City comparison playlist How I Decide Whether to Move to a New City...
Life in Spain playlist Week In Life When You Live In Alicante

I’ve been living in Alicante for over a year, and I kept getting the same question — why not Barcelona? So I spent two months there in 2026 to actually find out.

This is part 1 of my comparison, where I break down housing situation (or even housing crisis if you will) and cost of living in both cities. Not from a travel blog perspective — from someone who has actually rented in Spain, dealt with the paperwork, and knows what the real numbers look like.

A few things I get into that you won’t find in most guides: why cheap apartments on Idealista are almost never what they seem, what happens when you don’t have a Spanish work contract (and how much extra it actually costs you), and why living in Barcelona is expensive not simply because it's a big city - the real reason is explained in my video. In very detail, with specific numbers.

This is probably the most practical video I've ever done. I walk you through the exact requirements your landlord will have, I show you around the biggest renting platform in Spain, and do the reality check, explaining why numbers from that website are not always close to the truth.

Part 2 is coming next week — community, work-life balance, nature and architecture, and my final verdict.

📌 Timestamps:
00:00 I questioned which city is better for life - Alicante or Barcelona
00:58 Terms of rent in Spain
01:51 Idealista vs Real Estate agencies
04:22 Don’t fall for fraud
05:39 Cost of rent in Barcelona and in Alicante
08:37 Cost of living in Barcelona - real reason of the difference
11:44 Cost of living necessities

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