Spain has long been a popular destination for students, whether it be EU citizens wanting to do a full degree here or Brits and Americans looking to study abroad and experience something new.
Though many students come to Spain keen to take advantage of the laid back lifestyle and famously late nightlife, finding student housing can be difficult. This is especially true if you study in one of the major cities, and a combination of housing shortages plus rising rental costs mean finding a good place is becoming increasingly tricky.
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Many landlords in Spain prefer the short-term holiday rental model over shared accommodation for students, which means that in university cities which are also tourist hotspots the search is even more challenging for universitarios (university students). Often, these are exactly the sorts of places (Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, to name just a few) that students want to live in.
Here are some of the best websites to find student housing in Spain, according to your needs.
BuscoResi/Mati
If you want to live in student residence or halls, BuscoResi (now known as Mati online) is for you. BuscoResi is an accommodation comparison site made by former university residents, so you can rely on the experience of people who have already lived in the city where you are going to study and who can inform you first hand of the advantages and disadvantages.
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Casita
Casita is a European-wide search engine, and it allows you to search by city, university and even building, so you can narrow down your search depending on where you want to go.
With over 4,000 room options in Madrid and over 3,000 in Barcelona, big city lovers will likely find somewhere to stay.
Study Abroad Apartments
Study Abroad Apartments is, as you might’ve guessed, geared towards students studying abroad. It seems to mostly have shared rooms and flats, so is a great option if you're studying abroad with like-minded people or already have roommates with whom you want to live.
Uniplaces
Uniplaces seems to be a bit of an all rounder and offers rooms, houses and flats. A bonus is that Uniplaces offers an accommodation certificate service, giving you an official certificate stating that you've secured your new home or paid a deposit, which you can then use to apply for any visa or documentation you might need to enter Spain.
It also has the largest selection of verified student accommodation in the world and the website has original photographs and even videos of the properties.
Erasmusu
Erasmusu is another site for study abroad accommodation, with the added bonus of an advert service for people looking for a flatmate.
Erasmusu is backed by Spanish universities and the website is verified by the main European universities and supported by the European Union.
Spotahome
Spotahome is one of the safer websites when looking for accommodation as it offers fraud protection, protection against last minute cancellations by the landlord and even offers you help while looking for new accommodation if this happens.
In the volatile student rental market, this could come in handy.
Idealista
The most popular Spanish property portal whether for renting or buying, finding a place on Idealista would probably give you the most authentic Spanish experience as you’d likely be living with Spanish students or renting from a Spanish landlord.
Fotocasa
Similarly, Fotocasa is another popular property website used by Spaniards. Most adverts (like on Idealista) will often specify whether the property is for students or not, so you can narrow down your search a bit.
Again, as with Idealista, finding a student house through Fotocasa would probably mean you’d get a more authentic Spanish experience.
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