Is Bilbao Spain's Best City to Live?
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- čas přidán 3. 10. 2023
- Many people think of sun and beaches when they think of Spain. Bilbao has sun but also rain and no beaches but does this beautiful city have anything else to offer? From the Guggenheim to the river to the eco-friendly vibe of the city, could you live here?
Josh and Kalie from ExpatsEverywhere break down what life is like in Bilbao, Spain talking about things like the cost of living, things to do, safety, and much more. Could you expat that?
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Josh and Kalie left the US for a life abroad in 2009 and haven't looked back. They have lived in Spain, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and are currently in Portugal. Yes, they realize they only moved to countries starting with the letter "S" until they spoiled that streak with their move to Portugal. Follow ExpatsEverywhere as we aim to get information to you through expat interviews, city breakdowns, expat life, travel, vlogs, and more.
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Great video folks, very helpful!
My wife, 2 sons and I are planning on a move to Bilbao next summer from Florida. We’ve looked everywhere in the world and for what we love and the life we want to live it seems perfect. We’ve done a few recon trips and it has been confirmed. We’ve looked at NZ/Aus, PNW, Chile and many others with similar climate. Japan being the only place that rivals what we’ve seen so far from Bilbao. Everything in this video is spot on, and the growth of the city while maintaining its identity, family focused and eco friendly mentality is so cool. The ocean and mountains close by, forests and hamlets make the city and its surrounding areas such an idyllic place. Hope to see you there soon!
Awesome, Daniel! Where in FL? Kalie's from Tampa. Enjoy, Bilbao and keep us posted. - Josh & Kalie
Oh cool! Cocoa Beach originally and back here now. Spent about 5 years in Orlando too!
Hi Daniel, I am very interested in how did you come to this choice. I am thinking of choosing a place to live with a family and it feels quite complicated. Is it possible to talk to you via some messenger or email to ask some questions about Bilbao and reasons why did you finally choose this city? You will help us a lot:)
@@user-lu7hz3cu5yhi there! Yeah we did a ton of R&D and pro/cons lists of may cities and regions in the world. We were looking for a few main things that Bilbao and northern Spain are perfect for:
The climate. We wanted cool, oceanic weather. Rarely above 90 and rarely below freezing.
Culture is huge too. Amazing history, modern and traditional influences and I’m a chef so the food scene was a must. The Basque Country has arguably the best food in the world.
Mountains and Ocean
My family loves outdoor activities, primarily surfing, diving, snowboarding, mountain biking and hiking. The surfing is incredible around Bilbao and with the local mountains, picks de Europa and Pyrenees all within a few hours drive this was 😅incredibly attractive to us. Great school systems, emphasis on community and family and overall quality of life were also huge perks of the area.
We looked at New Zealand, Chile, Japan and a few others places and after all the research and comparing it seemed like northern Spain, and Bilbao in particular was a pretty clear winner. Hope that helps!
Thank you for this video. Wonderful Bilbao.
Thank you for watching, Yasin!
@@expatseverywhereexplores 😀
Amazing detailed and to the point explanation 👍🏻 thanks guys
Our pleasure! Thank you for watching and subscribing. - Josh & Kalie
From Porto. Going to Bilbao in a month and checking out your vid!
Looks like a great place!
It most certainly is.
I made a day visit to Bilbao years ago (while staying in Pamplona) mainly to see the Guggenheim (everybody was saying "Poopy"!), and what little I saw of the city was very pleasant. Driving on Spanish highways was so wonderful compared to the US. I didn't know about the funicular or that Bilbao had good access to hiking, which would be something I'm looking for in a city. Are there other cities in Spain with even better recreational opportunities, that are not packed with tourists? I also liked Pamplona's parks, and walking on the Camino inside and outside the city. For me, Barcelona was just too huge.
Great overview. Have heard a lot about Bilbao and St. Sebastian through the years. Will you be preparing a video on St. Sebastian? If not, how would you (briefly) compare the two? Thanks ❤❤
San Sebastian is a stunningly beautiful city with a unique geography, has beaches, but it is much smaller and the most expensive city in Spain. Bilbao is much bigger, more industrial, and also much cheaper.
@Azog150 is gonna make you a video about San Sebastian! (we hope) Their commentary has been great.
I'm going to move to Bilbao in the next months. How is the basque people behavior with latinoamerican foreigners?
"Safety" is a broad term. Statistically, Spain iis one of the safest countries in Europe (lower crime ratres than UK, Germany, Denmark, and Belgium, to name a few), so even if Bilbao is the "least safe" city, is doesn't necessarily mean much. There is property crime in Spain, this is true. But that can be easily avoided by taking even basic safety procautions. But in terms of violent crime, Spain is incredibly safe, and safer than many other European countries (including the likes of the UK etc). I'd rather replace a stolen phone or handbag than have to visit the hospital to fix a broken nose (or worse).
Very, very good point!
Parking your car.
- In Bilbao, many neighbours have parking zones by colours (according to different criteria) where you have to pay if you want to park your car.
- But if you are already a resident of Bilbao and have an address where you live, you can park your car in the Green Zone of your area for only (approx) 50 euros/year.
- Modern buildings usually have a parking space included with the flat.
- There are underground car parks around the city where you pay a time-based fee.
- And, of course, you can use the great public transport system using a Barik, a contactless card to pay for your ticket. You can use the bus, metro, trams, suburban trains, the funicular or the lift on the Bizkaia Bridge (World Heritage Site) in Portugalete/Getxo with that card. All units and stations are fully accessible for wheelchairs, pushchairs/baby buggies and persons with reduced mobility; and have designated spaces.
- Some suburban metro stations have really cheap park and ride facilities.
Paella is from Valencia, not Basque Country
We know but it's still a dish enjoyed across Spain. Like in Portugal, you can get a francesinha in Lisbon although more rare or a pastel de nata anywhere in the country although it comes from Belem.
I looked up the summer temperatures in Southern Spain, and decided "nope".
It seems like a wonderful city. My girlfriend and I are both nutritionists, and we are both seriously considering moving there from Italy (Rome). I hear many people move, but very often they do so having set aside some funds or with perhaps a remote job already established. If one were to start a career there from scratch, would it be advantageous? Would you recommend it?
Your question is really nuanced. It's certainly safer to have a financial safety net in any case. - Josh & Kalie
It was useful, I had a question for living in Spain (in terms of natural scenery, income level, security, regional economy, variety of shopping and purchasing power), which is better, Bilbao or Barcelona?
Bilbao has a bigger GDP per head than Barcelona.
En Bilbao no necesitas el automóvil y la inseguridad ciudadana en Bilbao es prácticamente inexistente.
Thanks for sharing. Are you saying that citizens feel safe?
@@expatseverywhereexplores Sí, los ciudadanos en esta ciudad, tanto mujeres como hombres, se sienten muy seguros a cualquier hora del día. Es importante sabe que existe un ingreso mínimo para aquellas personas sin ingresos que les garantice lo fundamental, así hasta que encuentren un trabajo.
Excellent video. Thank you. We are 66YO retired educators visiting Poland and Estonia after helping a new school open in Lviv. We are seriously thinking of selling our Portland condo and moving to Europe. We appreciate the safety, walkability, and excellent healthcare offered in Spain. Is renting a better option than owning a home for expats in Spain? We always wanted to own, but now it seems that putting the cash in CDs is wiser than purchasing a home. Plus the healthcare is better in Spain than in the US. Your thoughts? Dean & Cindy
Hi Dean and Cindy! It’s nice to hear from you. Making the wise decision seems well, wise, but that’s assuming you’ve run the numbers on the different scenarios and not just considered conventional wisdom. What does home ownership buy you or get you that’s intrinsic?
@@expatseverywhereexplores Thanks Josh and Kalie for the reply. I've learned that wisdom is situational. Our needs/wants change as we change. A flat walkable safe cool summer location with excellent healthcare is more important than an active lifestyle place with career opportunities. Dean & Cindy
Hi, sorry but the capital of the Basque Country is Vitoria-Gasteiz : head of the Parliament, the Government, all the ministries and Residence of the President.
Officially in Spain but not really Spain...
Thank you. Google maps mislead us, as you can see on our map view it calls Bilbao "the de facto capital" in the description. But you're right, we're going to try to remove that bit. - Josh
And our historical capital is Iruña-Pamplona, never forget it
Seriously considered moving here. Have y'all visited Santander? Curious to hear your impressions.
Hey Tom, we have! It was many years ago but we'd like to make it back. The city itself was great. Where we stayed in Santander and the weather at the time were not. The food though. WOW!
The city of Santander until recently was more economically accessible in housing than Bilbao now seems.
Santander is 85 km from Bilbao on a fairly good highway. You also have regular buses to Bilbao. You have towns like Laredo that are halfway there. If you are looking in Bilbao, you can look for the greater Bilbao, which includes towns that are located on both banks of the river where it reaches. The metro line and towns surrounding Santander are also quite a few. The bad thing is that it rains a lot. The beaches are beautiful, but you will only enjoy them in summer and not every day. Everything else is very good. I live here. Greetings
Basque Country is generally known for... paella?
Really?
Really?
Spain in general.
Well Basque are not spanish
Askatasuna@@expatseverywhereexplores
@@expatseverywhereexplores No.
Paella is a Mediterranean dish, originally from the Levante (Valencia, Alicante and Castellón).
Txakoli is a wine of the region and you can also order a txakoli in Barcelona or Andalucía.
But please, don't make a video about Valencia and say the city is known by things like txakoli...
The Basque region is very nice but the jewels of Northern Spain are Asturias and Galicia. The winters are rainy but Spring, Summer and nowadays the fall are a lot better than most regions of Spain. If you like nature, unspoiled beauty, villages frozen in time (That's is why it is called "Deep Spain"), incredible food at very affordable prices and friendly locals (Asturias rivals Andalucia as the friendliest regions of Spain) you have to go West with a unique and vibrant Celtic tradition (They play the bagpipes).
Numbeo is showing Bilbao not being as safe as Zaragoza, Málaga, Valencia, did you feel unsafe at all?
Living in Spain in a city where it rains so often kind of defeats the whole point of living in that country, as people surely don't move there for the high wages, efficiency or lack of bureaucracy. Take the sun/warm weather & beach and suddenly most of the incentives of relocating to Spain are gone. In the case of this particular city, add the language situation (local language on top of Spanish), the safety aspect and the risk of political tensions due to its status on top of pretty high prices and lack of good weather and you have yourself a define no no.
There is no safety aspect (Spain as a whole is very safe, moreso than the UK for example - with lower crime rates than Germany, Denmark, and Belgium, to name a few), and really there are few political tensions these days either. Also, while Spain is ineffcient in terms of things like bureaucracy, it is far more efficient than the UK in terms of day-to-day things like public transport. The weather can be rainy in that part of the country, but still not a patch on the UK or Netherlands/Northern Germany/Northern France etc.. When there are good days, which are still very frequent in Summer, there are some of the best beaches in the whole of Spain on the north coast, alongside stunning mountains.
Also, and take this from someone who lives on Spain's Mediterranean coast, a bit of rain in summer is a blessed relief. It's great when 30c+ every day and you can go the beach on a weekend or after work, but it's difficult to sleep, you get sweaty within 2 minutes of leaving the house, you get mosquitos etc etc. No one goes through a whole summer here and isn't thankful when the temperatures finally start dipping. And it's only going to get hotter and hotter each passing year. In fact, many people in Spain go on summer holidays to the North coast for this very reason.
You make a lot of sense here!
Thanks for your ideas, but we are not Spanish neither French, so if people think this is Spain, that's wrong. 😊
If you think basque language has any relevance in Bilbao we can discard the rest of your comment because you have clearly no clue about the city.
Besides that, please check where Euskadi is in the Eurostat purchasing power and unemploiyment statistics. It is considerably better than the rest of Spain, many regional metrics are quite good by europen standards. Nothern and southern Spain are sometimes like two different countries.
Again, if you have no idea about Euskadi or Spain please don't mislead people.
@@Pablo-di8cf 😅😅😅 I have born and I live in Bilbao, Basque city from Basque Country. Don't tell me anything about my family, my history and about the city, thanks.
Maybe you only have relationships with foreing people only, ( Spanish within) , I have relationships with all kind of people, Basque, of course, and people who are not Basque but they speak the language of Basques. 😉