InsiderSpain exists to make settling in Spain simpler, clearer, and more trustworthy. Moving to a new country is hard enough without sifting through contradictory, outdated, and anonymous advice — the open forums and social-media groups where a confident guess carries exactly the same weight as hard-won experience. We built InsiderSpain to fix that.
Why InsiderSpain exists
Most expat advice online suffers from the same three problems. It’s out of date — visa rules, tax thresholds and living costs change every year. It’s anonymous — you rarely know who is answering, or whether they have any real idea what they’re talking about. And it’s scattered — the answer to a single question is spread across a dozen threads, half of them years old. The result is that newcomers end up making expensive decisions, about where to live, which visa to apply for, or how to handle their tax, on the strength of a stranger’s hunch.
We bring that information back into one place, keep it current, and put a name and a track record behind it.
What we do
We combine the two things newcomers need most: reliable, current information organised by city and topic, and access to vetted professionals — our “Insiders” — who do this work every day.
- City guides. Our city guides compare Valencia, Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Bilbao on cost of living, housing, healthcare, work and lifestyle — so you can choose the place that actually fits your life.
- Expert advice. Our expert-advice sections cover the decisions that follow — visas and residency, taxes, buying and renting property, insurance, healthcare and schooling — explained in plain English.
- The directory. When general guidance isn’t enough, the Insider Directory connects you with an English-speaking professional who can help with your specific situation.
If you’re just getting started, our complete guide to moving to Spain ties it all together.
Who are the Insiders?
Insiders are professionals with a proven track record of serving the international community in Spain. Some arrived from abroad themselves and learned, the hard way, how the system really works; others are locals who are highly regarded by the expats they help. Each one is reviewed before being listed, so the guidance you find here comes from people you can actually trust — not from whoever shouted loudest in a comment thread. You can read more about that process on our How It Works page.
What we stand for
- Current over convenient. We cite the year and update figures as the rules change, rather than leaving old numbers to mislead you.
- Honest about trade-offs. Every city and every option has downsides. We tell you about them.
- Plain English. Spanish bureaucracy runs on jargon and acronyms — NIE, TIE, padrón, autónomo. We explain them instead of assuming you already know.
- People you can name. Advice carries more weight when there’s a real, accountable professional behind it.
Independent and standalone
InsiderSpain is an independent editorial platform. We’re not a law firm, estate agency or insurer ourselves — we help you find and judge the people who are. Our guides are general information to help you make better decisions, not a substitute for personalised professional advice. When your situation calls for it, connect with an Insider directly — or join as one if you’re a professional who serves the expat community.