I love Spain and 100000000000% would choose to live there, Italy or France long before England. Never been to Portugal but want to check that out as well.
I loved Valencia, was there for 3.5 days, probably a day too long for a visit though we never actually made it to the beach. Seems like it would be a sweet place to live, people always out, bars, restaurants, great scene and vibe to it and the weather is perfect. really mellow lifestyle in Spain from what I have seen.
If you haven't been to Barcelona, you have to go, that is an amazing city and has everything you could want in a major city. Thought it was so, so much better than Madrid.
Tough to say yet with the transfer window still open. I expect a lot of player movement between now and the end of summer. Until I know what happens with Drogba, Essien, Lampard, Adebayor, Nasri, Yaya, Hleb, David Villa, pretty much impossible to say. Unless Chelsea are decimated with departures, I think you have to take them, perhaps even over ManU. They will have a massive improvement in coaching next year and even with that they were only 2 points behind ManU.