Living in Andalusia

Strumms

Just before the pandemic I spent a little time in the southeast and south of Spain…Malaga and further south..

i loved the vibe, the people, the scenery, how relaxed it was…

id be keen to know any and all insights from people who may have relocated to the region or have property there and spend or have spent some time there. ive a few words of Spanish and am proficient at picking up languages so gaining initially a good working knowledge of it to an eventual fluency would be doable…

I’d be grateful to be helped understanding the the pros and cons and thoughts on…

overall quality of life

Jobs

security / safety

public transport

housing

buying a vehicle

general cost of living…

or any general experiences, thoughts and advice..thanks in advance.

Strumms

Just before the pandemic I spent a little time in the southeast and south of Spain…Malaga and further south..

i loved the vibe, the people, the scenery, how relaxed it was…

id be keen to know any and all insights from people who may have relocated to the region or have property there and spend or have spent some time there. ive a few words of Spanish and am proficient at picking up languages so gaining initially a good working knowledge of it to an eventual fluency would be doable…

I’d be grateful to be helped understanding the the pros and cons and thoughts on…

overall quality of life

Jobs

security / safety

public transport

housing

buying a vehicle

general cost of living…

or any general experiences, thoughts and advice..thanks in advance.

Fysh

I lived there when I was younger. I moved away ~20 years ago but still have family there, so I can't offer specifics about relocating there but can give you some general ideas.

A fair amount of the regional economy is tourism-related, which means that in a lot of coastal towns you'd probably get by with mostly English. However I would strongly encourage you to try and learn as much Spanish as you can, if not before you were to move then at least when you are there - even if you don't have much, you'll find people respond to you making the effort, because there are still some people who have the mindset that it's supposed to be like a sunny version of the South of England.

For public transport it will depend on where you are and where you're going - you have buses in most larger towns and a trainline from Malaga city to Fuengirola which is quite dependable. For smaller towns & villages, you may have less frequent or reliable bus service. Having moved from Malaga to Cork I found the bus services in Malaga more reliable and cheaper, but again that was about 20 years ago.

For housing and buying a vehicle the two things I'd say to be aware of are that Spanish bureaucracy can be quite the thing to behold, even compared to some Irish bureaucracy. There's a nontrivial chance of running into jobsworths or unhelpful types who will take 3 visits to tell you that you need forms A, B and C for what you're asking - but not always, and other times you get lovely people who go out of their way to help. This is where having learned some of the language will help, because if there's one rule of thumb I'd say applies, it's that people are less arsed about helping a foreigner who has made no effort to learn any of the language.

I'll leave the jobs & cost of living side to someone with more recent data, as I only have anecdotes from family members down there...

Strumms

Thanks for that… yes as each day passes I’m more entertaining of the idea…..won’t be for a year or so, much time to think on but that’s very helpful, thank you..