Not exactly in Barcelona but south in the Valencia region: www.sun-and-co.com A community of around 15 digital nomads under one roof

Hey, how did you get on with this search? Maybe looking to come from April…

Hey Tyler
So you are in Bcn now ? What did you find ? I was there for a week last month and I hated having to rent an expensive airbnb with shitty wifi
But it did the job : we found the partners and the apartment for thecoalition.io/barcelona and we are opening the first Startup house in barcelona may 2nd
So for me for a stay of 1-3 months, the best way to find an apartment in Barcelona is now thecoalition.io/barcelona

I’m finding LoQUo really difficult to navigate… Mi espanol es tambien lol… but, there’s no way to sort by bedrooms or price or anything. I guess it’s worth it if I save a 1000 euros a month…

Side note- I’ve also been using http://www.shbarcelona.com/ and http://kyero.com … (Kyero just seems to be an aggregator though)… once we get our residency visa, I’ll pick my search up more seriously.

+1 for the loquo.com. i lived in Barcelona for 3 years and this was the way everybody I knew found their apartments. It seemed to be the way the locals found apartments too. The other options are more aimed at tourists and more expensive, with large agency fees also.

And airbnb, is obviously just people subletting the places which they originally picked up cheap on loquo.com and are running as side businesses. That’s how most of my friends there are doing it anyway.

Ahh… the memories are flooding back now. Such a magical city! I think i’ll have to book a flight there soon.

I lived in Barcelona for one year. For long term it’s best to rent without agencies because they charge 1 or 2 months of fee. On Loquo you’ll find private "pisos"
http://www.loquo.com/vivienda/barcelona/

Check also this blog for some nice tips: http://www.spanishteacherbarcelona.com/living-barcelona/find-flat-barcelona/

Hey mate. I’m gonna hang out there.
I’ve already stayed there last year from april tim october, in a friend’s apartment in El Borne, that now is not available anymore.
So let’s find something together and hell yeah let’s create common resources.
I’m calling some acquaintances to find a proper place. My impressions are El Borne is amazing but I won’t advice to be there in the summer it’s a mess. And homes are old and a little bit dirty unless you spend a lot.
Barceloneta or El Poble Nou are better but it’s not easy to find a place during top season.
El Poble Sec, Gracia and Exaimple are truly beautiful barrios, Guinardo also.
Let’s have a look at idealista, rentalia, habitaclia… let’s keep in touch definitely

We’re applying for our Residency Visas to hopefully move there in August. I’ve rented directly from this person a number of times: http://negre.us/apartments/ - his name is Fernando Negre - has some great apartments - although a little expensive. But if you go direct and talk to him directly he’ll typically give a good discount if you ask.

Can’t wait!

Oh, I wished I had read this before! I got an appartment on bnb

Checking the sites I see what you mean. I usually wrote them directly an email and asked for what kind of apartment they have for 1 to 3 months. The price per night looks really high, but usually they have better prices for monthly stays. (Me and friends paid around 800€ to 900€ per month with lodgingapartments.com) It really depends on your budget. One of the cheapest way is clearly looking for rental rooms at http://www.loquo.com

Hey tyler,
I am a “local” in barcelona, have living here on and off for arround 3 years.

First of all: Airbnb is really expensive in this city. I have a good friend with a lot of apartments for large groups and this is a real business here.

Locals normally spot apartments on a website called “loquo”, but it can be difficult if you don’t speak spanish and if its for very short rentals. There are specialized agencys for short term rentals like http://www.apartmentbarcelona.com/ and http://www.ainb.net/. I’ve made really good experiences with http://lodgingapartments.com/, they take a comission but have really great, furnished apartments in barceloneta.

For the best quarters: I lived in the “Born”, its not quite as turistic and “dirty” than the gothic or raval quarter, but still right in the city center. A lot of expats, students and freelancers life there and it has a great atmosphere with a lot of bars, small shops and art galleries (although its changing). If you like to be a little bit more outside the city center gracia is awesome as well, a lot of the alternative party scene is happening there.

If you have any questions just let me know

I’d also try my luck browsing through different facebook groups like “Barcelona Apartments”, “Barcelona rentals” an also “Barcelona expats”. As birds of a feather flock together, you could also look at “Barcelona für Deutsche” if you are German-speaking, “Italiani a BARCELONA !!” for italians or “Svenskar i Barcelona” for swedish people, as many expats prefer to rent out their apartment to their fellow countrymen.

Hey Tyler,

I was in Barcelona with an Airbnb for 10 days last August. It was hot. We did a room in an several bedroom apartment. I would recommend against that for long stays for sanity’s sake, though your disposition could tolerate it.

While I don’t have a direct answer, after nomad’ing for an additional 7 months (still here in Europe!) and dealing with this issue every month, we have evolved our strategy and made www.distancescore.com . Its meant to help you and me plot the places we plan on visiting (coworking, metro, whatever) and comparing different neighborhoods or addresses.

If you do use Airbnb, message ahead regarding wifi if you plan on working there. Spain has the best connectivity I’ve found all over Europe, bar Switzerland, but you never know.

Hi,

Sorry to hear that you loose your luggages.

It seems that Vueling is having a lot of problem this summer, with late or cancelled flights, etc…

A friend told me that he filled a complaint with Aena, who is the entity in charge of the airports (it was for a delayed flight, but maybe works also for lost luggage) in Spain: https://serviciostelematicos.aena.es/csee/Satellite?c=Page&p=1237542279447&SiteName=AdministracionElectronica&pagename=AdministracionElectronica&cid=1237542279447

Other way is probably to fill an official complaint against Vueling, by filling an 'hoja de reclamacion". By law all businesses in Cataluña needs to handle this form to anyone who ask for it. So the Vueling office should give you one. The form consist of three copies: 1 for you, 1 for the company and 1 for the offical agency in charge of protecting the consumers.

I am not 100% sure how it works (never use it myself so far) but I think that first you fill the form, present it to Vueling and from then they have something like 1 month to give you a solution. If nothing satisfactory is done after this period you can then forward the complaint to the official agency.

If you speak spanish, I would suggest you give a call to the phone number 012 ( Atención Ciudadana de la Generalitat de Catalunya), which can probably give you more accurate advices.

Some links that may helps:

• Hoja de reclamacion (in catalan… I did not find it in spanish so far. Maybe a Catalan speaker can help you to fill it) : http://consum.gencat.cat/doc/doc_59629304_1.pdf
• the rules of the game: http://consum.gencat.cat/temes_de_consum/reclamacions/index_es.html

Good luck for your luggage. I Hope you enjoy your stay in Barcelona despite of this problem !

Cheers,

Sam

Here’s a complete compilation of the best hotspots in town for nomading dogs: http://blog.gudog.com/mejor-parque-para-perros-en-barcelona/

Most of Barcelona is pretty friendly, also you’ve tons of parks all around.

I’m sure you will both enjoy [Park de la Ciudatella] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parc_de_la_Ciutadella).

Yet, I wouldn’t spend much time in the city center districts, as they are too crowded and can stress your dog. Although I’ve seen very happy dogs in Plaça Catalunya chasing pigeons all around.

Hi Andres -

I travel with my dog and honestly Spain is the least pet-friendly country I’ve been to in Europe. The rest of mainland Europe is super pet-friendly. You’ll see dogs on trains, buses, restaurants, shops, cafes, bars…you name it. Rules vary from country to country, but generally dogs are welcomed with open arms. Spain, on the other hand, has a lot of no-dogs-allowed signs and a lot more rules. It’s still better than the US, but definitely not as great as Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium, or Italy (etc.).

In case it’s helpful: http://gigigriffis.com/a-small-dogs-guide-to-spain/

Since you are in Spain at the moment, a good SIM card for internet roaming is O range M undo with GoE urope option (see details here: Prepaid Data Wiki Option Euro1. Seems to be 1EUR for each 100MB roaming in EU/EEA, as long as credit lasts. Speed wise HSPA+, which is not far off from 4G in my experience.

Thanks, that is good info, i’m sorry to hear about your loss.

There is a huge amount of distrust amongst employers allowing their staff to work from home (/anywhere) because it goes against the “stick” method of managing people and denies our self directed nature.

Here’s a video on that illusive work/life balance that still has most people trapped.

Here’s a dude who made a new life for himself on the road, there must be thousands who are realising they can have a meaningful life away from the rat race and still live comfortably and enjoy the finer things. Many people who pivot to van living find they don’t need as much stuff as they thought! You may also like to look into the space saving ideas behind the “tiny house” movement.

Here’s one that I just watched featuring Daniel Pink about sales; the take-home for me is shifting from problem solving to problem finding… I would argue that human nature is closer to wanting to give without expectation, however in the present “value proposition” system conditional exchange is normal, and that’s ok.

How would you recommend somebody get into IT sales with no previous experience (other than PC/laptop sales in a retail setting) and a strong aversion for anything rat race?

Thanks!

I’d like to ask you some questions before I have a go answering yours!

How long have you been working in IT sales before they trusted you to do the job unsupervised? How much previous sales experience did you have before then? I’m about to take a really badly paid job to get a van because i’m done with renting, this decision has been 5 years in the making!

I’ve met people from all over Europe (mostly the wealthy North and West) and they love their vans. I like to joke about the “peaceful retirement village” with the over 60s all parked up on some Spanish scrub land by the sea with water and electric hookup.

I follow hak5 on youtube, Darren did hack across America in a Sprinter 2 years back. There are more videos in this series but this is the first one I found.

Hi, Gaby! I use Simyo all across EU actually, it's one of the best deals in Europe :) For more information, please see this wiki prepaid-data-sim-card.fandom.com/wiki/Spain -- it's the best resource on prepaid data sims anywhere in the world. The only catch is if you're a resident you can get much better deals using contract subscription.

https://www.idealista.com/
https://www.fotocasa.es/es/

Use the pages Idealista and Fotocasa, the spanish used them!

thanks for your replies! Housesitting is not really an option unfortunately - I prefer to rent a flat for a few weeks/months.

Ruzafa seems like a nice neighborhood. I am also asking for airbnb alternatives because airbnb prices for full apartments are quite high. I am a bit surprised but maybe that’s normal rental prices in Valencia and I am just very late. Or authorities started targeting airbnb, so that there are increased costs for landlords and less competition.

Aw! Valencia was my first nomad home! I got my accommodation with Airbnb so can’t help with alternatives. But I lived in the Rusafa area and can highly recommend this. It’s an arty neighbourhood with a few nice cafes to work in and a short walk into the centre.

If you don’t mind some responsibility you could give housesitting a chance. There are many offers in Spain and if you are lucky you could get quite a big house with all amenities. Most sits also come with pets, however. I’d say TrustedHousesitters.com and MindMyHouse.com are the best sites. If you don’t want to spend much money, try MindMyHouse first, it’s only about 20$.

Edit: If you sign up, I’d love to give you my referral link.

Not exactly in Barcelona but south in the Valencia region: www.sun-and-co.com A community of around 15 digital nomads under one roof