Soldier's forum

I had a good laugh with some people when I was in Bilbao and the surrounding areas recently, but they speak their own language up there too.

Most of those places you mentioned are top tourist destinations for Brits, so you'll be surrounded by tourists, and the staff you encounter will probably all be pretty much fluent in English. The rest of the tourists tend to be German and from other parts of Europe, who will use English when they're in Spain. I would actually be surprised if you found somebody in or near Alicante who didn't speak English mate. Do not go to Benidorm. 😆

I heard northern Spain is beautiful. I assume you travelled around when you were in Bilboa? Ill visit later but I want to find a place to live on the beach in southern Spain. I read Benidorm was basically a British colony so I immediately counted that out.

I’ve actually been amazed at how few people speak English in southern Spain. Even many young people under 30 and taxi drivers can barely understand a word. The English was certainly better in Barcelona and to a lesser extent Valencia, but I found it very poor in Malaga, Alicante and Seville. Admittedly I’ve been avoiding major tourist spots and haven’t been going to bars/pubs. Either way its good as it will force me to learn Spanish.

From your options stated, I would recon Valencia would be the least touristy and probably best culturally. The others are just big tourist hotspots.

Yeah mate I went around the area to a few different towns. I was speaking Spanish so not actually sure what their level of English is like up there. It is going to be very hard to find a coastal area in Spain that's not full of tourists though. Either way, you'll be able to improve your Spanish there no problem. Enjoy 🫡

These cities will not force you to learn the language, just pick a random town that is not popular among tourists and you will really be forced to learn it.

Agreed. Ive basically decided on Valencia. Such a great city and incredibly underated.

Barcelona. I've been here for 5 years already and there's not a city that can beat it. Good food, tons of girls from all over the world (a lot of latinas).

Im definately open to moving to Barcelona. Can you give more reasons why its so good? So many people love it, but I was there in 2021 for a couple of weeks and thought it was very overrated, but to be fair the pandemic shit was still going on. I didnt think the beaches were great, the history didnt impress me (unlike say florence, rome), it was super crowded, rather expensive, people not that friendly etc. I can see how someone who likes soccer and a busy city party vibe would like it.