The Irish family who chose Galicia when everyone expected them to choose the coast
They wanted Spain, but not heat, crowds, or a life built around beaches. Galicia surprised them because it felt familiar and foreign at the same time.
- Main worry
- Would it feel too quiet and too rainy?
- Final reason
- Galicia
- Children
- 2 children
Spain, but not the hot Spain. Green landscape, affordability, real seasons, and a family pace that did not orbit a beach.
Galicia surprised them. The landscape rhymed with home. The cost of living was meaningfully lower than the famous coastal regions. The schools were good, the food culture was strong, and the rain felt familiar in a way that helped rather than hurt.
That Galicia would feel too quiet after years in a city. That the rain would replicate the thing they had been trying to leave. That family and friends back home would find it harder to visit than a sunnier region.
A small town with a strong school community. Markets, walking routes, and a coast that was dramatic rather than touristy. Neighbours who treated them as a family, not as expats.
Winter was quieter than they had expected, and on the wet weeks they had to work harder to keep the family rhythm. Some services were slower than coastal Spain. Visits home meant a connection, not a direct flight.
Visit in February as well as July. Pick a town with a strong school first, not a beautiful view first. Build a winter routine before the first winter, not during it.
The unexpected shortlist
Everyone around them expected Málaga or Alicante. The family kept circling back to the green north for reasons they struggled to explain at first.
By the second scouting trip, the explanation arrived: this was the only region where they could imagine being themselves, not a sunnier version of themselves.
Why Galicia, not the sun coast
Cost of living was a real factor. So was the food culture, the landscape, and the fact that the children responded to the green hills the way the parents had hoped they would respond to the sea.
The rain, in the end, was not the obstacle the brochures had implied.
The first winter
The first winter was the test. Quieter, wetter, slower than the coastal regions. The family had to build a weekday routine — pool, library, weekend walks — that they had not needed in Ireland.
By the second winter, the routine was theirs.
What they would tell another Irish family
Visit Galicia before you assume it is not Spain enough. Spend a wet February afternoon there. If it feels like home with better food and lower rent, you may have your answer.
Sunny Spain is not the only Spain. The right region is the one that fits the family's actual temperament, not the holiday brochure version.
Biggest surprise: The rain stopped being a problem within a season. The landscape did most of the emotional work the parents had hoped for.
- —Would this region fit our school needs?
- —Could our budget survive the rental market?
- —Would daily life still feel good outside holiday mode?
- —Are we choosing a town, or choosing a weekly routine?