Lean back and enjoy the winter sun warming your face whilst you savour a pre-lunch vermouth on one of Zaragoza’s plazas. There might be a sharp Cierzo wind blowing just around the corner, but the city’s no stranger to it, and hiding from it is easy.
Wander along the banks of the mighty Ebro as the spring leaves unfurl, keeping an eye peeled for signs of the resident beavers. Escape to the Pyrenees when the summer heat ramps up, then join the crowds at the Fiestas del Pilar in October. If you’re looking for an authentic Spanish city that’s affordable, liveable and well-connected, Zaragoza could be right up your calle.
Moving here from the south of Spain in 2021 for my husband’s job, we didn't expect much. But four years on, we’ve built a solid circle of friends and discovered an authentically Spanish city with so much to offer.
Short on time? Here's the cheat sheet
💭Living in Zaragoza offers an affordable and liveable city, right in between Madrid and Barcelona.
🏠Consider looking for a home in La Magdalena, a central neighborhood that has a more alternative vibe than the rest of the city.
📚Make your transition easier and get a headstart learning the language with Mondly.
🛂If you're not from an EU country, you'll need a visa to live here. Luckily there are plenty of options for your Spanish visa.
🤕Don't rely on luck alone. SafetyWing now offers 2 types of Nomad Insurance coverage options: Essentials for travelers and Complete for expats and digital nomads.
☂️Although it's not often on most people's list of best cities in Spain,
🏖️It's a great choice for those that would prefer not to live in the most popular places.
A Quick Intro to Zaragoza
Never heard of the windiest of Spanish cities?
Zaragoza is the capital of Aragon, in northeast Spain. Look north from one of the towers of the majestic Basilica del Pilar on a clear day, and you'll spy the peaks of the Pyrenees.
If you’ve ever taken the Barcelona-Madrid fast train, it’ll have stopped in Zaragoza. This strategic location halfway between them is one of its main advantages, as you can be in either city in under 1.5 hours.
There was a settlement on the banks of the River Ebro long before, but the Romans built the walled city of Cesar Augusto (named for the Roman Emperor), the ruins of which you can poke around today.
Over the centuries, the same name gradually morphed into today’s Zaragoza (get practising your Spanish Zs, you'll need them).
Not quite sold on living in Zaragoza? Consider these other Spanish cities instead:
Local Community: Living in Zaragoza as an Expat
Zaragoza isn't one of those Spanish cities bursting with other expats and tourists where it’s feasible to get by with just English (not that I’d ever recommend doing so).
And that, in my book, is a big part of its charm. But it does mean moving here will be far easier if you already speak Spanish. If you don’t, you have to be willing to throw yourself into learning.
Zaragoza doesn’t have a massive expat community, but on the plus side, people are generally here to stay. My international friends here are in it for the long haul, so I know it’s worth nurturing those relationships.
You do have to be willing to go out and find your people, though. Without an obvious international community, other expats also looking to meet like-minded people won’t just fall into your lap. And making friends in the local community isn't always easy, as people have long-established friendship groups.
Depending on your goals, I recommend these apps/platforms to kick off your language learning:
- Drops: Use the free version of this app for 5-minutes of vocab lessons a day. This is good for improving vocab but little else.
- Mondly: If you want to have a little bit more practice, this app is similar to Duolingo but has less silly prompts and more realistic phrases and sentences.
- Babbel: Babbel is similar to Mondly but also teaches cultural tidbits during the language lesson.
- iTalki: If you're more serious about learning to speak the language, this platform allows you to have 1:1 or group lessons with native teachers.
Cost of Living: Is Zaragoza Expensive?
It's still much cheaper to live in Zaragoza compared to other Spanish cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Málaga. A central one-bed flat will cost upwards of 650 euros per month, and for a room it's around 350 euros. The Idealista website is probably your best bet for finding a roost.
It's pretty affordable to eat out here, so if you’re hoping to live a tapas-heavy new life that's not too pricey, Zaragoza could be the perfect base.
Another thing to love about the city is how cheap the public transport options are, especially the electric bikes (brand new and €35/year in 2025), perfect for whizzing around its flat-as-a-pancake streets.
Best Areas to Live in Zaragoza
La Magdalena
Zaragoza isn’t a particularly alternative city, but if that’s your vibe, look for a place in La Magdalena, a characterful central neighborhood with plenty of veggie-friendly tapas bars, vintage shops and colorful locals.
This is where we lived for our first three years, and we loved being at the heart of things for the Fiestas de Pilares. Granted, it was less entertaining being woken up by the drums of a solemn Semana Santa procession at 5 am.
Casco Histórico (Old Town)
The casco histórico itself is another good bet, with Roman history right under your feet, but I’d avoid the streets of El Tubo, a few interconnecting blocks right in the heart of the casco. This is Zaragoza’s famous tapas area, overflowing most nights of the week. Cracking for an evening out, less good for a successful night’s sleep.
Suburbs
If you're after a quieter area, I’d recommend looking to the suburbs of Jesús, Arrabal and Actur, located to the north of the Rio Ebro. Here, the streets are wider and the green spaces lining the river are right on your doorstep, but you can still be in the heart of things in no time.
Where to Avoid
If you're wondering where to avoid in Zaragoza, steer clear of El Gancho to the west of the casco. In general, this is an incredibly safe city, but that particular area can be dicey at night.
Visas & the Legal Side
I moved to Spain in 2018, registered as self-employed (autónoma) and started paying taxes here before the UK left the European Union.
For UK (or any other non-EU) passport holders moving here today, the transition won't be quite as smooth. You’ll need stacks of determination to deal with Spanish bureaucracy, but friends of mine have successfully acquired the relatively new Digital Nomad Visa. I've also met people who've taken the route of becoming Pareja de Hecho with a Spanish partner.
Brace yourself for frustration and contradictions. You need a NIE (Foreigner's ID number) to open a bank account, but do you need a Spanish bank account to get a NIE? Yes.
And however well you prepare, you'll almost definitely be missing a vital document when you go to your hard-won extranjería appointment.
Low expectations will get you a long way. But it'll be worth it in the end, promise.
Weather in Zaragoza
If you asked most people what the downside of living in Zaragoza is, they’d probably say the weather.
And Zaragoza is indeed a place of extremes. We have cold winters (below freezing at night), and the infamous Cierzo wind, which whips down the Ebro valley from the Atlantic, can be fierce. In fact, if you really hate the wind, Zaragoza probably isn't for you.
That being said, it’s also generally wonderfully sunny, even in the depths of winter, and for those of us from cloudy climbs, that clear, bright light is a treat at any time of year.
Occasionally, we do lose the light, though. Brace yourself for the thick river fogs which sometimes descend on the Ebro valley around Christmas. They're atmospheric for about a day, before becoming really rather depressing. Thankfully, they're rare!
Then, there's the oppressively hot summers. Air conditioning is very much your friend in July and August, especially in the center of the city, where it struggles to cool down at night. If you can escape in the summer, I’d always recommend it.
But spring and autumn? That's when living in Zaragoza comes into its own.
Zaragoza as a Base to Explore
If there’s another downside to living in Zaragoza, it’s that the surrounding countryside isn't exactly inspiring or picturesque.
The real attraction of living here is everything you can reach within a one to two-and-a-half-hour drive. Head north and you’re in the foothills of the Pyrenees in an hour, and keep driving to feast your eyes on all the incredible rivers, valleys and peaks. Within 1.5 hours, you can cross the border into France.
Head west and you'll come upon the solitary mountain of Moncayo, dreamy hiking territory, and keep going to reach La Rioja. Head south and you’ll find ancient towns like Albarracín. Head east and you’ll end up in Matarraña, the "Tuscany of Spain".
Moving to Zaragoza: Things I Wish I Knew
Aside from things like the fact that everyone meets up for a "vermouth" before lunch (at midday or 1 pm), but vermouth is not compulsory, you can drink whatever you like...
Or that if you're not careful, meeting up for said vermouth can easily turn into lunch, then the institution of "tardeo" (afternoon clubbing), then dinner, and run on through until the early hours...
The main thing I wish I'd known when saying goodbye to our life down south and reluctantly moving north for our new adventure, was that I'd come to love it here.
It might take you a while to settle, but you'll grow to appreciate the Spanish soul of the city, discover all the cultural events on offer, and start feeling connected to its rich history.
Just as the local Spanish accent grows on you, until one day you're incredibly fond of it (and have even picked it up), this unassuming city creeps under your skin, slowly but surely, until you realise you're so at home, you can't imagine being anywhere else.
All pictures, except for the one of Barcelona, are courtesy of depositphotos.
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