Hey hey!
Today we’re going to talk about a few of the best Spain podcasts.
As well as a few YouTube channels that’ll help you with your life (or travels) in Spain.
It’s been a pretty wild decade for DIY media.
When I started this blog back around 2010, it seemed like we’d already reached total internet saturation, what with everyone opening up a Tumblr or a Myspace page.
Seems quaint now, doesn’t it?
These days, people are making careers on Instagram, and even your mom has her very own OnlyFans – the world of “content” isn’t what it used to be.
So without further ado, let’s talk about some of the best Spain podcasts you can find out there.
Spain to Go – the best Spain podcast, bar none
I’m not gonna save the best for last here.
My very own Spain to Go podcast is now somewhere beyond 100 episodes, and it’s the only resource you really need to stay abreast of all things related to Spain and Spanish culture.
About the name: about 5 years ago, in summer 2020, I sat down and make a list of 70 or so possible names for a podcast about Spain. My only real criterion was that I figured the word “Spain” should be at the beginning.
I didn’t particularly like any of my own ideas, but settled on Spain to Go, figuring I could change it later on, when I thought of something better.
And five years later, here we are.
Here’s a recent episode…
You can find the Spain to Go podcast on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts and even on my YouTube channel – more about that later.
Also, to be fair to the competition, I’d like to mention: a year or so ago I came across a podcast called Spain is Different and kicked myself for not coming up with that name. Well played, sir.
“When in Spain” podcast
It looks like When in Spain is dormant these days.
But I’ve been interviewed there. And it’s a classic in the Spanish podcast space.
If I recall correctly, Paul Burge was a journalist for the BBC for several years before moving to Spain. So he knows what he’s doing.
Check out When in Spain on Spotify here, or look for it elsewhere.
Topics include off-the-beaten-path gems like the lavender fields in Brihuega, the hanging houses of Cuenca (a city I love) and much more. Just scroll around and see what you like, he’s got a lot of episodes.
Next up…
The Making of Madrid podcast (and blog)
I’ve been a fan of Felicity’s blog The Making of Madrid for quite a few years now.
Unlike most people who were around for the big blogging boom, she’s always done research and written pieces with some thought behind them.
Recently, she started a podcast, also called The Making of Madrid.
I was interviewed there as well, because, like the Beach Boys and 2Pac, I get around.
(Now that I’ve lived in both Madrid and Barcelona for several years each, people want to interview me about that. Madrid vs Barcelona is a big debate here in Spain: whether we’re talking about the football teams or the cities, people get pretty excited about defending their side.)
Incidentally, I wrote the definitive guide to the Madrid vs Barcelona city debate for Lonely Planet years ago. In that one, I called Madrid Spain’s “pretty-yet-gritty capital city” because the more I tried to sound like some over-the-top cheesy travel writer, the fewer complaints I got from my editor.
Anyway, you could also listen to Felicity’s episode about The Burial of the Sardine, a Madrid tradition I’ve never actually witnessed… the details are pretty weird, though.
You could also check out her book about the Huertas neighborhood, called A Guide to Madrid’s Literary District.
Devour Tours (food tours in Madrid and beyond)
I’ve known Lauren since (approximately) the beginning of time.
When we met, she was just a girl with a food blog, and I was just a guy with a grammar blog. Now she’s got a company called Devour Tours giving food tours in several Spanish cities, as well as various other countries. And I’m still a guy with a grammar blog. How ’bout that?
Anyway, I’ve been on a couple of the tours – for example, a Madrid Food Tour several years ago. Also, the private (early-morning) Prado Museum tour I went on last year was with Walks Tours,
These days, Lauren (and Devour) are on YouTube as well.
Check it out…
I highly recommend Devour and Walks tours if you like to have things organized when you’re on vacation in Spain or elsewhere. (Some people are anti-planning, and that’s fine, too.)
James Blick at Spain Revealed
One of the heavy hitters here in the world of Spain content is James Blick, a New Zealander who’s fallen in love with Spain, a Spanish woman, and the local cuisine.
Here he is, for example, hitting up some tapas bars around Barcelona.
As I may have recently mentioned on here, I’m not really a foodie. But if you’re into that kind of thing, James puts a lot of effort and enthusiasm into his videos.
He also talks about a lot of the legal and financial aspects of moving to Spain. He’s got an online course he calls the “Move to Spain Masterclass” that a lot of people speak positively about. Check out his website Spain Revealed for all the details (I think he does the masterclass in cohorts, so you can’t just sign up whenever).
Learn Spanish with Daniel
Finally, if you look up “best Spain podcasts” a lot of what you’ll find is going to be about the Spanish language.
If you’d like to learn Spanish, I can also help you with that. I’ve got a new YouTube channel called Learn Spanish with Daniel that has several dozen videos about grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation.
So far, the most popular seems to be the one about the pronunciation of R and RR in Spanish.
I also have some travel videos up there, and all the episodes of the Spain to Go podcast, for those who prefer to listen on the Tubes.
There are a lot of other podcasts for and YouTube channels people who want to learn Spanish out there. I haven’t listened to many, but I’m sure some of them are pretty good.
(A lot of the podcasts are about Mexican or Latin Spanish, which is fine – if you’re at a lower level, you just need to learn something. If you’ve got a high level, you can adjust your accent and vocabulary choices to reflect the differences between Spanish from Spain – or “Castilian Spanish” if you’d prefer – and the other varieties. I teach the Spanish I’ve picked up in Madrid and Barcelona, but I wouldn’t obsess over the accents much if I were learning.)
Meanwhile, I’m toying with the idea of making an all-Spanish podcast – by which I mean, one that’s about learning the language more than it’s about culture and news.
What do you think? Wanna learn Spanish from me?
Let me know, right here in the comments.
Yours,
Daniel AKA Mr Chorizo.
P.S. If you’d like me to be on your podcast, just drop me a line somewhere. I’m easy to find. Also, here’s my most recent article about how Madrid is better than Barcelona… I’m actually kind of done with that topic, so please propose something else if you’d like to interview me.
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