Mediterranean
Valencia, Alicante, Málaga, Murcia, Girona, Marbella. Winter light, a tourist overlay, and housing that has been repriced by foreign demand. The default expat map — not always the rational one.
Moving in
A place guide, not a visa mill.
WhichPlaceGusto ranks cities. This page is the practical frame around the ranking: how people actually enter in 2026, what buying still means after the Golden Visa, and which coast is which kind of life.
Four rooms
Do not average the peninsula.
Atlantic north
A Coruña, Vigo, Gijón, Santander, Bilbao, San Sebastián. Green, wetter, more labour-market depth per euro. If sunshine is a veto, skip this room. If housing is the constraint, start here.
Islands
Palma, Ibiza, Las Palmas, Tenerife. Climate is the product. Logistics are the tax. No AVE, seasonal airlift, and housing that prices in foreign demand.
Inland hubs
Madrid, Zaragoza, Sevilla, Granada, Córdoba, Salamanca, Pamplona, Vitoria, Logroño, Cáceres. Work, culture, heat or cold. The sea is a weekend, not a street.
Residency, 2026
Buying a flat is not a visa.
Golden Visa — closed
Spain stopped granting investor residence visas, including the real-estate route above €500,000, on 3 April 2025 (Organic Law 1/2025). A purchase no longer opens a new residence permit that way. Applications already filed, and permits already issued, follow that law’s transitional rules. Foreigners can still buy.
International telework
Remote work for a non-Spanish employer or foreign clients is a separate residence route under Law 14/2013. Income tests move with the minimum wage. This page does not state a monthly euro amount: 12-pay and 14-pay presentations differ, and no single consular instruction was pinned here. For 2026 the minimum wage itself is €1,221 a month in 14 payments, €17,094 a year.
Non-lucrative
Passive income, no Spanish job. Often used by people who will not work. Private health insurance is expected. The money test is a multiple of IPREM in the immigration rules, not a fixed €2,400 a month. A 2026 IPREM euro threshold was not pinned to the budget law on this page.
EU / impatriate tax
EU, EEA and Swiss citizens register; they do not apply for this visa. The impatriate regime (article 93 of the income-tax law) can tax Spanish work income at 24% up to €600,000, for the year you become tax-resident and the next five tax years. Above that, the higher rate on the tax agency’s page applies. It is optional, not automatic, and not for every remote worker.
Orientation, not legal advice. Rules move. Use a gestor or immigration lawyer before you book a container.
The residence and tax points above were checked against the linked official pages on 26 Sep 2026.
Organic Law 1/2025 (BOE) · Government note, 2 Apr 2025 · Minimum wage 2026 (BOE) · Law 14/2013, consolidated · Tax agency: impatriate regime
Housing
The market you are walking into.
Rent is the constraint
On the 2024 SERPAVI habitual-rent series, Barcelona and Madrid are the high end of this set. Ibiza sits above Palma, Málaga and Valencia. A Coruña, Gijón, Logroño, Murcia and Cáceres are lower.
Buying is still allowed
Non-residents can buy with an NIE, a Spanish bank account and a notary. Transfer tax or VAT, stamp duty, notary, registry and a lawyer sit on top of the price. There is no single national percentage. Tourist-let licences are local — do not underwrite a yield on a licence you do not hold.
Empadronamiento first
The padrón is the boring superpower: schools, health, some visas. You need a contract, a deed, or a willing owner. Cities under housing pressure make this harder than the brochure says.
Then pick a city
Do not reverse it. Visa path, budget and climate vetoes first — then the ranking. Set your weights →