Why We’re Leaving Mexico for Andalusia: The Honest Reasons

Mexico was wonderful. I want to say that clearly before anything else, because what follows isn’t a list of complaints. It’s an honest account and for the time after COVID, it was perfect. It is not the place that you see on the media. It’s truly beautiful with a great expat community and we didn’t even touch the surface with travel in Mexico. But ow we have residency and can come and go as we please for long trips.

We moved to Mexico in 2021. We hold permanent residency. We’ve loved more of it than we expected and in summer 2026, we are relocating to southern Spain.

Reason 1: Europe kept calling us back

For several years we have spent our springs and summers in Europe. Every time, re-entering that world – the architecture, the food culture, the pace of life in southern Europe specifically. The feeling of being exactly where we were supposed to be.

You can ignore that feeling once. You can rationalise it twice. By the fourth or fifth time, it becomes data. Europe and southern Spain specifically, is where we want to be full time.

Reason 2: Proximity to the UK and Ireland matters more as family ages

Mexico is a long way from the UK and Ireland. When you’re in your thirties and invincible, a 10-hour flight feels manageable. In midlife, with parents and family getting older, that distance weighs differently. Andalusia is two to two and a half hours from the UK by air. Easy weekend trips.

Reason 3: The food and wellness culture in Andalusia

As a Registered Nutritionist, food matters enormously to how I evaluate a place to live – not just as pleasure but as daily nourishment and lifestyle infrastructure. Andalusia is extraordinary on this front. Fresh produce markets in every town. Olive oil as a daily staple. A food culture built on whole ingredients, seasonal eating and genuine Mediterranean principles that align completely with everything I work on professionally. Also, I did get tired of not being able to get the quality supplements available in Uk,. Ireland and Europe. I would always have to plan ahead to bring them over or wait long wait times from the US. I have supplement dispensaries that I use for clients in UK, Ireland and Spain.

The outdoor lifestyle – year-round warmth, walkable towns, a culture that actually goes outside – supports the kind of wellbeing that is very hard to replicate in the UK. For midlife health, this environment is as close to ideal as it gets. We could not be without mostly sunny days now after this last 5 years.

Reason 4: Our child is at an age where stability matters

The nomadic chapter has been extraordinary for our family. his age 5-10 is the perfect age to do it as they are like sponges for languages and still engage really easily with other kids. But children reach a point where continuity of friendships, of school, of community – matters more than adventure. We want to give our child a place that becomes genuinely home. Andalusia, with its strong family culture, excellent international schools and the kind of outdoor childhood that is nearly impossible in the UK, feels like the right place for that.

Reason 5: The cost of a good life

Southern Spain remains significantly more affordable than the UK for the same quality of life. But the value equation in Andalusia is compelling: the climate, the food, the space, the pace, the infrastructure – all at a cost that makes a meaningful, unhurried life genuinely achievable.

What we’re leaving behind – honestly

Mexico gave us five years of genuine richness – community, colour, extraordinary food, a pace of life that recalibrated us completely. We are leaving with deep gratitude and zero regret about the chapter. So much learning and a perm residency each that could be invaluable in years to come. We don’t know how this economy in Western Europe is going and we can come and go there as we please without restriction for long trips.

We’re also keeping our Mexican residency. The world is large, life is long, and we have learned not to close doors.

What comes next

We are documenting the entire Andalusia move in real time – the visa process, the neighbourhood search, the school hunt, the practicalities of relocating a family to southern Spain in 2026. The next post in this series covers our complete relocation checklist.