*Updated, January 26, 2024 – Photos added.
Not long ago I updated the 2019 article about the cost of wintering in Spain, basically to announce that it was time in 2023 for an update. Ta-da! Here is that update! A revisit of the 2019 figures plus the 2023 figures for the same categories.
First, a little background information. In 2023, we left home on the evening of January 29 and flew home on April 3. This meant we were away for a total of 64 days. In 2019 that number was 65 days. So, comparable periods.
Occasionally, I might speak about specific individual expenditures, but generally, I will just be comparing the broader category costs between the two years, e.g. airfares, accommodation, food and beverages, internal travel, hotels, and other lodging, etc.
Because there is much to talk about, I am going to present this revisit in two parts, Part One will look at the two biggest expenses, airfares, and accommodation, while the second part will examine everything else.
The Big Picture Look at the Two Years
Before we start drilling down into specific categories, let’s have a look at the big picture. The image below shows you our total costs in all the categories that I track while we are on the road. As you can see, we did spend more in 2023 than in 2019, but there were some very interesting variations in the costs. We spent way more on airfare in 2023 but less on accommodation than we did in 2019.
What that says is that there is some flexibility or wiggle room in the cost of wintering on the Costa del Sol. The cost for large-cost items like airfare and accommodation can be varied and controlled depending on how you want to fly, what level of comfort in your accommodation you want, and where you stay on the Costa.
Our Total Costs
I would like to think that the table below is self-explanatory, but a brief explanation may be in order. All the expenditures in blue (Normal Spending) are the things that we would be spending money on at home anyway, so I do not consider them part of our travel winter getaway expenses.
The “TOTALS” row shows the total amount of money that we spent on the getaway. Nothing has been excluded, every penny has been counted. From the “TOTALS”, I subtract our “Normal Spending” and arrive at what I consider to be the cost for our Winter Getaway. Also shown is the amount that I budgeted for each of these trips in advance of departure.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is we spent $9,344.90 in 2019 and $12,674.87 in 2023. Yes, you certainly could spend a couple of months in Spain for less than what we are comfortable spending. Or, you could go much more upscale than what we do. There are choices to be made.
Perhaps, also of interest to you is knowing roughly what we would normally be spending at home (“Average at Home Spend” in the table) in selected areas over a comparable period (65 days) so you can compare it with what we spend on the road. Generally, we and, probably you, end up spending a lot less money when we’re away from home for an extended period than when we’re at home. Yes, in a couple of areas, we spend more, but overall, we tend to spend less on normal day-to-day expenses.
Category Cost Breakdown 2019 vs 2023
Let’s get more specific by examining the differences in the individual category costs between the two years. This might give you a sense of how you could manage your costs better than what we do. As I said, we are not looking for the cheapest vacation, but others might be.
First up, typically the second largest expense, how much it costs for us to get to Spain and home again in each of those years. Our airfare cost.
Airfare Costs
Airfare costs might well be the most variable cost involved in a winter getaway to Spain. People are different and have different needs when they fly, and hence varying differences in acceptable costs for air transportation.
For example, we never look for the cheapest flight. Primarily we are concerned with shorter travel times, comfort while on the flight, and the need to visit other interesting destinations rather than simply getting to our ultimate destination as expeditiously as possible.
With that in mind, when discussing our airfare cost for the 2023 outing, I will also include more direct, less expensive flights that were available to us when I booked. I recorded those costs because I had it in mind that I would present the cost for one of our winter getaways and felt the need to show the wide range of options available for getting to and from the Costa del Sol.
You should also know that the only direct flight to Malaga, the travel hub of the Costa del Sol, from Canada is on Air Transat flying out of Montreal. There are no direct flights out of Toronto or any other Canadian city… that I am aware of. You are generally required to make one connection to get there.
Our Flight Costs
Our total cost flight costs for the two of us in 2023 were $3,666.62. So, just over $1800 per person. In 2019 we paid $1855.28 or just over $925 per person. So basically, double the cost in 2023. A substantial part of that was the post-pandemic increase in airfares, but not all of it.
In 2019, we had a straightforward return flight to and from Madrid on Air Canada. In 2023, our path was much more convoluted. When we go away on these outings, we always try to include some time spent in other cities in Europe, so we are never just doing a quick dash over and a quick dash home. If we are going to Europe, we are going to do some additional exploring.
Our flight costs were certainly higher than what they would have been if we had flown to Malaga as directly as possible and then the same home again. Our 2023 airfare costs were made even costlier because our flight connections were a little more convoluted than necessary.
We flew the Portuguese national airline TAP to Lisbon where we then got on a connecting flight to Madrid. This was followed by a lovely five-day stay in Spain’s capital city. On the day we were to take possession of the condo we had rented, we simply hopped on a train down to Malaga and then worked our way over to Nerja.
On the way home we flew TAP from Malaga to Lisbon, where we stayed for three days and nights to enjoy that city before finally flying home, again on TAP. We got to and from the Costa del Sol and managed to squeeze in some time in Madrid and Lisbon as well. Flying into and out of different cities adds to airfare costs. To our thinking, this added flexibility is well worth the extra cost.
Normally, we would have flown on Air Canada from Toronto to Madrid and home again, but in 2023 they had suspended flights between Toronto and Madrid due to a lack of traffic because of the pandemic. This again added to our cost for sure.
We Could Have Paid Less
So, what might it have cost if we had flown to Malaga and back home as directly as possible? Fortunately, I was thinking about this future article and priced it out. For the same travel dates, we could have flown TAP, Toronto-Lisbon-Malaga, and then reversed the route home, for $2541.02, for about $1270 per person. Not terrible even in 2023.
If you make your flight decisions purely on cost, then you probably would be happy to know that we could have purchased a return series of connections on SkyScanner.ca, between Toronto and Malaga, for $1638 or approximately $820.00 per person.
The SkyScanner.ca option would have involved flying on one airline to Paris, and then on a different airline down to Malaga followed by the reverse on the way home. All of this would have resulted in two very long, uncomfortable, and tiring travel days… not for us.
But We Drive to Florida, No Airfare Required!
I am sure that many of you are thinking, “We go to the southern United States for our winter getaway and all we must do is hop in the car and drive down there… no airfares”. That is true, but have you ever calculated exactly what that costs you?
In 2019, as I was wrapping up the writing of my original “Cost” post I received some important comparative information in an email from friends. They go to a place in Georgia each winter, and I was interested in knowing what the costs were to travel down and back. I’ll have to admit I was surprised at the numbers, but they certainly make sense. Here they are:
Gas – $232.00 USD
Meals – $135.98 USD
Hotels – $462.51 USD (2 nights each way)
That works out to $830.49 USD total for their two-way trip. That in turn works out to be approximately $1101.89 CAD when I use the average exchange rate for 2019 to do the dollar conversion. Less than our flight to and from Spain, of course, for that year, but not by much.
Other friends who own a property in South Florida advised me that their costs in 2023 worked out to be approximately $675 USD to travel each way. This works out to be $1350 USD for the two-way trip, which, using the average exchange rate for 2023, is $1822.64 CAD.
They stay in hotels for two nights each way as well but pay a premium because they travel with their dog. They are spending more on gas as well because their drive is about 665 kilometres longer than our friends who go to Georgia. Driving both ways adds up to an extra 1330 km.
Knowing that it would currently cost us over $1800 just to travel between our home and Florida makes me very happy. If not downright giddy. 🙂
“Photo Carousel” – Once again, I am using the “Carousel” format to present some of the photos in topics that have multiple photos in the best possible manner. You click on the first photo (top-left) in a grouping to start the Carousel.
Accommodation – Condo
The other large expense related to wintering in Spain, potentially the largest, is what you pay for a two-month accommodation rental. As you can see in the table, in 2019 we paid €3000 or CAD 4776.77 for a very nice three-bedroom waterfront condominium in Fuengirola.
In 2023 we paid a total of €2771 for two months… less four days… or CAD $3861.99 for the use of two separate condos on the waterfront in Nerja. The rental company upgraded us to one of their “Superior” two-bedroom units for the last 3 ½ weeks of our stay. The net result was our condo accommodation costs were lower in 2023 than in 2019. Interesting to say the least.
I have written about all our accommodations in Spain earlier. So, if you are interested in seeing what they look like, and reading a bit more about their location, etc. you can check out my various older “Accommodations” articles.
As the table shows, our accommodation costs don’t necessarily keep going up every year. It largely depends on what is on offer when we start looking for an apartment, usually in November.
What city we stay in also factors into the cost. The town of Nerja seems to be less costly for accommodation than say Marbella where we stayed in 2017 and 2022. Marbella is a more upscale town. Fuengirola is somewhere in the middle I suppose. The full range of towns and cities to rent in on the Costa include:
Estepona, San Pedro de Alcántara, Puerto Banús, Marbella, Fuengirola, Mijas, Benalmádena, Torremolinos, Málaga, Velez-Málaga, Torre del Mar, Torrox, and Nerja.
As you can see, there are many, many different options available – as well as a wide range of rental price points.
Next Up
In very short order I will post Part Two which will examine the rest of our expenses for both 2019 and 2023. This will include a look at what we pay for internal travel, most of which is done by bus or train and only occasionally by rental car.
For me, the most interesting of these other expenses is what we pay for food and beverages. That includes both the purchasing of groceries and beverages and dining in restaurants. And finally, all the other things that we spend money on while we’re there, including tourist outings, things we need to use around the apartment, over-the-counter medications, hygiene products, souvenirs, etc., etc. etc.
