Costa de la Luz, Spain: Affordable Expat Haven
By Sophia Titley
Along the southwestern coast of Spain is an area you’ve probably never heard of…
It’s called the Costa de la Luz, or the Coast of Light, and going from northwest to southeast, it stretches from Spain’s border with Portugal down to Tarifa, the southernmost point in Europe, almost touching Morocco across the Strait of Gibraltar, along the Atlantic Coast.
This region is famous for the very thing it’s named for: dazzling, abundant sunshine. At well over 3,000 sunshine hours per year, vitamin D deficiency is not a risk here.
The Costa de la Luz’s centerpiece is Cádiz. It’s often called “Little Havana” or compared to Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, because of its long board-walked beachfront backed by colorful ancient buildings…
In fact, Cádiz is the prototype that those New World cities were based on. It’s touted as the oldest city in Western Europe, dating to 1104 BC.
Walking its streets, you can feel the history and see the cultural influence of the many civilizations—from Phoenicians to the Romans to the Moors—that impacted it over time.
Its Old Town is densely populated, with one of Europe’s oldest neighborhoods and ruins hemmed in by old city walls. Individual landmarks syncretize various architectural styles. Narrow streets spill out into lively plazas where you can sit in the shade of a towering cathedral and watch the world go by…
But there’s more to the Costa de la Luz than just Cádiz…
Cádiz Province (one of the two provinces that the Costa de la Luz covers; the other is Huelva) offers everything from well-appointed beachfront towns to ancient hilltop villages that can be seen for miles because of their brilliant white-washed buildings.
Across these towns, you find pockets of expats that love the region for its low cost of living, beautiful beaches, pristine nature, and authentic culture.
The Costa de la Luz is not the most popular destination in Spain for expats… but its authenticity and low-key local vibe is part of its appeal. That said, in certain towns around the region, you’ll find some decent-sized expat communities that you can join, if you want to…
Cádiz, despite being the biggest city on this coast, is not home to a huge number of expats. I’d estimate that no more than a dozen or so call the Old Town home, and some of them are only here on a seasonal basis.
About 28 miles north of Cádiz is Rota, the town that’s famous for the Rota naval base, which is shared by Spanish and U.S. forces. It hosts U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force units, so there is a big American presence in this town of 29,000.
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