Living Cost Review

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In this review I will focus only on the financial part of living in Valladolid and it will be based on my example.

Scholarship: 450€/Month for 5 months

Rent + Utilities: 155€/Month (Rent 125€, Utilities 30€)

I was living in a 4-bedroom apartment which was a bit old but in great condition. I was lucky to find such an apartment at 125/Month. From the sites that I was searching in plus from all the erasmus students that I asked I could safely state that the most common price for a room in the city center is 150/Month + Utilities. In general, the quality of the apartments was good but I do have an example of a really bad quality one. One friend found a room for a bit more than 150/month and when she arrived she saw that it was filthy as hell and had to find another one while losing half of the deposit she had payed. But that was one of the very few exceptions.

Daily Spendings: 140€/Month (Super Market 100€, Food outside 20€, Leisure 20€)

I was cooking at home most of the times which saves a lot of money no matter the city. Not that food outside is expensive though. The average price for a kebab is 3. 50€ although the best ever Kebab place had an offer from Monday to Wednesday at 2. 60€ and it was super awesome. That statement has even more value given that I am from Greece and our kebabs are also super awesome but different. Here is the address if you are interested : Calle de Librería, 13. It is on the side of the Facultad de Derecho and the name is Ararat something.

Prices are low for drinks as well in some places. I don't remember the exact prices but let's say it could start from 1€ with an average between 1. 5€-2€.

Now the Super Market is really cheap. Especially Mercadona which is the one I recommend for everything except maybe foreign stuff that it lacks and which you can find in Careffour.

Example prices:

• Steak 1kg : 2. 90€ - 3. 50€
• Tortillas mexicanas 10 medium pieces: 1. 20€
• Coca Cola 2L: 1. 41€
• Pepsi 2L :1. 19€
• Monster: 1€
• Cheese 10 slices: 1€
• Tomatos 1kg: 1. 29€
• Milk: 0. 60€
• Beer 1L: 0. 62€
• Sangria 1. 5L: 1. 35€

Together with the above plus flight tickets (250€), Spanish Lessons at the university (200€), some bureaucracy (80€) and the Vallabici* card (25€) I managed to stay marginally within the budget of the scholarship and I had to spend my own money only for my trips.

About the trips, there are some agencies that hunt erasmus students and they actually offer cheap trips (10€ for a trip close to Valladolid). Also the bus prices are acceptable if you want to plan your own trips. For example I went to Malaga and back for 68€ with Alsa (I could have payed even less if I had used my esn card) and to Santander and back for 22€ (That time I did use it).

*With the Vallabici card which costs 25€ you can rent any bike from any Vallabici station for free for 30 min intervals or more than that by spending a small amount from the 25€ that are stored in the card. So you pay 25€ at the beginning but then you spend these 25€ for long trips, you don't spend extra money. I do recommend it over buying a bike but if you really want to be completely free to go anywhere and leave your bike anywhere there are also second-hand bike stores where you can find a good bike for 50€.

Conclusion:

By finding a place to live with 150 or less plus cooking at home most of the times 450€/Month is enough for everything including flights etc. except for trips.

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