Pros and Cons of Living in Barcelona: An Expat’s Honest Review

Are you curious about the real pros and cons of living in Barcelona as an expat?

Maybe you’re dreaming of starting a new life in this Mediterranean city but wondering whether Barcelona is the best fit for you.

From its sunny climate and world-famous architecture to everyday challenges like bureaucracy and finding an affordable apartment, living in Barcelona as an expat comes with both advantages and disadvantages that you should be aware of before you move.

After spending two and a half years living and working in Barcelona with my husband and dog, we decided that the Catalan capital wasn’t a fit for us. We packed up our things and moved to the suburbs of Madrid.

Our move made me think that maybe our experiences of living in Barcelona as a 30-something-year-old couple could help some of you looking to move to Barcelona.

So, I decided to put together everything I learned over the last two and a half years about the pros and cons of living in Barcelona as a foreigner.

This is a very personal post sharing my own experiences with everyday life in Barcelona and adapting to Catalan culture.

Barcelona isn’t my first time living abroad. Before moving here, I lived in Buenos Aires (Argentina) for seven years, as well as living in Sweden, Cuba, and Southern Spain.

All these experiences have shaped my perspective on what it’s really like to be an expat in Barcelona.

Your experience of Barcelona may be very different—and that’s perfectly okay!

My aim isn’t to criticize but to offer an honest look at both the pros and cons of living in Barcelona as an expat, so you can make an informed decision about your own expat journey. If you disagree with something I share or have questions about living in Barcelona, please feel free to leave a comment below.

Let’s get under the skin of the real pros and cons of living in Barcelona as an expat!

An Expat’s Honest Pros and Cons of Expat Life in Barcelona

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Barcelona Expat Life: Pros and Cons

Barcelona is one of the most popular European cities among expats, digital nomads, and other adventurous souls.

In 2025, 26.4% of Barcelona residents were foreign nationals, meaning that there were nearly 460,000 foreigners living in Barcelona, which was a new record for Barcelona.

Between 2023 and 2025, my husband and I were part of the statistics of foreign nationals in Barcelona; I as a Danish national (as you properly know by now) and he as an Argentine national.

But after two and a half years of living in Barcelona, we decided to leave. And I left the city with mixed feelings.

On the one hand, I met great people and had great experiences with them, got into hiking with my dog, Baloo, improved my yoga skills, and got my first official corporate promotion.

On the other hand, I sit back with a feeling that Barcelona wasn’t really a city for me. The cost of living in Barcelona doesn’t seem to align with the quality you get, and some locals’ pride in their Catalan language and culture seems to overshadow the common coexistence and respectful treatment of other people.

Your experience of living in Barcelona might be very different, and you might enjoy and prioritize other aspects than me. But here I wanted to share my experiences of the pros and cons of living in Barcelona as an expat.

The Benefits of Living in Barcelona

Let’s first look at the benefits of living in Barcelona as a foreigner, in my opinion!

Mild Mediterranean Climate

Barcelona’s Mediterranean weather is one of the biggest benefits of living in Barcelona as an expat.

With mild winters and warm, sunny summers, the city offers a pleasant climate year-round. Even during the colder months, temperatures rarely drop below 10°C (50°F).

Throughout the year, you will have plenty of days of sunshine, perfect for outdoor activities. Whether it’s sunbathing on one of Barcelona’s many beaches, enjoying a walk in the city’s numerous parks, or going for a hike in the Collserola Natural Park.

Barcelona’s balanced climate also means plenty of opportunities for enjoying Barcelona’s culture and outdoor social life.

Sea & Mountains Nearby

Barcelona is nestled between the sea and the mountains, and one of my favorite parts about living in Barcelona was the beautiful outdoor scenery available within reach of the city.

On the one hand, Barcelona’s location by the Mediterranean Sea, with over 2.8 miles (4.5 kilometers) of coastline and beaches, makes the city a perfect sunbathing and water sports.

Among the most popular beaches in Barcelona are the Barceloneta Beach, Bogatell Beach, Nova Icária, and Marbell Beach. All Barcelona’s beaches are easily accessible by public transport or a short bike ride.

I didn’t end up using the beach in Barcelona as much as I thought I would before moving there. Mainly because we were living on the opposite end of the city from the beach, but also because the beaches are very popular and quickly get very crowded.

My favorite part about living in Barcelona was hiking in the Collserola Mountains!

The Collserola Natural Park is a huge natural park surrounding Barcelona and offering stunning views over the city. There is an extensive network of hiking trails throughout the Collserola Park, and the area is just a short metro ride away from the city center.

I lived in Horta, a neighborhood on the edge of Barcelona towards the Collserola Mountains, and I would go there with my dog, Baloo, several times a week.

An Active International Expat Community

One of the great advantages of living in Barcelona as an expat is, for sure, the many networking opportunities and social events geared towards expats.

Coming from Buenos Aires, where the expat community is relatively small, I was impressed with the larger and very active expat community in Barcelona.

Various groups and organizations in Barcelona focus on helping expats settle and meet like-minded people, including Internations, Meetup groups, language exchange events, and various Facebook community pages such as Barcelona Expats.

Barcelona’s City Council has even established a special agency focused on supporting the expat community in Barcelona, called Barcelona International Welcome. Their website has valuable guides on how to get started on your expat life in Barcelona.

Once a year, Barcelona International Welcome even hosts a special event for the city’s many international residents called Barcelona International Community Day.

The Barcelona International Community Day is a whole-day conference with workshops, presentations, and booths all geared towards the expat community in Barcelona. I went to the Community Day in 2024, and it’s a nice place to get information about social groups and NGOs to join in Barcelona, but it’s not the best place to go for socializing and meeting new people.

Here are some Barcelona expat resources to help you get started:

• Barcelona International Welcome
• Barcelona Expat Life
• Barcelona Metropolitan
• Barcelona Expats
• Barcelona Secreta

Easy-to-Use Public Transport System 

Barcelona’s easy-to-use public transport system is another great benefit of living in Barcelona.

Barcelona offers a comprehensive network of buses, trams, and metro lines connecting all parts of the city at an affordable price.

The metro system, in particular, is very efficient and runs with great frequency (around every 3 minutes a new train comes), and punctuality.

The metro starts running from early morning until late at night. On weekends, the metro even runs throughout the night.

Barcelona’s transport system is also budget-friendly, with options for unlimited travel through monthly tickets for around 20 euros. Each month, I would buy the monthly unlimited ticket, so I would not have to worry about jumping on a bus for just two stops or taking the metro back and forth to the office.

With the monthly tickets, you can even do a quick day trip to Castelldefels to enjoy the beautiful beaches at Platja Castelldefells.

Barcelona also offers a bike-sharing program, Smou, and bike lanes in some parts of the city. Biking is not as popular or widespread in Barcelona as I’m used to from Copenhagen.

Local Healthcare System

Barcelona offers both public and private healthcare for residents. And one thing I appreciated about living in Barcelona was how well, especially the private healthcare system, worked.

There are several private healthcare providers in Barcelona offering different coverage plans and support. With private healthcare, you can get doctor appointments at their clinics or go to one of their associated clinics and hospitals.

Hospital Quironsalud and Teknon Medical Centre are among the best private hospitals in Barcelona, and they offer premium services and shorter wait times than most other hospitals and clinics.

I mostly used Quironsalud with my private insurance, DKV, which I got as part of the healthcare plan with my Spanish job. I prefer Quionsalud because I can reserve the doctor’s appointments directly through their app without having to phone them (I hate phone calls and especially phone calls in Spanish), and their service is generally good and professional.

If you want the flexibility to pick exactly which doctors, specialists, or clinics you go to in Barcelona, SafetyWing’s Nomad Insurance is a great option. With the Complete Nomad Insurance, you can see any local provider you like.

The public Catalan healthcare system, CatSalut, provides residents with access to a wide range of services from primary care and routine check-ups to specialist treatments. For routine check-ups, vaccinations, blood tests, etc., there are local health centres, called CAPs, in all neighborhoods throughout the city.

Once you are registered in the public healthcare system, you can attend any doctor for free or at a very low cost. However, waiting times in CatSalut can be very long, and it can be really difficult to reschedule an appointment.

Personally, I had my own hiccups with the public healthcare system in Barcelona when I broke my finger. They sent me back and forth between different clinics and made me wait for almost two hours after taking my X-ray to give me the diagnosis of what was happening.

After the two frustrating hours of waiting and an ill-tempered doctor in the public healthcare system, I went to the emergency room at Hospital Quironsalud and was sorted out in 30 minutes.

If I didn’t have the private insurance through my job, I would choose SafetyWing’s Complete Nomad Insurance as my travel and healthcare insurance for living in Barcelona, so make sure I could go to Quironsalud or any of the other private healthcare offerings in Barcelona.