunity to enjoy the area and its facilities.

The costs I am hoping to get are just the property rental costs/car/ school/average utilities and shopping. Would 5k euro a month be enough or should we be prepared for 10k a month ???
Not sure where the best place to live is but looked at Sitges (?) And that seems nice but really open to suggestions.

Realise its a lot of questions so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

You could try looking at places in and around Sabadell. Which is easy commuting distance to the centre of Barcelona by car or train.

Ok, hopefully this will be helpful.

Schooling

The state education system in Catalunya is regarded as the best in Spain, but it is taught predominantly in Catalan (obviously), in addition to this there are absolutely loads of private schools.

Private schooling at Kindergarten level will cost you between €4500 and €6500 a year, plus lunch at school which is often compulsory and will be about another €1500 a year.

We chose to send our daughter to a trilingual school, where they have an equal amount of lessons in English, Spanish and Catalan, but there really are a lot of options here.

Transport

I don't know about Singapore, but the public transport system in Barcelona is fantastic, and very cheap compared to a lot of European cities. The metro compared to London is stupidly cheap, a single journey costs €1.40, but if you buy a ticket for a number of journeys, or monthly or yearly passes it gets much much cheaper.

If  you are planning to live outside of the city, then there are very frequent trains into the centre, most going either to Sants or Placa Catalunya, and these are also really inexpensive, but can be quite crowded.

Driving into the city is a pointless exercise unless you have a work allocated parking space, because the cost of parking is really pretty steep.

Property

I can't really help with property prices, because we were looking for something completely different to you.  We wanted to live right in the centre of the city because we think that if you are going to live in/near a city like Barcelona then you are better to be right in the heart of it, as there is so much going on with a lot of free cultural events, fiestas in the streets, etc. that if you live outside you miss a lot because you don't feel like getting a train in to go to this fiesta or that free concert.

Try having a look on idealista.com You can change the language to English and it lets you search by area (using the map), and specify number of bedrooms, pool, etc. It is a mixture of agencies and private adverts and is pretty representative of the prices around.

Utilities

We've only been here for a couple of months, so not long enough really to have a clue about average bills for gas, water, etc. So far it seems pretty similar to anywhere else in Europe.

Anything else

As I said, I don't know how much you will spend on property rental, but you should be able to live comfortably on 5k a month, assuming that you aren't going to be going out to the opera or cocktail bars every night (which you aren't).

Hopefully that helps a bit, if you have any more questions then tack them on here, or private message me and I'll see if I can help.

Hi JPope,

Thanks for your response, just the sort of info I was looking for, really appreciated !

Open question to all and one word answers will suffice...... Are there any towns within a 30 minute commute of Barcelona that you would recommend. They would need to have a mixture of expat and local community and have a mix of leisuire facilities.

Any recommendations will be appreciated and looked at in detail so I can make the right choice for my family.

Thanks in advance !!!

hi glad you want to come to Bcn,

Try Sitges,its a nice place by the sea.
best of luck

Thanks Steve,
Anybody else got any ideas at all ? Please !

Cheers

Hi,
I have family living in Singapore so I know what you mean about the luxurious expat lifestyle that they all go in for!

I live in the town called Viladecans about 20 minutes by train from Barcelona city, it's not bad but there is NO expat community or any sort of international feel to it and it lacks a social life past 8pm. However, it does have good amenities in the way of hospitals, schools, gyms etc. I would recommend a town very nearby called Castelldefels. It's got a really international mix of Europeans (Dutch, German, French and English) and South Americans, along with great transport and leisure facilities, schools etc. Plus it has the beach.

Sitges is a lovely spot too. House prices are quite a bit more expensive there though and you have to pass through a 6euro (approx.) toll every time you come in to Barcelona by car. So the cost of living would be higher there in general I'd say.

Message me privately if you want any more info. and I'll see if I can help.

Claire