exchanging money

Barry martyn wrote:open a bank account , tranfer money in from transferwise at 2 cents below bank rate of the day €6.50 on 1000, then have your bills paid by bank. i believe bankia are very good or santander es.

santander uk and es are not the same bank tho they offer interest on your balance 123acc.

Santander UK and ES are entirely different, as you say. However, as has been said, a benefit of a UK Santander account is that you can withdraw throughout Europe free of charge from Santander machines.

As has also been mentioned, Halifax Clarity card offers no additional fee and decent exchange rates on purchases also.

I have tried Monzo, Revolut and the Transferwise accounts and they are all pretty much a muchness, no real complaints with any of them. If you are planning on returning after the 3 months or being here longer, might be worth setting up a Spanish account although that usually means quarterly charges if you aren't paying in a regular deposit monthly.