I'd be interested to know what people think about life in Barcelona. I know property is expensive in Barcelona, but is it cheaper a distance away? Can anyone recommend somewhere to live that is not too built up where one can rent a small detatched house with a garden - reasonably. Are people friendly? What is the weather like? Are there many Brits? What is there to do? Good points and bad points please - many thanks.

Just my impresssion

Good Points - Very lively atmosphere. Great views and beautiful location (for a city), and the sea always appeals to people. Despite its rep you can still find friendly people here. Nice architecture (in places). Good public transport.

Bad points - Some Catalan extremists won't acknowledge you if you speak in Castellano. A snooty attitude, looking down on other parts of Spain. Most jobs require you to be fluent in Catalan as well as Spanish. Street crime (pickpockets etc) seems even worse than Madrid. People I've known who worked in Barcelona say the wages/salaries are low in comparison to the prices.

That seems to be the general impression that the worst thing about barcelona is the people., and there a plenty of PROS, usually found to be plying their trade in broad daylight.

Barcelona is not short of CONS and EX CONS either, hence the number of pickpockets.

Barcelona is very expensive and hectic, I lived there for nearly 2 years. I cant think of anywhere where you could get a small house and a garden cheaply. A 3 bed flat with a garden in the city itself will set you back something like 2000 Eur/month. There are some upmarket suburbs like Sant Cugat and maybe Castelldefels (the later has lots of foreigners), but they are equaly expensive. A lot
of the Barcelona subburbs are poor, rundown and very ugly (Hospitalet, Mataró, Badalona etc)
Pros: big city and the things it brings, the beach in the city, long paseos and close to Costa Brava and the countryside, great for teengagers as the education is good and lots of things for them to do. Safe as long as you dont look like a tourist
Bad: Expensive, noisy, uncomfortably humid in the summer and cold in the winter. The Catalan issue. The centre is heaving with tourists all year long

If you are rich, say earn 8,000-10,000 EUR a month then you can have a great life in Barcelona, just like you can in London or any other big city. And to make the most of it you should speak Spanish AND Catalan, non-Catalan speakers are deliberately excluded from politics, city life and social occasions

Whoops! How did I spell detached incorrectly? Apologies.