Barcelona is a vibrant city with a wonderful climate, beautiful architecture, beaches and many cultural, music and sports activities on offer all year around. It has a large percentage of non-Spanish residents, and it is therefore very multicultural and cosmopolitan city. Many foreigners decide to move to Barcelona for work (there are many technological companies in the city where English is the main language), to study or just to have a different life experience in a very pleasant European city.
When moving, people ask themselves in which areas they should live. In our experience at RELOC Barcelona XXX, those with school age children should first and foremost consider where they should attend school before deciding on where to reside. The reasons for this recommendation are twofold: 1) international and bilingual schools are concentrated on certain areas inside and outside the city; because Catalan is used 70% of the time in public and semi-public schools, most foreign parents, especially non-Spanish speakers, chose an international or bi-lingual school for their children; 2) it is much easier to live close to the school to facilitate daily transport, extra activities and weekend plans as most children attending a school will live nearby.
Last, most parents can nowadays work from home for part of the time at least, making the commute a bit less frequent.
Those who do not have children have of course more freedom to decide where to live and take distance to the center, to work, the sea or a green area as their main criteria.
So, which areas are interesting to live if I have children at school age? Here is a list of the main areas inside and outside of the city offering good nearby schools.
Inside Barcelona
Most international and bilingual schools are in the area of Sarria/St Gervasi and Pedralbes. These are two of the nicer residential areas to live in Barcelona anyway, close to the city center but a bit quieter, with hardly any tourists but with many services in the area itself (hospitals, supermarkets, shops of all kinds, cafés, restaurants, gyms etc, beside schools).
In these areas you will find several British schools, an American school as well as the Japanese, French, Swiss and German schools. It is therefore more likely to find a place for your children in one of these schools. Also, if your children are older and will attend University, a few universities in the area (like IQS, La Salle, EU Business School, etc) offer courses fully in English for instance.
The drawback of these areas is that they are rather expensive in rental terms. Buildings are not new, but they usually have good size apartments some with gardens and pools even. In Pedralbes you can even find some large villas with own gardens.
Outside Barcelona
In the north coast of Barcelona, some 30 min by train or car from the city center, you find Alella and Montgat which also host some international and bilingual schools. These areas have many foreign residents as a consequence, also because they have a very easy access to the city and are next to the sea and good beaches. In Alella you can find many villas around a mountain area (it is a wine producing area) whereas in Montgat (and even El Masnou and Premia de Mar) you can find more affordable flats.
South of Barcelona, also on the coast, you have Castelldefels, well-known for its lovely and extensive beaches and housing many football players (Messi used to live in the area as well). Several international schools are in this area where you can find nice villas and residential buildings, albeit on the expensive side. It takes around 40 min by train por car, under normal traffic conditions, to the city center.
Inland, you find Sant Cugat del Vallés which also hosts some international schools and a very prestigious business school for those attending university (ESADE). Sant Cugat is far from the sea but offers very nice green areas and many recent buildings, with common gardens and pools. It is also close to an industrial area with many large companies so it may be the right place for some families working in the area. Prices are medium-high there are mostly high-quality residential buildings. It is well connected to the center by car and train as well.
Any questions or doubts? Do not hesitate to contact us at www.relocbcn.com
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