Is it better to LIVE in Madrid or Barcelona?

Question

Which is better for a family with 2 kids?

Answer 1

Madrid is an open an cosmopolitan town.  Seville, Valencia and Salamanca are also wonderful.

How are you going to make a living? Spain is not the cheap country it used to be any more.

Answer 2

Seven tips to help you decide

1. Catalunya is bilingual, but Catalan is the preferred language. Kids will speak Catalan in school, all bureaucracy (and that's a lot here in Barcelona) is in Catalan. Finding an interesting job without speaking Catalan is almost impossible.

2. Barcelona is situated by the sea, Madrid isn't.

3. Madrid tends to have very strong winters and very hot summers. Barcelona is has a more moderate Mediterranean climate.

4. Barcelona is a low cost airlines hub for Vueling and Clickair. Ryanair's hub is located in Girona - only one hour from Barcelona. Finding cheap flights to Barcelona is easier then finding low priced tickets to Madrid.

5. The Spain of 'tapas, bulls and flamenco' is easier to find in Madrid then in Barcelona.

6. Most (expat) families live in suburbs, like Castelldefels (half an hour from Barcelona). Train connections to the city of Barcelona are not that good though.

7. With a considerable amount of smog, clean air is hard to find in both cities. Barcelona is actually one of the dirtiest cities of Europe.

I hope these suggestions serve you. All the best and good luck!!

Answer 3

Kind of depends what you want.  Madrid is truly Spanish, while Barcelona is more...Catalán.  It has a completely different atmosphere.  Personally, I would rather live in Madrid, but I´m willing to bet almost nobody lives where I was, in the center of town, and the people who do, are probably extremely rich, whereas, almost in the center of town, in Barcelona, we found plenty of residential neighborhoods.  I don´t know what the residential neighborhoods in Madrid are like.

Both will be fairly expensive, real estate is pretty high in both cities.  Take a recommendation?  Go for one of the smaller cities.  I love Sevilla, but then, I have lived there.  Granada is nice, I´m sure any of the smaller cities would be great.  If you´re into the Catalán atmosphere, we loved Girona, and I think Tarragona might be a nice town to live in.  I don´t think Toledo is a terribly good place if money is an object, because it´s REALLY small in area, and I imagine real estate is tight there.  I understand the North is really nice too.  Oviedo, Santander, and San Sebastián all have good reputations, as I´ve heard.

I just revisited a website I used in planning my recent trip, and there is a link to living/working in Spain.  MadridMan.com

Good luck.