One of the main selling points of coliving places is the offering of numerous coliving activities which you can experience while staying there.
And truly, the best way to forget about a stressful workday is the proper nurturing of your mind and soul. Sports, leisure, and arts and crafts can really take your mind off the work and help you focus on yourself. Nothing can make your time seem fulfilled like a quality leisure activity.
When it comes to this, Spain has a lot to offer, from surfing to hiking or discovering traditional Spanish dishes, there is something for everybody.
Coliving places have recognized these activities as a crucial part of a healthy work-life balance and staying at a place will help you incorporate it into your daily routine. Also, coliving owners are very often creative and intuitive individuals that are either ready to share their knowledge or are incorporating it into their coliving culture.
Doesn’t that sound awesome? Read below and find out what are the most popular coliving activities in Spain. We’re sure you will find something that calls out to your inner self.
Spain surfing beaches
Being surrounded by the sea and the ocean, Spain has some amazing beaches and nooks perfect for surfing. Some coliving places are built one those exact spots, allowing you to try this bucket-list-worthy activity while staying there.
For example, Maraya Coliving, set in Tenerife North, where some of the best surf beaches in Spain are located, is not only close to the ocean so you can reach the surfing spot on foot, but is also owned by 5 friends of whom 2 are surfers that are happy to share their tips with you. Isn’t that cool?
Some colivings that are located close to surf towns in Spain offer discounts and group sessions for learning to surf which definitely makes accommodation a high-level experience.
Surfing in Spain is one of the most popular activities for tourists and the best time to surf in Spain in September and April. Spain is also awesome because it has a huge coastline so there are many different spots with very different waves making it suitable for pros as well as for beginners.
Surfing is also very healthy, as it benefits the body and the mind. It improves sleep which is super important for your work productivity as well as for mental health. Speaking of mental health, surfing is a very relaxing activity that requires focus, so it can significantly reduce stress and balance out emotional stability.
If you have a stressful job, surfing can be a great decision for you.
Some of the best yoga retreats in Spain
Much like surfing, yoga is an activity that connects your mind and body and helps you channel your emotions. Following that philosophy, many colivings offer daily yoga sessions that are often completely free.
There is also a growing popularity of various yoga teachers opening yoga retreats in Spain. It’s because Spain has very peaceful surroundings. Whether it’s a beautiful mountain, an open oceanside, a never-ending olive tree, or orange tree fields, the scenery truly evokes peace and balance.
Meditation is a crucial part of yoga, and most coliving places offer a combination of easy, beginner-friendly yoga with meditative elements. The idea is to connect with oneself and disconnect from work.
Many coliving owners are already familiar with yoga and meditation and are inspired to share that with the colivers. The ones that are not familiar themselves have other people teach you and lead the sessions. Many yogis come to colivings that are open to sharing their knowledge with others as long as the others share some of their lives with them.
Best hiking trails in Spain
Spain is a big country with more than 500,000 square kilometers and a lot of different regions.
Officially, these regions can be divided into 4 big categories:
- the islands,
- the lowland regions,
- the peninsular region, and
- the inner plateau with the mountains.
Being this big and with all these different geographic elements, Spain is rich in diverse land and nature that each provides a different experience. This characteristic makes the country a hiker’s paradise.
Some living places use this natural advantage to organize hiking tours around their place. For example, Galicia has some of the best hiking trails in Spain and many colivings in the area know how to use this.
The same as for surfers, Spain’s colorful terrain allows hikers of different readiness and skill to find matching routes and challenges. Whether you’re looking for long long hiking trails or short stroll-like routes, Spain has it all.
For example, iSlow has all the tea about amazing routes nearby and is ready to spill it. They are also organizing hiking tours to go together with other colivers and bond over this freeing activity.
Trying local Spanish food
One of the best ways of discovering a new culture is through a country’s national and local food. You can learn so much about people, the custom, and the traditions from the way they prepare the food, eat it, and the way they feel about it.
People are also always passionate about the food they grew up with, so a few dishes can inspire a heartfelt conversation about one’s culture. Food is also something that is closely related to family life, and it always follows other traditions.
The food follows celebrations, national holidays, and traditional gatherings, but also your everyday lives that speak so much about a culture. So, a conversation inspired by food will probably incorporate many other traditions and will let you learn how local people speak and think about different aspects of life.
When it comes to Spain, dining is one of the most important parts of the culture. Spanish people nurture the tradition of getting together with friends and family over food and sharing their lives.
Dinner parties and events with authentic Spanish food are also frequent activities that colivings in Spain organize. These events bring people closer but also teach a lot about the local culture. They are also amazing because they directly support small businesses by buying fresh produce locally and including locals in the process.
Sunday BBQs with other colivers
Sunday BBQs, dinner parties on Fridays, or any other party-like event is a must in colivings. The one thing that makes colivings different from other accommodations is that people come here to co-live. They come to meet other people, share their lives with them and learn more about their colivers.
Even though people already come with a mindset to meet others and would probably do it spontaneously on their own, pre-organized events like these make the whole place relaxed and vibing on the same level.
These parties are a great opportunity for colivers to find someone with that they could share their ideas or someone to support their projects. Sometimes partnerships come out of coliving places, but even if not that, definitely friendships.
Cooking with others is also a great bonding activity. We talked above how food is an important part of one’s culture, well – cooking dinner or BBQing together is a great way to get to know your colivers’ traditions and learn about their culture.
Remember, people, come here from all kinds of backgrounds and from all over the world, spicing the meat, or even preparing a salad might be totally different from what you’re used to. Imagine going home with a few amazing recipes originating from across the world.
Traditional local events / Spanish ferias
When it comes to local events Spanish people are experts in the area. Spaniards love social gatherings, music events, festivals, etc.
In case you had the chance to stay in Spain longer than a week you probably had an opportunity to experience one of those. My first week in Spain, there was a music festival in our local park. It’s just something that they enjoy doing very much.
Keeping that in mind, staying at a Spanish coliving is a perfect way to experience local Spanish culture. Many small places around Spain organize local events, which are specific just for their regions.
Some of these are local food events, while others are musical events with traditional music like a Flamenco show, or an art show of local artists or comical plays.
Some colivings don’t necessarily organize these types of events but can give you insights on what to visit why you’re staying at their place. We would definitely recommend checking out ferias because they really showcase the Spanish culture.
Art/Creative workshops
Coliving communities are often full of creative individuals like musicians, artists, creators, dancers, etc. This environment inspires a great place for artistic expression and creative workshops.
These workshops might be interactive art shows, but they also might be art sessions like painting, drawing, dancing, etc. Art is very liberating and an important factor in one’s personal expression.
Getting to know yourself within art is the best gift you can give yourself, especially in this fast-paced mostly digital world.
This is why some colivings offer different types of art sessions or opportunities to share your creativity with others or learn a new creative expression yourself.
Some colivings such as Kalart attract more artistic people and fewer digital nomads or remote workers. This, of course, does not mean that digital nomads are not welcome, it only means that is a place to look for if you’re looking for an art escape.
Some people might find surfing liberating, others might find music this way. That’s why it is important to seek what suits you and to acknowledge these activities as an important factor when choosing a coliving.
Skill-sharing nights
Skill-sharing nights and events are something that you will find in almost every coliving house in Spain. You might even say that these events are pillars of the colivings movement.
In today’s world of digital work, so many people have different skills that are actually closely related and could benefit from one another.
For example, someone could be a great writer and a blogger but could struggle with the photos for their blog. A photographer could help the blogger learn a few tricks on how to use the camera the right way, or how to capture someone’s attention with a photo, while the blogger could teach the photographer how to write catchy captions or write stories to go along with their photographs.
Even if it is not useful right away, it is always amazing to learn something new. Today’s work philosophy is to never stop learning and expanding your knowledge. It’s fun to dive deeper into some unknown topic but can also be useful on many levels.
Skill-sharing not only helps people learn new skills but also “promotes” or showcases certain professions and jobs. We are often unaware of how much work some people put into a product that we see finished, and skill-sharing can help us see that. For example, I never knew how skillful someone has to be to make a quality Tiktok video until I tried it myself.
When people show you their skills and the process put into work, you start to respect more both the profession and the product.
Skill-sharing is a perfect way to strengthen the community, learn something new, and maybe even come up with some new ideas for your future projects, and that is why colivings love to organize it.
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