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@Julessanderson

Hello: i bought 2 apartments north of Barcelona and i live in one and rent the other.  i live in a small fishing village only 45kms from Barcelona centre.  if i could advise you with anything just let me know. (opening bank account, getting proper ID,  etc.)

cheers

lmf

Visit as many places as you can to find places you might want to live.  Spain is a big country with many different regions and climates.

@Julessanderson

Spain has a very popular (and fairly easy) residence option, the NLV (No Lucrativa Visa). This is a non-working visa for those with a passive income (from rents, dividends, pensions) and/or savings (30k euros). You can't officially work, but many folks do remote/digital nomad type activity. Work visas are much trickier.

I think there's plenty of stuff to do in Spain apart from lie on a beach, but the exact activities will depend on what location you pick. And there are many very nice places to choose from. We're in the Alicante region, in UNESCO-listed Elche. The Costa Blanca is delightful, and Alicante/Valencia are good big city options, with many good towns/villages on the coast.

There's some pension stuff that I suggest you look into. The UK allows you to top up your NI contributions to increase your pension. If you have some years of contributions before leaving for Australia, then this could be a great option. (The cheapest are Class 2 vNICs for the self-employed.) The UK pension is extra useful as it paid in full in the EU, AND entitles you to an S1 for free state healthcare in the EU.

On the other hand, my understanding of Australian pensions is that they're not paid in full if you move abroad. So you need to see whether you can afford this reduction.