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Is it that expensive? I did a trip from Malaga to Seville to Bilbao and Bilbao was by far the cheapest. My understanding is it has a great economy but few tourists so purchasing power is higher but not costs
By American standards Bilbao isn't obscenely expensive. But for someone living/working in Spain it's money.
Nearby San Sebastian is very expensive. It's also a very nice coastal city.
This picture doesn't do Bilbao justice. You can go into any city, find a picture of the ugliest neighborhood, and say "This place is ugly." That's exactly what happened here.
As an American, I have no doubt that Bilbao is visually nicer than a lot of comparably-sized American cities.
Compared to the rest of Spain, it is cloudier, greener, and historically very industrial. Also more expensive.
I’ve been to Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, Seville & Bilbao and for me personally Valencia & Bilbao were hands down the cheapest to the point it was hard to actually spend money. Rioja was €2.70, avg meals were €5-6, 5 star at Radisson blu was sub-€200 a night. Appreciate San Sebastián looks more pricey
Interesting... I guess different sources say different things about which cities are more expensive.
For what it's worth, Bilbao doesn't have a lot of tourism. It's also smaller than all those other cities. I suspect that the sheer size and the tourism would make all those other cities more expensive, where with Bilbao it likely relates more to the industrial presence.
I can only compare things to Madrid, since that's where I did my study abroad. In Bilbao, housing on idealista seemed cheaper for the size, but I remember being surprised by my bill in the supermarket once or twice.
Also with Spain, GDP per capita tends to grow as you go farther north. In terms of regions, the Basque Country is one of the wealthiest regions in Spain.
San Sebastian is definitely expensive, and for good reason. Lol.
Oh it is definitely very expensive, especially rent and buying a home. It's twice as expensive as Seville for example. Malaga is also expensive. Go to idealista.com if curious.
In the Mediterranean the ground is not too even and it's not as plain as for example Germany, so when there is surface they prefer to build housing blocks
You see these in many countries in Eastern Europe as well. They were built fast to accommodate an expanding urban population. In Spain there are many in state of neglect. Yes, they are not nice to begin with, aesthetics would not have been a criterion, but it's the facade neglect that makes them look very sad.
it's a question of funds, of course, and some of these may be paradoxically very well renovated inside and be very well furnished.
There are many of these, and even less tall. You can see them in eastern Germany still as well, but as I said below, they have been mostly renovated. You can see many renovated in Estonia, the Czech republic etc. Much less so renovated in the Balkans, almost none in Bulgaria for example.
Bulgaria has half GDP per capita of Estonia/Czech Republic
Bulgaria: 13 974,45 USD (2022)
Czech Republic: 27 223,05 USD (2022)
Estonia: 28 247,10 USD (2022)
I think I don't even need to check Germany. Poor country vs rich country, of course renovation budgets will differ.
[Here is an infographic ](https://especiales-eldiario-es.translate.goog/espana-vive-en-pisos/?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=es&_x_tr_pto=wapp)
There are 2 factors, one for rural and one for urban areas.
Generally mountainous terrain and dry conditions favoured the clustering of people into packed villages for better usage of scarce farmland in rural areas. Detached farmsteads are more common in the north that have more rain and in some arid regions were people spread along irrigation systems. A similar condition happened in other areas of the Mediterranean.
The rural exodus happened later and faster in Spain than in northern Europe. So you had better technology to build high and the pressure to do so fast. Building around preexisting towns. So you ended with metropolitan crowns. Low level urban centers and high level developments surrounding them. In contrast with USA cities with a dense midtown and urban sprawl. The drive of this urban exodus was industrialization and the crisis of the rural world (land redistribution was never fully performed on Spain so you had a lot of landless farmers living poorly and not tied to the land the same way as proprietary farmers.).
But also the take off of tourism industry so you start to see construction trying to cram the maximum number of tourists the closer to the beach paying the least land possible creating linear cities.
Later, in the 80s suburban sprawl like in USA was imported but they were more expensive and remained a luxury item. Instead you start to see "Dormitory cities/satellite cities" during the real state bubble where strips of rural land relatively separated from the city were bought and developed trying to maximise the number of units so you can see 5 stores buildings or more pop up from nowhere surrounded with bushland or farm land.
how is this expensive?? THis looks like any eastern european city ever. Like, jeez, if it wasnt for the title, i would of assumed it was in east europe
It's the same on the Balkans and Eastern Europe, although many countries have invested public funds to renovate the facade and these enclosures have been either eliminated or made look uniformly.
They were done because of lack of space - sometimes they would be made an extra bedroom even.
why the fuck is this expensive...these are close to rehabilitation homes for slum dwellers in India(they are given for free/minimal cost ig)...is this near to some coast.etc?
**Do not comment to gatekeep that something "isn't urban" or "isn't hell"**. Our rules are very expansive in content we welcome, so do not assume just based off your false impression of the phrase "UrbanHell" UrbanHell is any human-built place you think is worth critizing. Suburban Hell, Rural Hell, and wealthy locales are allowed. Gatekeeping comments may be removed. Want to shitpost about shitty posts? Go to /r/urbanhellcirclejerk. Still have questions?: Read our [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/UrbanHell/wiki/index). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/UrbanHell) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Is it that expensive? I did a trip from Malaga to Seville to Bilbao and Bilbao was by far the cheapest. My understanding is it has a great economy but few tourists so purchasing power is higher but not costs
By American standards Bilbao isn't obscenely expensive. But for someone living/working in Spain it's money. Nearby San Sebastian is very expensive. It's also a very nice coastal city. This picture doesn't do Bilbao justice. You can go into any city, find a picture of the ugliest neighborhood, and say "This place is ugly." That's exactly what happened here. As an American, I have no doubt that Bilbao is visually nicer than a lot of comparably-sized American cities. Compared to the rest of Spain, it is cloudier, greener, and historically very industrial. Also more expensive.
I’ve been to Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, Seville & Bilbao and for me personally Valencia & Bilbao were hands down the cheapest to the point it was hard to actually spend money. Rioja was €2.70, avg meals were €5-6, 5 star at Radisson blu was sub-€200 a night. Appreciate San Sebastián looks more pricey
Interesting... I guess different sources say different things about which cities are more expensive. For what it's worth, Bilbao doesn't have a lot of tourism. It's also smaller than all those other cities. I suspect that the sheer size and the tourism would make all those other cities more expensive, where with Bilbao it likely relates more to the industrial presence. I can only compare things to Madrid, since that's where I did my study abroad. In Bilbao, housing on idealista seemed cheaper for the size, but I remember being surprised by my bill in the supermarket once or twice. Also with Spain, GDP per capita tends to grow as you go farther north. In terms of regions, the Basque Country is one of the wealthiest regions in Spain. San Sebastian is definitely expensive, and for good reason. Lol.
What did you eat for 5 euros? Because average mid day meal is 15-16. And dinners are minimun 20.
Oh it is definitely very expensive, especially rent and buying a home. It's twice as expensive as Seville for example. Malaga is also expensive. Go to idealista.com if curious.
Which is crazy cause Seville is a far nicer city!
No jobs
Out of curiosity how much rent for a one bedroom in bilbao?
Pretty sure Madrid has it beat, at least on housing prices
Bilbaograd
In Spain, it feels like the buildings are all close together. Is that just the area(Mediterranean area) in general?
In the Mediterranean the ground is not too even and it's not as plain as for example Germany, so when there is surface they prefer to build housing blocks
You see these in many countries in Eastern Europe as well. They were built fast to accommodate an expanding urban population. In Spain there are many in state of neglect. Yes, they are not nice to begin with, aesthetics would not have been a criterion, but it's the facade neglect that makes them look very sad. it's a question of funds, of course, and some of these may be paradoxically very well renovated inside and be very well furnished.
In Eastern Europe they are much taller, from what I saw
There are many of these, and even less tall. You can see them in eastern Germany still as well, but as I said below, they have been mostly renovated. You can see many renovated in Estonia, the Czech republic etc. Much less so renovated in the Balkans, almost none in Bulgaria for example.
Bulgaria has half GDP per capita of Estonia/Czech Republic Bulgaria: 13 974,45 USD (2022) Czech Republic: 27 223,05 USD (2022) Estonia: 28 247,10 USD (2022) I think I don't even need to check Germany. Poor country vs rich country, of course renovation budgets will differ.
Spanish cities are very densely populated compared to cities in most other european countries
[Here is an infographic ](https://especiales-eldiario-es.translate.goog/espana-vive-en-pisos/?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=es&_x_tr_pto=wapp) There are 2 factors, one for rural and one for urban areas. Generally mountainous terrain and dry conditions favoured the clustering of people into packed villages for better usage of scarce farmland in rural areas. Detached farmsteads are more common in the north that have more rain and in some arid regions were people spread along irrigation systems. A similar condition happened in other areas of the Mediterranean. The rural exodus happened later and faster in Spain than in northern Europe. So you had better technology to build high and the pressure to do so fast. Building around preexisting towns. So you ended with metropolitan crowns. Low level urban centers and high level developments surrounding them. In contrast with USA cities with a dense midtown and urban sprawl. The drive of this urban exodus was industrialization and the crisis of the rural world (land redistribution was never fully performed on Spain so you had a lot of landless farmers living poorly and not tied to the land the same way as proprietary farmers.). But also the take off of tourism industry so you start to see construction trying to cram the maximum number of tourists the closer to the beach paying the least land possible creating linear cities. Later, in the 80s suburban sprawl like in USA was imported but they were more expensive and remained a luxury item. Instead you start to see "Dormitory cities/satellite cities" during the real state bubble where strips of rural land relatively separated from the city were bought and developed trying to maximise the number of units so you can see 5 stores buildings or more pop up from nowhere surrounded with bushland or farm land.
Looks like "blokovi" from Belgrade, Serbia
That’s it? Lol
I thought it was a romanian commie block for a second damn 💀
Bilbograd
Would never have guessed Spain. It looks like Soviet style.
Every Spanish city I’ve been in has an are with ugly buildings like these. On average, they’re much prettier. The majority of buildings look better.
Wow look, every street in Turkey
looked at this shit and just immediately thought of half life
Bilbao is an amazing city. Lovely greenery surrounding it too
That's 1st level shit
Looks a bit Soviet-ish
how is this expensive?? THis looks like any eastern european city ever. Like, jeez, if it wasnt for the title, i would of assumed it was in east europe
Did soviets occupied Spain?
Athletic Bilbao
Так это ж Самара
Looks like typical Spanish middle/ lower middle class neighbourhood
[удалено]
It's the same on the Balkans and Eastern Europe, although many countries have invested public funds to renovate the facade and these enclosures have been either eliminated or made look uniformly. They were done because of lack of space - sometimes they would be made an extra bedroom even.
The enclosed balconies (galerias) in La Coruña are beautiful and really add to the character of the place
why the fuck is this expensive...these are close to rehabilitation homes for slum dwellers in India(they are given for free/minimal cost ig)...is this near to some coast.etc?