Never Retire: What Fun, Fitness, and Free Time Really Cost in Spain
October field notes on leisure spending in Valencia
Never Retire is field notes from midlife abroad.
I write from Spain, but this isn’t a travel blog. It’s a lens on how daily costs, routines, and choices add up to a second act that works—financially, emotionally, and practically.
Every post brings the numbers, the stories, and the takeaways you can use to build a life that doesn’t coast and doesn’t quit.
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Here’s what fun, fitness and free time costs in Spain with actual examples from our first 9+ months here:
Movies: We went to see Sirat—Spain’s choice for international film of the year at the Oscars—and it cost €26 total for two tickets, a medium popcorn, and two waters.
Live music: We went to see an Oasis cover band—(they were really good!)—at a venue called Radio City in Valencia’s El Carmen neighborhood. Two tickets cost €16.54.
Weekend trip: We’re going to Rome for four nights at the end of the month. Two roundtrip tickets on Ryanair €190.98. Four nights in an Airbnb in the Trastevere neighborhood—€542.09. Between public transportation and eating out, we’ll likely spend around €1,100 for a four-day, four-night trip two hours away from Valencia. Try doing that from—for example—Los Angeles to San Francisco for vice versa.
Day trip: This past weekend, we got on our bikes and road on park bike paths and off-street bike lanes 30 minutes west of where we live to small town. We didn’t have to find parking, pay to park, or worry about traffic. We dropped €27.40 on a solid Chinese lunch and €4.50 on two coffees and a few cookies. This weekend, we’l try to make it about 90 minutes out to Riba-roja de Túria, probably for some paella.
Hot yoga (and hot pilates) studio memberships: My wife and I paid for two one-year unlimited memberships. I got one where you get a mat, two towels, and a bottle of water before each class. Total cost—€2,080. In LA, we paid $169 per month each for unlimited classes. We’re paying about that—€173.33—if you take the monthly average of what we paid up front for both of us.
Bike repair: Two new tires, two tubes, and a basic tuneup—€96.
🇪🇸 The real story isn’t the total—it’s how leisure actually fits into daily life.