How Barcelona and Athens compare on cost, visas, working hours, weather, internet and safety. Every figure comes from our city guides and tools, checked and dated there.
Dollars and pounds at today's exchange rate. Download speeds are the typical figure from each guide, which says where it comes from: some are for the city, some for the whole country, so treat a small gap as no gap.
Rent, a coworking desk, a cheap lunch on each of 22 working days, and getting around: the same four costs our budget calculator uses. The rent figures aren't always the same kind of figure (some are furnished one-beds, some are averages across every size of flat), so read the note under each.
$1,840 to $1,850£1,380 to £1,390 a month
$915 to $1,180£688 to £883 a month
International telework visa
The catch. You also need a degree or three years of experience, and at least three months with your employer or clients.
Digital nomad visa and residence permit
The catch. Since February 2026 you must apply at a consulate before you go: applying from inside Greece no longer works.
See where your own income stands in every country. Check your income
A 9am to 5pm day in the employer's city, shown in local time, for today's date, so it allows for the clocks changing.
Different hours or another employer city? Use the time-zone planner
The average high in °C each month, coloured by the rule on our best-time page: green is a high of 20 to 32°C with under 150mm of rain; red is a high of 38°C or more or under 12°C, 250mm of rain or more, or 33°C or more with 150mm of rain or more. Hover over a month for its rain.
| City | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barcelona | 14° | 14° | 16° | 18° | 21° | 25° | 28° | 29° | 26° | 22° | 17° | 14° |
| Athens | 13° | 14° | 16° | 20° | 25° | 30° | 33° | 32° | 29° | 23° | 19° | 15° |
Level 2: increased caution
Level 1: normal precautions
The US level is for the whole country, as the State Department sets it, and some countries have stricter advice for particular regions.
From each city guide, word for word.
Salaried remote employees comfortably above EUR 2,442 a month gross who want a proper European city for a year or more. Employees on the nomad visa can opt into the Beckham regime and pay a flat 24 per cent on their salary, the fibre is among the fastest in Europe, the coworking market is deep and cheap by London standards, and April to June is as good as city living gets.
Anyone who wants a cheap, short, furnished, no-paperwork stay. Asking rents run about 23 per cent above Valencia per square metre, the city is phasing out its tourist-flat licences altogether, and since January 2026 the medium-term furnished lets that remote workers relied on are price-capped, so landlords have stopped offering them. Freelancers do not get the 24 per cent rate. Cafes will not host you for a working day. If you hate bureaucracy in two languages, or a July with 20 degree nights, go to Valencia.
Remote workers on a solid foreign salary who want winter sun and a proper city rather than a resort, and who treat spring and autumn as the best months. Daily life is cheap even where rent is not: lunch is a EUR 4 gyros, the transport pass is EUR 27 a month and the Acropolis Museum stays open until 10pm on Fridays. It works best if you arrive on a D visa arranged in advance, and either stay under 183 days or budget for Greek tax.
Anyone who needs a bearable summer: July and August heatwaves reach 38 degrees and more, and in July 2025 the Acropolis shut in the afternoons. Anyone who needs fast home broadband guaranteed, or a bureaucracy in English. Remote employees counting on the famous 50 per cent tax break, which does not cover them. And anyone planning to fly in visa-free and sort out a permit later: that door closed in February 2026.
Most visas want health cover for the whole stay. Compare nomad health insurance · Build your trip checklist