I trained at Jerez in 2001/02. No real regrets and a good few of the guys (all self funded) are now airline employed. If you go out there with a PPL and manage to save a few SEP hours, they will write you a nice refund cheque to take home (mine was for around £2,000).
We did manage to get out and about in Spain a little, many an afternoon spent on the beach, and many an evening out sampling the local delicacies
. Malaga is about 1hr 45mins drive (or 35mins by seneca)!! and Gibraltar about 1hr 10mins where you can stock up on all the usual goodies that you will be missing from home (like decent beer, indian food, FHM and galaxy choc)!!
I got by on around £500 per month for spends, and managed to run a car (shared with two other guys), and pay for several return flights home to the UK.
The weather was generally fantastic, but as already stated, this can it's self cause problems with poor visibility, high X winds and tarmac temperatures of around 40 deg! (good reasons to make for the beach or the pool again)!! On the other hand, when it rains you can expect short term flooding and severe storms!!
Food was ok but repetitive, it may well have improved since. We didn't go hungry. Accomodation is top notch! Ground school was pretty good, some notes were poor, but we made our own and most people passed the exams without too many problems. Flight training was great fun, with good instructors and a fantastic fleet of aircraft (all identical spec)! Again, test results were generally very good.
I do actually miss the place, and might plan a weekend visit over the summer.
Best of luck,
w.s.