Thinking of Moving to Spain? These 23 Substack Writers Already Did
Pull up a chair in The Lanai as these fabulous writers show you their Spain.
Lanai doors are open. The light’s just right. Someone’s brought olives and a bottle of tinto de verano. Today the air’s thick with stories from Spain.
These 23 Substack writers are here with me — gathered from across Spain. They’ve brought stories of cracked Camino knees, midnight markets, lost paperwork, found selves, quiet mornings, loud cities, and slow-burning joy.
If you like this room, there’s a whole house to explore. I’ve been building a global directory of Substackers living across borders — now 362+ writers in 66+ countries, and growing.
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💸 And to every Paid Subscriber already here — thank you. You keep the Wi-Fi running, the inbox humming, and Miso in imported tuna.🐾
Whether you’re Spain-curious or already calculating how many tortilla slices count as a full meal, these 23 Substackers go far beyond travel tips.
They’re not offering five-step guides or glossy reels. They’re offering something better — real-time reflections on change, on courage, on building a life you don’t need a vacation from.
Keep reading to find the one that makes you sigh, “Yes — that’s my Spain too.”
Rebecca Weston
The Camino Calls — I share real stories from my Camino de Santiago adventures and my life as an expat in Spain, offering insights and experiences to help others better plan their own journey on the Camino de Santiago.
🏠 Villaviciosa, Spain | ✈️ California, USA
Bio: I help people 45+ plan their Camino de Santiago journey. Having completed 12 Caminos, I live along one of its routes in Spain, volunteer annually on the route, and guide others from feeling overwhelmed to confident and ready.
Calling all:
💌 Soulful storytellers
🌍 Global citizens
🧘 Slow living fans
Quote: “I still have mornings when I wake up on yet another Camino route and ask myself why I’m still doing this. But then you walk out into the cool morning air, the light of the sun slowly illuminating the sky before the sun itself has even appeared. You look around at the fields or forest, the animals grazing, or the city streets starting to awake, and you think, ‘This. This is why I’m here.’”
Why you’ll love her:
From crumbling hostels to cathedral highs, Rebecca has walked, lived, and lovingly narrated her way across Spain’s Camino routes — and if you’re even slightly Camino-curious (or dreaming of Spanish life with purpose), her stories will hook you and make you believe that you can actually do this — even if your knees crack going down stairs.
Shawn Hennessey
Bitesize Sevilla — 🍊 Your essential guide to all things Sevilla 🍊 Gastronomy, wine, culture, travel, music and more... 🍊 Podcast coming soon!
🏠 Sevilla, Spain | ✈️ Canada
Bio: 👸🏻Queen of Tapas, Sherry Educator 🍷Unique Food & Wine Experiences ✍🏻 Decanter Magazine Contributor 💃🏻 Sevillana since 1993
Calling all:
💬 Language + culture lovers
🌍 Global citizens
🎨 Artists and Creatives
Quote: “So please tread softly when you come to visit us in Sevilla, because those are our dreams under your feet (and wheelie suitcases).”
Why you’ll love her:
With 30 years in Sevilla, a tapas truth-teller’s palate, and zero time for touristy fluff, Shawn dishes out bite-sized city wisdom with sharp humour, deep heart, and sherry-soaked insight — making her Substack your ultimate local cheat sheet if you’re dreaming of Spain beyond the brochure.
RC Hammond
Huck & Finn in Spain — My personal Substack
🏠 A Coruña, Spain | ✈️ Florida, USA
Bio: I'm a retired US immigrant living in Spain sharing original thoughts and unique humour. Finn's dad and practising hubby. Gracias.
Calling all:
💌 Soulful storytellers
🛫 Relocation nerds
✍🏻 Essay lovers
Quote: “Aging can be a cruel master. I’m not that old, but my miles are lengthy, and I’ve been put away wet too many times.”
Why you’ll love him:
RC writes like your favourite uncle tells stories — meandering, heartfelt, and unexpectedly hilarious — with tales of Alaska near-misses, dog-parenting drama, late-life love, and the quirks of daily life in Spain; if you’re imagining a Spanish retirement with more real life than real estate porn, this is your seat at the porch table.
Marti Buckley
The Spain Dispatch — 🇪🇸 Join me as I share authentic recipes, stories, and travel guides from across Spain. 🇪🇸 Author of Basque Country & The Book of Pintxos 📘 Host of Rioja Paired 📺 Contributor to Food & Wine, CNT, Lonely Planet and more.
🏠 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain | ✈️ Alabama, USA
Calling all:
💬 Language + culture lovers
🌍 Global citizens
✍🏻 Essay lovers
Quote: An answer to that question “If you only had one day/chance/place/life….” Because we really do only have one life. And living it is more about tuning in to the small details and less about optimizing every minute.
Why you’ll love her:
If your Spanish dreams come with anchovies, vermouth, and menus in Spanish only, Marti’s your insider — a San Sebastián-based food writer who serves up deep dives into regional cuisine, travel gems, cultural curiosities, and just enough sass to keep things saucy (yes, even when it’s about sheep-shaped churros or marsh rat paella).
Isabel Guerriera
Isabel's Substack — My weekly "Practical Astrology" newsletter covers various themes, topics, and theories about astrology and astrocartography.
🏠 Madrid, Spain | ✈️ New York, USA
Bio: New Yorker in Spain, Evolutionary Astrologer, and Astrocartographer helping people find where they thrive. Passionate about writing, reading, understanding human behavior, and music. Penguins are my favourite animals.
Calling all:
🌍 Global citizens
💌 Soulful storytellers
🎨 Artists and Creatives
Quote: “I have absolutely zero doubt in my mind that certain locations on Earth activate love and romance. In fact, I am living proof of this.”
Why you’ll love her:
Isabel turns the cosmos into compass with her weekly dispatches on astrology and astrocartography — blending charts, personal stories, and practical tools to help you figure out where in the world you’ll thrive (yes, even in love), all with the wit, warmth, and curiosity of a New Yorker who found home — and her fiancé — in Spain.
Josey Grace
A La Mesa — Writing on photography education, creativity, the art of mindfulness and what life’s like in the North of Spain. This newsletter is for you if you’re seeking meaning, inspiration, and a touch of the Mediterranean spirit to ground and uplift your days. 🦋
🏠 Northern Spain | ✈️ UK
Bio: Story Maker, Photographer, Mangos mamá, Educator, Travel-Obsessed | Letting Love Flow 🦋💛🌺 Scribbling thoughts on ‘A La Mesa’. Wedding filmmaker at @marisoulstudio_
Calling all:
💌 Soulful storytellers
🌍 Global citizens
🎨 Artists and Creatives
Quote: “Sometimes we are scared to set sail in uncharted waters and so we mooch around the shallows with everyone else... But when our feet are planted, we don’t get to see new perspectives and other worlds.”
Why you’ll love her:
Josey’s Substack feels like morning coffee on a sun-warmed balcony — where stories of slow living in Northern Spain, creative courage, photography, and belonging spill out with heart and humour, reminding you to look up, breathe deep, and build a life that feels like home (wherever you are — or wish to be).
Sam S
Stories From Sevilla's Substack — An American living in Spain for over 10 years. Sharing observations and reflections about Spanish culture and living abroad for the long haul.
🏠 Sevilla, Spain | ✈️ California, USA
Bio: Tapas-sized reflections and anecdotes about life in Spain, from a California native who has called Sevilla (& Madrid) home for over a decade.
Calling all:
🌍 Global citizens
💬 Language + culture lovers
🧘🏻 Slow living fans
Quote: “I’ve built a muscle I didn’t know I was missing — the capacity to embrace and enjoy the formerly monotonous tasks in my day, through deeply connecting with the space and people around me.”
Why you’ll love her:
Sam’s been in Spain long enough to stop apologising for dinner at 10 p.m. — and her Substack delivers tapas-sized takes on language, food, and the slower pace of life that make you rethink what it actually means to feel at home abroad (hint: it involves fresh peaches, fewer errands, and a lot more walking).
Rachel Drummond
Americana en España — Weekly letters from my life in Spain
🏠 Madrid, Spain | ✈️ Oregon, USA
Bio: An American in Spain, enjoying the sunshine in the shade, learning to socialize at midnight, and spinning cultural differences into funny stories ☀️
Calling all:
🛫 Relocation nerds
💬 Language + culture lovers
🌍 Global citizens
Quote: “Being an American out of country can feel like being a celebrity. Your image has been shaped by Hollywood, headlines, and history — none of which tell your whole story.”
Why you’ll love her:
Rachel doesn’t sugarcoat life abroad — she seasons it with sass, soul, and just the right amount of bureaucracy-induced rage; whether she’s decoding Spanish idioms, making peace with olives, or failing her driving test again, her sharp, funny essays will make you feel less alone in the chaos of building a life overseas (and might even make you laugh about it).
Annie Yu
make anniething — make annie thing is my musings on art, travelling, living in spain, thoughts on personal style and more.
🏠 Madrid, Spain | ✈️ San Francisco, USA
Calling all:
🎨 Artists and Creatives
🛫 Relocation nerds
💌 Soulful storytellers
Quote: “I learned that being an artist meant you cherished those everyday ordinary experiences, the quirks and idiosyncrasies, that you looked inward and outwards and always sought new ways of seeing the world.”
Why you’ll love her:
Annie’s world is one of vintage finds, late-night journaling, and memory-tinted travel — and she turns everyday Madrid life, from flea markets to feelings and birthday picnics to big existential questions, into soft, reflective essays that remind you just how rich a creative life abroad can be.
Jayne Marshall
Who I Am in Spanish — On life in Madrid and life in another language. Or put another way: on place and belonging, and feeling more at home in places where you don’t officially belong.
🏠 Madrid, Spain | ✈️ UK
Bio: My debut essay collection was published by Modern Odyssey Books. I hold a Master's in Creative Writing (University of Oxford). I live in Madrid, Spain where I work as an editor at a publisher. I also write a column for The Madrid Review.
Calling all:
💌 Soulful storytellers
🌍 Global citizens
💬 Language + culture lovers
Quote: “It’s cocoon-like but also gives me a feeling of freedom and expansion; Madrid’s blue Velázquian sky and the light and the height all combining to lift me upwards — a boat at the crest of a wave.”
Why you’ll love her:
Jayne’s Substack is for the wanderers and word lovers — full of sharp, lyrical essays about living in Spanish, loving cities that don’t always love you back, and figuring out who you are when you no longer have a job title to hide behind — with detours through language learning, literary life, heartbreak, and late-stage reinvention you’ll want to underline.
Andrea Eschen
Snippets from Spain — Discoveries and surprises from an American living in Spain
🏠 Madrid, Spain | ✈️ Chicago, USA
Calling all:
🌍 Global citizens
✍🏻 Essay lovers
💬 Language + culture lovers
Quote: “Walking along a rewilded river and possibly glimpsing an otter or a fox means more to the city’s and planet’s future than jamming an umbrella in the sand.”
Why you’ll love her:
Andrea’s Substack is like having coffee with the sharpest person on your walking tour — she unpacks Spanish quirks, deep dives into history, Basque shepherds and slips in surprising cross-cultural connections you’ll be thinking about long after the newsletter lands in your inbox.
Kiersten Brown
Kiersten's Substack — My personal Substack
🏠 Jaén, Spain | ✈️ California, USA
Bio: I use words, storytelling and coaching to help people think differently to expand who they are.
Calling all:
🛫 Relocation nerds
💬 Language + culture lovers
💼 Remote workers
Quote: “Likewise, you can be grateful for what your home country has given you, and you can walk away. California has made me who I am, but if I hadn’t moved abroad I don’t think I would like the version of me that stayed in California.”
Why you’ll love her:
Kiersten’s Substack reads like a voice note from your funniest, most grounded friend abroad — mixing hiking fails, freelance wins, money mishaps, and reflections on Black identity into honest, uplifting stories that’ll make you laugh, nod, and maybe even pack a bag.
Kandi
Mostly Well - A Substack by Kandi — My personal Substack
🏠 Spain | ✈️ USA
Bio: Hi! Kandi here. Recently, my husband and I sold about 95% of our belongings and moved to Spain with our two dogs, Joni and Althea. Life is truly an adventure if you’re willing to take what comes and see how it plays out. Welcome to the ride.
Calling all:
🛫 Relocation nerds
💌 Soulful storytellers
🧘🏻 Slow living fans
Quote: “I dream in bread. The varieties dance inside of my head. What could they taste like? Would it be so pillowey that I could lay my head upon it? What kind of vessel will it be? What joy can it hold?”
Why you’ll love her:
Kandi’s the kind of writer who’ll talk to you about tomatoes like they’re soulmates, make you laugh through life admin and language fails, and remind you (with warmth and wit) that being “mostly well” is more than enough — especially when you’re navigating a new country, old habits, wellness routines, and the occasional existential wobble.
Christopher
Valencia At Last — Ever wondered what it's like to live abroad? My heart found Valencia, Spain, and now I have moved here permanently. Join me on my adventures, thoughts, and observations for an authentic life abroad. I also help others do the same at CleverExpat.com.
🏠 Valencia, Spain | ✈️ USA
Calling all:
🛫 Relocation nerds
🌍 Global citizens
💬 Language + culture lovers
Quote: “Every time I leave Valencia, I think I’m going off to learn about new places, but I end up learning just as much about where I came from…Every trip away teaches me how much I love this city, not in a “better than everywhere else” way, but in a deeply personal, this-is-home way.”
Why you’ll love him:
Christopher’s Substack is a slow-living love letter to Valencia — full of thoughtful essays on everyday routines, public transport, seasonal rhythms, cultural nuance, and the subtle joys of settling into Spanish life — all written in a warm, curious, quietly observant style that makes you want to take notes, take a breath, and take the train.
Chris Fry
I'm right about everything... again — Whatever is on my mind at the moment
🏠 Madrid, Spain | ✈️California, USA
Bio: I post what is on my mind. Like the destruction of America by radical right extremists, but other stuff too. I recently relocated to Spain so my new Spanish life will definitely be a topic as well.
Calling all:
🛫 Relocation nerds
🌍 Global citizens
💬 Language + culture lovers
Quote: “I guess I’m an expat although the word we Americans use for non-white expats is ‘immigrant.’ And I guess on some level I’m an immigrant refugee…”
Why you’ll love him:
Chris writes like someone who’s lived a lot, lost a lot, and still refuses to sugarcoat a damn thing — expect sharp dispatches from Madrid on politics, culture shock, grief, grocery store epiphanies, and why Spanish eggs (and Spanish life) just make more sense.
Emily Hubbard
Pomelo — a newsletter about exploring adulthood, being gentle with myself and learning to grow while sharing it with the internet from my corner of the countryside
🏠 Spain | ✈️ UK
Bio: I write POMELO in an old house, in the middle of the countryside, surrounded by big trees, birds, my books and probably a cup of decaf coffee.
Calling all:
💌 Soulful storytellers
✍🏻 Essay lovers
🧘🏻 Slow living fans
Quote: “I can see my small inner child in awe at what her adult self has accomplished… how she never wants to do anything else in this world but write.”
Why you’ll love her:
Writing from a quiet corner of the Spanish countryside, Emily turns overthinking, homesickness, creativity and adulting into luminous, diaristic essays that feel like opening someone’s journal — therapy, fear of success, long-distance friendship, softness as survival and finding your voice (and routine) in a world that rarely hands you one.
Nolan Yuma
Born Without Borders — Building bridges across divides.
🏠 Spain | ✈️ Santiago, Chile
Bio: Stories by the inescapably foreign.
Calling all:
🌍 Global citizens
💬 Language + culture lovers
✍🏻 Essay lovers
Quote: “Maybe it’s when we’re in nature, when we’re creating, when we’re pushing the edges of what’s possible, and doing what truly makes us feel good rather than just distracting us from what makes us feel anything. Maybe transcendence isn’t a place but a frequency.”
Why you’ll love him:
Nolan writes like a man straddling three continents — and several dimensions of thought. Whether he’s unpacking “titulitis” in Spain, calling out platform hypocrisy, or helping language learners ditch the grammar drills, you’ll come away feeling both challenged and seen, especially if you’ve felt foreign in more ways than one — and hungry for something more honest.
Rocco Pendola
Never Retire: Living The Semi-Retired Life — Using my move to Spain to illustrate personal finance strategies designed to Live The Semi-Retired Life, this is a newsletter for those of us who will Never Retire.
🏠 Valencia, Spain | ✈️ Los Angeles, USA
Bio: I live and work full-time in Spain, where I write about life abroad, cycling and investing and personal finance. I’m no longer a U.S. resident. I am based entirely in the EU.
Calling all:
🌍 Global citizens
💼 Remote workers
🛫 Relocation nerds
Quotes: “It makes me feel like I have to live my life to the fullest extent possible because you view the time remaining on your second act differently than you do your first.”
Why you’ll love him:
Rocco swapped the American hustle for long Spanish walks and a 15-hour workweek — now he shares clear-eyed, quietly persuasive takes on semi-retirement, city life, and redefining “enough” in ways that make you question your own calendar (and maybe your car).
Jen
poco a poco — A lifelong reader who became a mother, a traveler, and an immigrant. Writing about life in Spain and the emotions that come with building a new home far from the old one.
🏠 Valencia, Spain | ✈️ Middle Tennessee, USA
Bio: American in Spain
Calling out:
👨👩👧👦 Parents abroad
💌 Soulful storytellers
🌍 Global citizens
Quote: “A fracture in your life. It refers to when something so painful occurs and causes such a dramatic shift in your life that it is a gift.”
Why you’ll love her:
What happens when you trade suburban Tennessee for Valencia? Jen writes it all with warmth, honesty, and a sneak-up-on-you sense of humour — from Amazon delivery dread to grief, family moves, and the emotional plot twists in between. Wondering what starting over in Spain really feels like? Jen’s your woman.
Russell Max Simon
Post-Nomad — ✍️ Finding meaning by staying in place. Renovating a 250-year-old home in Spain. 🏠
🏠 Barcelona, Spain | ✈️ New Hampshire, USA
Bio: Location independent for 10+ years. Based in Barcelona, bought a stone fixer in Spain 🇪🇸, where I'm building 🛠️, climbing 🧗♂️, kitesurfing 🌊, & writing ✍🏻.
Calling all:
🛫 Relocation nerds
🌍 Global citizens
💼 Remote workers
Quote: “Yet I move forward poco a poco…Perhaps I am that rare sanguine personality type who smiles through this kind of adversity (after the requisite moments of frustration and cursing and pulling my hair out… my beard is certainly a bit more gray than it was a year ago).”
Why you’ll love him:
Russell’s the guy who traded kitesurfing in Mexico for hauling concrete in Catalonia — and now writes with heart and rigour about staying put, making meaning, and why commitment might just be the new rebellion.
Brian Wiesner
Serendipity Lab — You're in the right place at the right time. I write about people, cities, and serendipity (among other things).
🏠 Barcelona, Spain | ✈️ Budapest, Hungary
Calling all:
🌍 Global citizens
💬 Language + culture lovers
🛫 Relocation nerds
Quote: “Nice places make us feel good, ugly places make us feel sad. And I think that in the same way we can fall in love with people, we can also fall in love with specific places for specific reasons.”
Why you’ll love him:
From Barcelona bike rides to taking down suburban sprawl with a smile, Brian writes sharp, serendipity-soaked essays about how cities, cafés, and crosswalks shape the lives you and I could be living — if we just picked the right postcode.
Michael Mohr
Michael Mohr’s Sincere American Writing — https://michaelmohr.substack.com/p/sincere-american-podcast Make sure to check out my new podcast, Sincere American Podcast covering the writing process, sobriety/recovery, being an American expat in Madrid, and the complex topic of masculinity.
🏠 Madrid, Spain | ✈️ Ojai, USA
Bio: American expat. Podcaster. Author of six books. Lover of complexity and nuance. Into honesty, vulnerability and independent thinking.
Calling all:
✍🏻 Essay lovers
💬 Language + culture lovers
🛫 Relocation nerds
Quote: “Everything before that precise date was a time-capsule full of rage, fear, hate; all the bottled-up emotions I’d carried inside since the moment I fell out of my mother’s womb on New Year’s Eve, 1982…A whole autobiographical novel about high school spooled out of me like a river racing down a steep mountain, crashing around and over rocks and boulders like nothing.”
Why you’ll love him: Michael Mohr doesn’t do polite prose — he does honesty, intensity, and a bit of literary whiplash. His Substack is a sharp mix of memoir, fiction, politics, masculinity, and sobriety, served straight-up from his perch in Madrid. Whether he’s unpacking the writing life, the messiness of being a man, or the ghost of American idealism, Michael’s here to tell the truth (his and maybe yours too).
Christine Job
Christine Job: Truths n’ Musings — Exploring the intersections of migration, media, and meaning through essays, interviews, and creative strategy—centered on the making of a life well-lived.
🏠 Valencia, Spain | ✈️ Suwanee, USA
Bio: Christine Job is a writer, strategist, and award-winning podcaster exploring Black womanhood, migration, and the making of a life well-lived. She connects story, strategy, and sustainability — grounded in 8+ years of living and building abroad.
Calling all:
🌍 Global citizens
💌 Soulful storytellers
🛫 Relocation nerds
Quote: “I’m still the woman who believes in "go abroad and cultivate a life well-lived." But I’m also building frameworks, advising global creatives, writing a book, planning live events, and shaping a body of work that will live beyond an algorithm and hopefully my lifetime.”
Why you’ll love her: Christine’s the one who’ll whisper strategy secrets in your ear and ask how your spirit’s holding up — her essays explore migration, identity, creative sustainability, and Black womanhood abroad with clarity, soul, and a serious side of receipts. If you’re building a life across borders (and want it to feel good, not just look good), she’s essential reading.
That’s a wrap on Spain for now.
If one of these voices resonated with you, go subscribe, leave a comment, or share their work. And if you got recommendations, drop their name in the comments. You’re nosy. I’m listening,
P.S. If you’re dreaming about building a life in Spain yourself, I’ve made something for you.
🧭 The Dream Life Abroad Starter Kit brings together everything I wish I’d had when I started: a destination quiz that actually makes sense, a filterable database of 409+ locales, lifestyle planning tools, meditations, goodbye rituals, and checklists to help you move from maybe one day to this is happening.
Your story might be the next one we feature — if it’s still rattling around in your ribs, send it in.