Granada.

The scene is huge, cheap and runs on word of mouth: WhatsApp groups pass around the parties, ESN Granada organises trips and has deals with clubs like Nocta, Soho and Contrabanda, and terraces fill from mid-afternoon. Nights concentrate around Pedro Antonio de Alarcon's bars, and sunset ends up at the miradores of San Nicolas or San Miguel Alto.

• Join the Erasmus WhatsApp groups in week one; in Granada that is where parties, trips and flat leads actually circulate.
• ESN Granada runs trips and club deals; its office sits at the Facultad de Caminos, with Nocta's Monday beer pong an institution.
• Climb to the San Nicolas or San Miguel Alto viewpoints for sunset over the Alhambra at least once a week.

Granada is the budget champion of big-city Spain: 650 to 850 euros a month lives well, rent included. Rooms are cheap, the monthly transit pass is 24 euros, and the free-tapas rule means a night of drinks doubles as dinner. A beer with its tapa runs 2.50 to 3.50 euros, so going out is the cheapest entertainment in town.

• Rooms run about 200 to 350 euros a month: Zaidin is the value pick, Realejo the student classic, the renovated centre nears 500.
• The monthly transit pass costs 24 euros, and the under-30 Tarjeta Joven discounts every metro and bus ride further.
• Order a cana at 2.50 to 3.50 euros and the free tapa that arrives with it quietly replaces dinner, round by round.

Idealista is the reference, and the market is kind by Spanish standards. Realejo puts you among students at the foot of the Alhambra, Zaidin trades charm for space and lower rents, and the Albaicin looks magical but means hills and stairs every day. Student residencias exist but run around 700 euros, double a good room in a shared flat.

• Search Idealista early for September: Realejo and Centro fill first, Zaidin keeps rooms from about 220 euros.
• Think twice before a residencia at around 700 euros a month when a good shared flat costs a third of that.
• If your faculty sits on the PTS health sciences campus south of town, Zaidin makes far more sense than the postcard centre.

Granada is compact enough to walk almost everywhere, hills permitting. One metro line and the Rober buses cover the rest: singles cost 1.35 euros, about 0.49 with the rechargeable card, and the monthly pass is 24 euros with youth discounts on top. The airport is small, so many students fly through Malaga instead.

• Get the rechargeable transit card first week; it drops every ride to about 0.49 euros across bus and metro.
• Under 30, the Tarjeta Joven stacks extra discounts on the network; sort it alongside your student ID.
• Walk the centre and budget legs for the Albaicin's slopes; the metro's single line serves the flat axis of the city.

The Universidad de Granada (UGR) is the city's single academic engine and one of Spain's most popular Erasmus hosts, with campuses spread between the Centro, Cartuja on its hill and the PTS health sciences park in the south. Teaching is overwhelmingly in Spanish, which is precisely why so many people leave fluent. Check your faculty's campus before choosing where to live.

• UGR is one of Spain's biggest Erasmus magnets, so international offices and buddy structures are well oiled.
• Courses run almost entirely in Spanish; treat that as the point, not the obstacle, and your level will jump.

What you need depends entirely on your nationality. EU, EEA, and Swiss students need no visa; you just register for a NIE (foreigner ID number) if you stay long enough. Non-EU students staying over 90 days generally need a national student visa arranged at a Spanish consulate before arrival, then a TIE residency card once in Spain.

Start the visa process early, it's slow and document-heavy: proof of enrolment, funds, private health insurance, and often a criminal record check and medical certificate. Once in Spain, book your NIE/TIE appointment (cita previa) the moment you arrive, as slots vanish fast in big cities.

• EU/EEA/Swiss, no visa, just register for a NIE
• Non-EU over 90 days, student visa before arrival
• Get your TIE card within 30 days of landing
• Book the cita previa appointment immediately

The free tapa is the city's social contract: order a drink, food appears, repeat until fed. Lunch lands around 14:00 and dinner rarely before 21:00, terraces run all afternoon, and the Moorish tea houses of the Albaicin fill the gaps between. Above everything, literally, the Alhambra rewards however many visits you give it.

• Book Alhambra tickets weeks ahead; entry slots for Spain's second most visited monument vanish faster than you expect.
• Do a tapas crawl drink by drink through Realejo; in Granada the free plates keep arriving until you surrender.
• Duck into an Albaicin tea house on a cold afternoon; winter here is real and the mint tea culture thrives on it.

Realejo is the student sweet spot, historic, social and at the Alhambra's feet. Centro is practical and lively but noisier and pricier, Zaidin is the value quarter with quick metro access to the clubs and the PTS campus, and Cartuja is handy for its own campus. The Albaicin is the postcard, best visited daily rather than lived in unless you love stairs.

• Realejo for the classic mix of locals, students and tapas bars, with the whole centre in walking distance.
• Zaidin for budget rooms around 220 to 320 euros, with the metro linking you to campus and nightlife.
• Avoid basing yourself out by the Parque Tecnologico unless your courses are there; it is far from the fun.

Andalusia unfolds from your doorstep: Malaga is 90 minutes away with buses all day, Seville and Cordoba make classic weekends, and the Sierra Nevada puts ski mornings an hour from class in season. Granada's own airport is small, so for cheap flights most students ride to Malaga's hub. Madrid runs about 18 euros return by bus.

• Malaga is about 90 minutes by bus with departures all day from roughly 8 euros; its airport opens up cheap Europe.
• Ski the Sierra Nevada in season; the slopes sit close enough for a morning run before an afternoon class.
• Do the Andalusia circuit by bus: Seville, Cordoba and the coast all work as cheap weekends, Madrid at 18 euros return.

Granada in winter is cold, properly cold, and rookies packing for eternal Spanish summer regret it by November. Book the Alhambra before your parents visit, not after they land. And accept that the city runs on WhatsApp: the best flats, parties and lifts to the slopes never reach a website, they reach a group chat you should already be in.

• Pack real winter clothes; Granada sits against a sierra and January is nothing like the Costa del Sol.
• Reserve Alhambra slots weeks ahead for every visitor you expect; walk-up tickets are a myth in high season.
• Get added to the Erasmus WhatsApp groups in your first days; in this city they are the real notice board for everything.