Jerez de la Frontera  ·  One Year  ·  Full Immersion

Not a vacation.
Not an experiment.
A year lived.

Vivir is a complete year-abroad program for families who want to experience Spain the way Spaniards do — rooted in a real Andalusian city, enrolled in real schools, living a genuinely real life. We handle everything so you can be fully present for it.

Jerez
The program
August to July.
One complete year
in Jerez.

The program runs August 1st through mid-July — aligned to the Spanish school calendar. Your family arrives before the city wakes up for autumn, settles in during September, and leaves having genuinely lived here. Not toured. Lived.

Aug 1
Arrive & orient
Sept
School begins
Mar–Apr
Peak moments
Mid-July
Program closes

Designed with Spain's 183-day threshold in mind

Spain treats 183 days of physical presence in a calendar year as the threshold for tax residency. Vivir's calendar is built around that threshold, so your family can experience a full program year while staying mindful of your day count and home-country tax position. It's a meaningful factor for the families we work with — one we recommend you also review with your own tax advisor, since every family's situation is different.

Month by month

Your year in Jerez

August
Arrival
Settle in. Breathe.
Arrive to a ready home. Orientation week — your neighbourhood, your market, your city. School visits before the year begins.
September
School starts
The year begins in earnest.
Children start school. Vendimia — the sherry grape harvest — fills Jerez with music, horses, and neighbours.
October
Travel season
Perfect weather. Explore.
Temperatures drop to ideal. Day trips to Cádiz, Tarifa, the white villages of the Sierra. Our weekend guide opens up.
November
Good for visitors
Quiet, golden, and real.
Crowds gone, prices low, light extraordinary. First good window for family from home to experience daily life with you.
December
Navidad
Christmas, Spanish style.
Nativity scenes in every plaza. The Lotería. Nochebuena with neighbours. Ideal for home visitors — a genuinely Spanish Christmas.
January
Reyes Magos
The real Christmas — Jan 6th.
Three Kings parade through Jerez. Children receive gifts. Roscón de Reyes. One of the most joyful days in Spain.
February
Carnaval
Cádiz is 30 minutes away.
Spain's greatest street carnival on your doorstep. A perfect visitor window before the intensity of spring.
March
Semana Santa
Nothing prepares you for it.
Candlelit processions, ancient brotherhoods, saetas from balconies. Experience this week as a family. Do not fill it with visitors.
April
Feria del Caballo
Jerez at its most itself.
The Horse Fair — a week of flamenco, fino, carriages, and casetas. The perfect moment for your most important guests.
May
Best visitor window
The finest month in Andalusia.
Warm, flower-filled, festive. Our top recommendation for hosting family and friends — weather, culture, and comfort all at their peak.
June
Long days
Coast opens. School winds down.
Evenings stretch to 10pm. Atlantic beaches become your weekend. San Juan bonfires at Cádiz. The year nears its close.
July
Program closes
The year is complete.
July is yours to linger and say goodbye properly. The program closes mid-July. You leave fluent, changed, and with a city you can always return to.
Everything included

Full immersion.
Zero headaches.

01

Visa coordination & paperwork

We help you understand your visa options and coordinate every appointment and document in partnership with our immigration attorney, so nothing falls through the cracks. Your timeline is planned with Spain's 183-day residency threshold in mind from day one.

02

Home in Jerez

A furnished, vetted family home ready on August 1st. We personally source and manage the lease on your behalf — no unknown landlords, no surprises when you land with your children.

03

School enrollment

Confirmed places at the right school before you arrive. We know Jerez's schools personally — international, bilingual, and Spanish-immersion options matched to your children.

04

NIE, banking & registration

NIE appointments, Spanish bank account, empadronamiento, and healthcare registration. Every administrative step handled before and after your arrival.

05

Weekend & travel guide

A curated, month-by-month guide to the best of Andalusia — day trips, festivals, coastal escapes, and unmissable seasonal moments. Timed so you never miss what matters.

06

Visitor timing guide

Guidance on when to invite family and friends — and when to protect your immersion. Make the most of the moments worth sharing without losing the ones that are yours alone.

07

Orientation week

Your first week in Jerez spent with us — the market, the schools, the bodegas, the barrios. We introduce you to the city the way a neighbour would.

08

Year-round support

One point of contact, August through July. Healthcare questions, utility issues, language moments, and anything unexpected that comes with genuinely living abroad.

09

Community access

Introductions to expat families, local parents, and the network we've spent years building by actually living here. You arrive with a social foundation already in place.

Why Vivir

We chose Jerez
for our family.
Then built this — together.

We live here

We relocated our own family to Jerez. Every part of this program is drawn from that experience — the schools we evaluated, the bureaucracy we navigated, the mistakes we made so you won't.

Two families, one team

We met Catalina at our children's school — she and her husband had made the same leap from the US to Spain with their two daughters, in the fall of 2025, and we became fast friends navigating it side by side. Today she and her family are our team on the ground in Jerez: local registration, introductions, and a steady hand whenever a family needs help with a property issue or a moment of Spanish bureaucracy. We run everything on the US side — finding the right families, the visa process, and securing housing before you arrive. Together, one team spans both ends of the move.

Jerez because it's real

Not Seville. Not Málaga. Jerez because it hasn't been polished for international consumption. The flamenco is real. The sherry culture is real. The neighbours are real.

A program, not a service

We don't process relocations. We run a year-long program with a defined shape — a beginning, a rhythm built around the school year, and an ending that leaves your family genuinely changed.

Boutique by design

We work with a small number of families each year, on purpose. This is not a volume business. Your year gets our complete attention — and Catalina's — from August 1st to mid-July.

"We didn't want to visit Spain. We wanted to know it. Vivir gave us Jerez — and Jerez turned out to be the best decision we almost didn't make."
— A Vivir family
2
Founding families, US & Spain
45 min
To Seville by train
300+
Days of sunshine/year
50/50
Bilingual schooling, Spanish & English
Vivir
2027–2028 program

Your year in Jerez
begins August 1st.

A small number of spots. One year. A city most people will never find. Tell us a bit about your family below, and we'll be in touch to start the conversation.

Prefer email? Write to us directly at hello@vivirjerez.com.