10 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before Moving to Spain

There is no shortage of "moving to Spain" advice on the internet. Most of it is the same article, recycled. It tells you the weather is nice (correct), that the food is good (also correct), and that you should "embrace the culture" (advice so vague as to be essentially meaningless). What it tends to skip is the specific, practical, occasionally frustrating reality of actually building a life here from scratch.

I moved to Palma in 2021. These are the things I genuinely wish someone had told me.

1. The bureaucracy is not a rumour

You will have heard that Spanish bureaucracy is a challenge. People will have told you this, and you will have nodded and thought: how bad can it really be? I am a competent adult. I have filled in forms before.

I say this with kindness: you are not prepared.

Not because the processes are impossible, they're not, but because they require the right documents, in the right order, submitted to the right office, at an appointment you booked three weeks in advance, with photocopies of everything, and occasionally a specific form you didn't know existed until the moment you didn't have it. The expats who cope best with this are those who accept early on that Spain runs on its own administrative logic, and that fighting it is less useful than understanding it.

Getting a good gestor, a licensed professional who handles bureaucratic processes on your behalf, is the single most effective thing you can do to make this easier. More on that here.

2. Your NIE is the key to everything — get it first

The NIE (Número de Identificación de Extranjero) is your Spanish identification number for foreigners, and without it, you cannot open a bank account, sign a contract, buy a car, set up as self-employed, or do most of the things that constitute living rather than merely staying in Spain.

Apply for it as early as possible. Appointments at the Foreigners' Office are competitive in popular areas; the document requirements are specific and getting it wrong costs you weeks. There's a full guide to the process here, but the short version is: prioritise this above almost everything else in your first week.

3. Find an English-speaking accountant before you think you need one

Spain taxes residents on their worldwide income. It has a wealth tax. It has a foreign assets declaration (Modelo 720) that catches a lot of people out. And if you've moved to Spain for work, there's a special tax regime (the Beckham Law) that could save you a significant amount of money, but you have to apply within six months of arriving, which means knowing it exists before the window closes.

The expats who end up with tax problems are mostly not the ones who did something wrong. They're the ones who assumed it could wait. It can't. Find an English-speaking accountant in your first month. Your future self will be considerably less stressed. Browse accountants here.

4. "A little bit" of English is not enough

When you're ringing dental clinics, asking if the receptionist speaks English, and they say "a little bit" — this is not the answer you're hoping for. It means that the routine appointment might be manageable, but that when the dentist needs to explain something complicated, or when you need to understand your treatment options, or when something unexpected happens, and you need to ask questions, you will be communicating in approximate English with someone who is doing their best but is not fluent.

For medical, legal, financial, and administrative matters, find professionals who are genuinely fluent. The peace of mind is not a luxury; it's the point.

5. Empadronamiento is not optional

Registering your address at your local town hall — the padrón — is something a lot of new arrivals put off because it's administrative and non-urgent. It is administrative, but it is not non-urgent. You need it for residency applications, for accessing public healthcare, for school enrolment if you have children, and for a surprising number of other things that will come up sooner than you expect.

Go to your town hall with your passport, your rental contract or property deed, and your NIE once you have it. Register as soon as you can.

6. Healthcare in Spain is genuinely good — but it takes time to access

Spain has an excellent public healthcare system, and once you're registered with a GP and integrated into it, it works well. The catch is that getting registered takes time. You need to be empadronado, you need your NIE and residency documentation, and in some areas the process involves waiting.

Many expats take out private health insurance for the first year, which gets you immediate access to English-speaking GPs and specialists while the public system paperwork resolves itself. It's not expensive relative to the value of having a doctor you can call. Browse English-speaking doctors here.

7. The cost of living is not uniform

Spain is generally affordable compared to the UK, but the gap between regions is significant. Madrid and Barcelona are real cities with real city prices. Coastal expat hotspots like Marbella, Palma, and the more popular parts of the Costa Blanca have risen considerably in recent years. Smaller cities and inland towns remain much more affordable.

Do actual research on your specific area before you commit to a location, and don't assume that because Spain is "cheap", that applies everywhere.

8. The meal schedule is not negotiable

Lunch is the main meal of the day, eaten somewhere between 2 pm and 4 pm. Dinner rarely happens before 9 pm, and 10 pm is entirely normal. Restaurants close between services. If you rock up hungry at 7 pm expecting dinner, you will be offered a menu of confusion and polite disappointment.

This sounds trivial, but it genuinely reshapes your day — in a good way, once you adjust. Embrace it early, and you'll wonder how you ever managed with a sad desk lunch at noon.

9. Join local communities, but don't only live in them

Expat Facebook groups, WhatsApp communities, and local meetups are genuinely valuable when you arrive. They're how you get recommendations, find a good dentist, learn which gestor to use, and make friends who understand what you're going through. Use them.

The caveat is that the expats who settle most happily in Spain tend to be the ones who didn't stop there. Making Spanish friends, learning the language, becoming part of the neighbourhood rather than an enclave within it — that's where the real quality of life is. The expat community is a starting point, not a destination.

10. Learn some Spanish — even the basics make a difference

You can get by in Spain without Spanish, particularly in the cities and coastal areas. But "getting by" is different from "living well," and even basic Spanish can significantly change the quality of your interactions. Shopkeepers, neighbours, local officials — a genuine attempt at the language is met with warmth that you simply don't get when you don't try.

This is not about fluency. It's about showing up in the country you chose to live in and making a reasonable effort. The Spanish generally appreciate it, and you will too, the first time you successfully navigate a bureaucratic appointment in a mixture of broken Spanish and hand gestures and come out the other side with what you went in for.

If you need English-speaking lawyers, accountants, gestors, doctors, dentists, or therapists anywhere in Spain, Your Mate Pat's directory lists professionals across the country. Free to search, and every listing offers services in English.