Visitors from Canada and the USA who plan to stay in Spain longer than a short vacation may find our practical tips helpful for handling everyday needs while living here.
Phones, Cash, TV, Amazon, Mail, Walmart, Groceries, Meat, Cheese, Butter, Coffee, Relish
| Need | Solution |
| Phones | Three approaches. I switched my main Canadian Phone plan to a World phone plan (Fonus), with my Canadian phone number, but usable for no extra charge in any country in the world, for unlimited data, text messages and phone calls! Only $30/Mo * My partner uses Airalo eSim which gives her some data but no phone calls. Fongo also provides FREE calls to an from Canadian numbers, and can receive banking test messages, when connected by WiFi If you want to send messages you need to pay for an upgrade. * Fongo offers a FREE Canadian phone number that you can use to RECEIVE SMS text messages in Spain via WiFi. Be aware they also sell upgrades to various other phone options. See our full article about Fonus |
| Cash | We use a prepaid WISE Visa card with tap for most purchases. I has the best exchange rate between Canadian and Euro, about 2% cheaper that the exchange rate banks charge. To transfer Canadian funds from CIBC/RBC using eTransfers is about $8, so try to do it in big dollar amounts. * Withdraw cash from local ATMs in larger 1000 chunks, since the local bank fees and WISE is about 7 euros * Be aware of ATM maximum withdrawal limits. Wise lets you set it to what ever you want dynamically. See Our full Article about Wise |
| TV | In Canada we use mostly Amazon FireTV with Prime, so we just bring the FireTV stick with us here, plug it into the HDMI slot of the TV and everything is english just like at home! Nord VPN has a FireTV app too, so with that on the stick, you can also use it for free Global TV news, etc. * Be aware that Bell in Canada allows you to “suspend” your TV/internet plan fee for a few months while your are out of the country. They charge about $20 per month during the suspension. |
| Amazon | We receive Amazon shipments to their special public delivery boxes (24/7) near the police station. Need to switch to Amazon in spain which has different products than Canada. |
| We have received mail from home, which is addressed to the spanish equivalent of General Delivery. They do not call you, so you need to go the post office every few days and check for mail, just like the olden days! | |
| Walmart | The closest to Walmart here is the Carrefour in the Miramar Mall. They also have a good selection of ExPat centric food, but expect to pay more than for the Spanish equivalent product. |
| Groceries | Rule #1 is try to find the Spanish equivalent brand rather than seeking the brands that we are familiar with. Anything imported to here will cost more than the local option. * Google Translate on your phone has a camera option, so it displays the English translation dynamically as you scan the item with your camera. Be sure you have phone data on to use this. In Fuengirola: * Each grocery store seems to have their own house brands which are well priced for reasonable quality items. We have three regulars. * The one closest to us is Mascom, which has most things we need. We try to buy the heavier items here. Since it’s only a block away. Cheddar is available here. * Meat selection seems better at Mercadona and a broader selection of many items. * Supercor at the Los Boleches train station has a broader selection of harder to get items. Particularly brand name products. * Carrefour in the Miramar Mall has a wider selection and a section of “foreign” (more expensive) choices. |
| Meat | * Symbols on packages help (cow, pig, chicken) * Hamburg here seems to have almost no fat, so quite different. The “American hamburg” patties in Mercadona is closest to what we are used to. * Lomo is the prime steak cut in the grocery store. |
| Cheese | There are lot of locally produced cheese’s but none like the Cheddar that I enjoy in sandwiches, etc. Cheddar can be found if you look hard. Pizza’s will normally use the “local” cheese, which is ok, but it is not the same as Mozzarella – which is usually available for small extra fee. |
| Butter / Margarine | I love real butter but use some margarine, and have found a delightful Irish option called Kerry Gold, which is 50/50 and spreadable. (at Mascom) |
| Coffee beans | We use a drip coffee maker in our apartment, but I found it hard to find good ground coffee here. The closest to the coffee we are used to is Columbian at Mercadona. But eventually I found an awesome local place that roasts beans from all over the world. EcoBean Coffee Roastery, near the Train station. |
| Relish | We had a hard time finding relish to put on hamburgers. The Scandinavian candy store called Goodies near the train station has it occasionally. |
Note that the image used in this article was created using AI.
See our additional articles about our travel in Spain
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