Cities like Valencia that are rich in cultural events and opportunities have always attracted those who seek experimentation with urban culture, exploration through art and music, and those looking for liberating growth.

However, coming to a big city, especially not in your home country, can be scary at first, and figuring it out might take a lot of time. With daily events all over the city, it might be hard to know what is worth it and what isn’t at first, and connecting with people might not seem that easy.

Busy streets give the impression of busy lives, so it can be intimidating to start making acquaintances from day one.

That’s why Vivarium exists, to act as a starting point and a center of community building for those who are beginning their curious exploration journey in Valencia.

Vivarium acts as a safe nest for those who are on a verge of a personal or a professional change and are looking to stay for a few months in Valencia and connect with others like themselves. In a busy street, you never know who is in a similar phase of life like you, but in Vivarium, you know people came for the same reason.

Being in a living community in the center of Valencia run by a true Valencian can help you explore the city in the right way and connect with people that share your interests.

For these reasons, we chose Vivarium as our third stop in Coliving Spain 2022 project and are bringing you our experience. Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: This piece of content may contain some affiliate links. If you decide to make a purchase or book through one of our links, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Inspiration behind Vivarium

As creatives themselves, and led by previous experience of working and living together, Pablo and Mar wanted to create a coliving and coworking space that would inspire ambitious and innovative people to share their ideas and grow together.

We only have a few easy options in life to make these kinds of connections – through school, university, and sometimes work. But even work can sometimes be more a salary resource than inspiration, so we often find ourselves not being surrounded by people that share our passions.

The idea behind Vivarium was to make a space where people can surround themselves with others that can bring them value and make these types of connections. Of course, to do so, and like in most colivings, the stays should really not be shorter than a few weeks at least, but even better for a few months.

The idea was not only to share their lives as roommates but to share knowledge and skills and actively engage in learning activities with others. Creating a network of people that, moving onwards, could share ideas and advice, work on each other’s projects and be a support in each other’s professional and personal lives.

Just like people, Vivarium is also changing and growing with every new experience. Collecting insights and exploring the dynamics, Pablo and Mar try to stay innovative in order to bring more value to colivers every time.

An idea for the near future is to build a collaborative learning community where people can actively work on common goals like resolving certain issues or helping one another take on some professional challenges.

Why is Valencia the perfect place for a coliving community?

Valencia is a very popular place for digital nomads. It’s not too big and doesn’t have as many tourists as Barcelona or Madrid. On the other hand, it’s urban, and it is a metropolitan, so there are so many options for everyone’s taste.

Valencia is a city with young and vibrant energy, an amazing “food and drink” culture, and loads of cultural events and opportunities for sports, leisure, and just recharging your batteries.

Having so many digital nomads, it also has a strong nomad community. This means a lot of events directed toward expats and foreigners coming to Valencia, like language exchange sessions, live international music concerts, free dance classes, etc.

Coworking places in Valencia

Valencia has some of the best coworking spaces in Spain. The most popular ones are WayCo and CoworkUp.

Vivarium actually works closely with WayCo, so if you decide to stay at Vivarium you can also choose this to be your working area. They have two locations, both spacious and equipped with all needed for any type of digital work.

They also often organize networking events for their members and have many international members as well, so being a member might serve as a great opportunity to find someone to connect with.

Diversity of laptop-friendly coffee shops

If you’re not a big fan of coworking spaces and you prefer working from cafes, there’s also good news. Valencia has quite a few places that are laptop-friendly.

We found a great place thanks to an app called Maika that helps you find cafes to work from all around the world. We were lucky to know about the app because it was actually created by Alex, one of the colivers at Vivarium!

If you’re like us and you’re often working from cafes, then you know the struggle, so definitely check the app out, and, hopefully, it helps you as it did us. By checking it out, you will also support our friend Alex! 🙂

How to get to Vivarium?

Because of its centric location, coming to Vivarium should not be a problem at all. From wherever you’re coming from, there will probably be a bus or a metro line connecting to the city center.

Coming from an airport is also easy. There is a metro line from the airport going directly to the metro station Colon, which is a 5-minute walk from Vivarium. The ticket costs around 3 euros and it takes you about 20 minutes.

The coliving is only two streets away from the metro station, and it is very easy to find it.

The neighborhood

Vivarium coliving is located in a centric building just a few minutes from the city’s most popular locations. It’s only a 10-minute walk from Eixample, 15 minutes from Russafa, and around 20 minutes from the Old City.

It is also only an 8-minute walk to the famous Valencian park Jardin Turia which stretches for 7 kilometers through the city and provides an escape into nature in the middle of the urban area.

Since it is a coliving in the urban center of Valencia, there is an abundance of restaurants, supermarkets, and stores around. There is Lidl on the corner, and Mercadona is only a few minutes away.

The neighborhood is nice and tranquil, considering it is in the center. There is not much crowd in the street, so you will still have privacy even though the place is in a centric area.

The flat

The flat occupies the whole third floor and has eight private rooms with each one having its private bathroom. The rooms are simple and minimalistic which gives that clean authentic city vibe.

When it comes to common areas, the central room is the living room with a big dining table and a chilling corner right next to huge windows. The design is clean and minimalistic, with some boho elements that add fun!

The kitchen has two stoves and two fridges so that people can use them simultaneously. It also has plenty of pantry storage.

There is another shared space that serves as a room for hanging out and relaxation, but also for work. Next to this room, there’s a shared bathroom open for everybody to use.

The house also has two balconies. On one balcony, there are a few spice plants from which you can pick up leaves and use them in your cooking.

There are also a lot of books throughout the whole flat that you can borrow and read while you’re here. If you’re more into music, there is a guitar and a ukulele as well.

What can you expect while staying in Vivarium?

Vivarium believes in an organic approach when it comes to community building.

The activities are rarely the same for each group but come spontaneously from the group’s vibe and needs. The hosts are there to start an open discussion about the colivers’ interests and wishes and inspire the group to come together and create an activity that suits all members.

Because of its special location – in the center of a big city – there is no certain way of telling which hobbies or interests people that come to Vivarium would typically have. For rural colivings, it’s much easier to predict common interests (like gardening, nature, hiking, etc.) When you’re in a big city with lots of different things to do, you cannot be confident about what people enjoy.

Pre-organizing a hiking route in rural coliving makes sense, but pre-organizing a strict event or an activity like that in a coliving like Vivarium, might not be as successful. The founders believe that groups connect better when they choose activities themselves, of course, with a bit of external facilitation.

When we say external facilitation, what this means is giving the space and opportunity for colivers to express their needs and get creative. By asking questions, creating polls, and giving recommendations to explore what the group likes and doesn’t, instead of making a schedule and pushing it on the people, you can organically spark the interaction.

Here are some of the past activities happening in the Vivarium community:

Jamming get-togethers

Every once in a while, especially when the day is nice, Vivarium hosts suggest having an open jamming session. Of course, this is the case when the groups have music enthusiasts who know how to play an instrument or two (or at least want to try).

Again, in a very spontaneous and natural way, the group would go to the park, bring a guitar and just play, sing, and enjoy the music together.

Concerts and live music events

Besides that, Pablo has some great recommendations for concerts and live music.

For example, one Wednesday, to celebrate one coliver’s birthday and say goodbye to another one, we went out to Black Note Club in Valencia.

Every Wednesday, this club hosts an open rock jamming session. Talented amateur and professional musicians who are in the city can sign up and perform for the night.

The atmosphere is incredible, the music awesome, and the musicians very talented. And the entrance this time was only 5 euros!

Using Slack to communicate all related to coliving, Pablo often shares recommendations for interesting events and shows, which can be super helpful when you’re new in the city.

When the colivers have already spent a few days/weeks in Valencia, they start suggesting as well. And this is exactly how a group spontaneously starts to connect.

Foto guestbook

One ex-coliver from Austria, Barbara, loved Vivarium’s concept so much that she decided to stay in the city and unofficially join the Vivarium team while going through a career change.

Being very community-oriented, Barbara always thinks of ways that could emphasize the people. Coming from that, one of the micro-project she introduced to Vivarium is a foto guestbook.

In a nice journal, there are two pages for every coliver to write down a bit about themselves. Also, there is space for a photo that you take with a polaroid camera and tape in the guestbook. Then, there are a few questions that help to write a bit about yourself, and after a whole blank page for yourself, so you can add whatever you want.

Such a simple idea, but it’s very interesting to see more about the people living there before you. It’s also kind of fun to do it if you’re into scrapbooking.

Wine and learn (skill-sharing)

Started as Wine & Learn Tuesdays (although the wine part is not obligatory), this is a space of a few hours every Tuesday evening to share something that you’d like with the group. This can be a skill you have, some piece of knowledge, or anything really that you think would be fun to share and teach to others.

The activity spot exists as a suggestion, but it’s on the colivers to share recommendations and sign up to lead the session or a workshop. It’s not obligatory, and the same goes for attendance. It is certainly not a must for everyone to join, the only important thing is letting the hosts and other colivers know if you will participate or not.

Just before we came, one coliver (Ines) held a yoga and meditation session, and during our stay, we had an amazing life coaching session with another coliver, Steffi, that was embracing life coaching as a new career path.

These sessions can be very interesting as we don’t even realize how different our sets of skills are. It’s super fun and useful learning about something completely different. Even if you are familiar with the topic, it’s surprising how different a different approach can be from what you know. This gives so much value.

Other than that, it’s also very beneficial in strengthening the group because while one coliver is presenting, the others are supporting. Participants are also grateful for the new free knowledge they are receiving and tend to feel closer to the presenter and more open to starting the conversation with them.

Who we met in Vivarium

Vivarium is mostly fully booked, so there are always between 8 and 10 people in the flat. The hosts try to organize the stays so one group can stay more or less coherent from the start to the end. This helps the groups connect better and get used to each other.

In the ten days we stayed there, we met ten people and a small good boy 🐶, altogether from Germany, Austria, Spain, Holland, and France. The average age of people was between 25 and 30.

Most of them are frequent travelers and digital nomads trying to travel full time. Most of them spoke Spanish, but it was not a necessity. In the house, we spoke English all the time. Even though they were together for at least a month before we arrived, they were very welcoming and helped us become a part of their community even for the ten days spent there.

The things we all had in common were more or less the age, love for traveling and experience in traveling, love for good wine and beer, tasty food, and cool events that cities have to offer.

This community was definitely a big part of our experience. It allowed us to really see and feel what Vivarium has to offer – a space where one can connect with others and find their path through these interactions.

With its philosophy, Vivarium really proves a point that Pablo once made, that you don’t have to go to the remotest places to find yourself. You just need to surround yourself with situations and people that help you grow. And that is what Vivarium is there to offer.

We appreciate your support!

Thank you for reading our content and following our journey! We are working towards becoming full-time content creators and being able to share stories with you even more frequently. If you’d like to support us to be one step closer to that goal, you can do it through Ko-Fi! 👇🏽

Secure yourself the best coliving experience

• italki – Why not learn some Spanish before your trip and make your coliving even better? italki is the perfect platform for that, where more than 3500 native speakers are waiting to help you with your Spanish.

Learn more about coliving

• • Interviews with Coliving Operators

Vivarium: Urban nook for the city-loving nomads in the center of vibrant Valencia

• ByMarko
• April 22, 2022

• • Coliving Movement

Why Spain should be your first coliving experience?

• ByMarko
• November 18, 2021

The post Coliving Spain 2022: #3 Vivarium – Urban coliving for creative entrepreneurs in the center of Valencia appeared first on My Coliving Space: Spain.

In the urban center of Valencia, just a few minutes from the Old town, Rusaffa, and Eixample, you’ll find a coliving that harvests the energy of the city and turns it into an inspiring experience for its visitors.

Connecting people from all over the world, Vivarium invites all who want to be inspired and go on a self-exploration through art, music, culture, and vibrant city life.

Living in a centric flat right outside all the city’s cultural spots is an amazing opportunity to explore and grow, but getting an instant friend group that you can share that with, is even more rewarding.

Vibrant cities attract vibrant people, and Vivarium wants to provide a space for those people to share their stories and ideas and make meaningful connections while living in one of the most urban cities in Spain.

A special thanks to a talented ex-coliver Erica for sharing her awesome photos of her experience in Vivarium. Check her Instagram page to view more of her work

How it all started

“Here’s what is exciting about sharing ideas with others: If you share a new idea with ten people, they get to hear it once and you get to hear it ten times.”

-Jim Rohn

1. When and why did you decide to open a coliving space of your own?

– We decided to open Vivarium in May 2021.

After years of solving challenges in the corporate world, launching crazy projects, and exploring the never-ending path of personal growth, Mar and I met in Madrid at the hardest moments of the covid-19 pandemic and discovered we had similar “operating systems”.

Surprisingly, we were equally passionate about long dialogues, meaningful relationships, and experimentation. So, we decided to create a project together where we could start bringing our ideas (about business, art, technology, relationships, education…) to life, and invite others to join us in the adventure.

Our first experiment involved only the two of us. We moved from Madrid to a small village in the north of Spain, to live together while working remotely for a tech company. The experience changed us. We discovered that a new way of life was possible and that it brought better results to our work.

With that experience in mind, we decided to open a space where people from all over the world could come to live, work, learn and create. A living lab where people could feel at home and connect with others in a different way while materializing new projects and solving challenges.

2. Have you ever had the opportunity to stay in some other coliving space or any type of shared accommodation before you decided to open your own place?

– Yes, when we moved to Asturias, we stayed at the Rural Freehouse, a coliving/entrepreneurs house in Somiedo, a small village in the mountains.

3. Do you remember your beginnings and what was the most difficult for you when you started the coliving?

– The most difficult part, both being the founders and hosts, was to find our “place” in the house and the experience.

To find a balance between taking care of the colivers and at the same time of ourselves, learning to give and also to receive. To accept reality as it emerged and not as we have imagined, and work from there to learn, grow and improve the experience step by step.

4. Is there something that you wished you knew when you started with coliving?

– The importance of having not-too-many but strong ground rules.

5. Have you had the opportunity to visit other coliving places since you opened yours?

– No, we haven’t.

6. What is the story behind you choosing Spain as the location for opening your coliving space?

– We just followed the opportunities that were emerging for us. That being said, after traveling to many countries, I find Spain one of the best locations for remote workers. The culture, the weather, the entrepreneurial and artistic scene, the infrastructure, nature, etc.

It’s a great country to live “a good life” (connect with nature, enjoy culture, have a healthy lifestyle) and at the same time keep growing professionally and finding new opportunities.

Vivarium Community

“Share our similarities, celebrate our differences.“

-M. Scott Peck

7. What is the profile of people who are most likely to stay at your place?

– We like to say that here, you find people like you that are not like you. It’s difficult to make a profile of our colivers as they are so diverse.

Mainly they are either remote workers or people that are at a moment of personal/professional change and looking to create meaningful connections and enjoy all the good things of Valencia.

8. What is the average age of people who are visiting your accommodation?

– Around 30 years old. The youngest was 25, and the oldest was 56.

9. How long do people usually stay at your place?

– Between 1 and 6 months.

10. Do your visitors have the tendency to return back to your place?

– We opened recently so we only had two people that returned to Vivarium. However, many colivers decided to extend their stay while being here.

11. Is there some trend where people from specific countries come to your place?

– No, people come from very diverse countries.

Usually, we have one or two colivers from Spain, and the rest are from every corner of the world.

12. What additional activities are included for people who stay at your coliving?

– We have an organic approach to community building, so every week can be different and we don’t have a fixed set of activities included.

However, we like to keep some rituals, like our weekly family dinners or Tuesday’s wine&learn (skillshares).

Apart from that, it is very common that either the colivers or we as hosts propose to have a lunch/dinner together in the city, a day trip to nature, a concert, an expo…

13. Do you have some special offers for startups and group bookings?

– No, we only offer special prices to couples or long-term bookings.

About the Coliving Movement

”The need for connection and community is primal, as fundamental as the need for air, water, and food.”

-Dean Ornish

14. Do you think that coliving is only dedicated to a specific group of people such as freelancers, digital nomads, and startups, or do you think there is a possibility to gain popularity beyond that group of people?

– I think it is possible. These profiles, as I see it, are the early adopters, as they are the ones that feel most pressingly the needs that coliving solves (bonding/community, flexibility, continuous learning, etc.)

I believe it will gain popularity with other collectives, people, for example, that are looking for a coliving experience long term in their own city and so on.

However, to appeal to other groups, probably the offering will need to evolve and adapt to the particular needs of these groups.

15. Do you think that coliving cannot exist without coworking?

– It can exist without coworking. In my opinion, coliving is about the experience of living in a community. It doesn’t necessarily need to be linked to work.

16. One of the main selling points for coliving is the possibility to meet new people, share experiences and maybe even develop new partnerships. Is that really the situation?

– From our experience, the first two happen frequently and naturally, but the third one is more challenging. It is never easy to find partners for a project and it doesn’t happen automatically by just being in a coliving space.

Here you might find more “density” of talent, people with complementary skills, or at a personal/professional moment ideal for these partnerships, but it’s still difficult to create trust and commitment for a partnership.

We are still trying to figure out how to facilitate this.

17. Do you have some examples where people who had the opportunity to meet at your place later managed to develop successful partnerships or relationships?

– Yes, some of our colivers have kept in touch, met in other cities/countries, and explored the possibility of creating businesses together…

We always feel very happy when they send us pictures together some months after leaving Vivarium or when they thank us for the connections they made here.

Secure yourself the best coliving experience

• italki – Why not learn some Spanish before your trip and make your coliving even better? italki is the perfect platform for that! You will find more than 3500 native speakers waiting to help you with your Spanish.

Disclaimer: This article contains some affiliate links.  At no additional cost to you, we can earn a small commission if you decide to make a purchase.

Coliving movement

• • Coliving Movement

Why Spain should be your first coliving experience?

• ByMarko
• November 18, 2021

• • Interviews with Coliving Operators

iSlow: A time-stopping coliving for digital nomads and their families

• ByMarko
• April 6, 2022

The post Vivarium: Urban nook for the city-loving nomads in the center of vibrant Valencia appeared first on My Coliving Space: Spain.