Moving to Marbella, honestly
I moved here from Stockholm in 2018 with my family, bought and developed property here, and built a workspace for founders on the coast. People message me every week with the same questions, so I wrote the answers down. No agency behind this, nothing to sell — just what I would tell a friend.
Start here
If you are just beginning to think about the move, read these three first.
Relocating to Marbella: the complete, honest guide
Everything I wish someone had written before we moved: paperwork, timing, areas, schools, cost of living, tax, healthcare, cars, and the mistakes that cost people the most.
4 min read
Your first 90 days in Marbella: a week-by-week checklist
The order to do things in so nothing blocks anything else, from the NIE appointment to actually having friends — and why I outsource almost all of the admin.
3 min read
Moving to Marbella: what I'd tell a founder family arriving today
Test-live first, let the school and the area decide, and design your week so you are not stuck in a car. What I would do differently if I moved here again.
3 min read
Where to live, and whether to buy
The coast is thirty kilometres of very different lives. This is how to choose between them.
Where to live in Marbella: the areas, compared honestly
Estepona to Elviria, Guadalmina to Puerto Banús — who each area actually suits, and what I would warn you about based on living here since 2018.
3 min read
Marbella vs Estepona vs Sotogrande vs Málaga: which one is actually for you
Four very different places within an hour of each other. Who each one suits, what you give up, and how I would choose.
2 min read
Buying a house in Marbella: the process, the real costs, and the mistakes
How buying property here actually works, what it costs on top of the price, and what I learned taking a villa in Los Arqueros from plot to finished sale.
4 min read
Money, tax and admin
The unglamorous half of the move, and the part where being cheap is expensive.
Cost of living in Marbella: what a family actually spends
The honest budget — housing, schools, healthcare, cars, food and the fixed costs nobody mentions until the second month.
2 min read
Tax and residency in Spain for founders: what to sort out before you move
The 183-day rule, the Beckham regime, autónomo versus a Spanish company, and why your move date matters more than almost anything else.
2 min read
Healthcare in Marbella: public, private, and what we actually use
How the Spanish system works for new arrivals, what private insurance costs, and the practical setup most families here end up with.
2 min read
Family and schools
The school decides your area, your commute and your children's friendship group.
Schools in Marbella: the options, and how I'd choose now
The private and international schools families here shortlist, what makes them different, and the one thing I got wrong: we picked the comfortable option before the Spanish one.
3 min read
Moving to Marbella from Sweden: the Swedish-specific version
Utflyttning, Skatteverket, the Swedish school, and the particular trap of landing inside a comfortable Nordic bubble.
2 min read
Working from here
Six years of running and advising companies from the Costa del Sol.
Coworking in Marbella: what actually works when you run a company from the coast
Why the home office fails by month three, what to look for in a workspace here, and why I ended up building The Pool with Christian Rasmussen and Andreas Mihalovits.
3 min read
Marbella for remote teams: offsites, visiting founders, and why it works
What makes the coast a genuinely good place to bring a distributed team, how to run an offsite here, and what to avoid.
2 min read
Running a company from Marbella: what changes and what does not
Six years of building and advising companies from the Costa del Sol — time zones, hiring, travel, credibility, and the discipline it quietly demands.
2 min read
Questions I get asked most
- Is Marbella a good place to live year-round?
- Yes, if you choose the right area. Marbella centre, San Pedro and Estepona have genuine year-round life; parts of the coast and the hill urbanisations empty out between November and March. Winter here is mild, quiet and, for most people who live here, the best season.
- What is the hardest part of moving to Marbella?
- Not the paperwork. It is building a social life and learning Spanish, because everyone speaks English and it is very easy to spend years inside an expat bubble. The people who are still happy here after five years are almost always the ones who broke out of that early.
- Do you need a car in Marbella?
- Practically, yes — the coast is spread out and public transport is limited. But if you choose an area where you can walk to coffee, the beach and dinner, you will use the car far less, and that single decision predicts whether people still enjoy living here after two years.
- Can you run an international company from Marbella?
- Yes. It is Central European Time, Málaga airport flies direct across Europe, and the fibre is good. What you lose is ambient structure and chance conversations, which you have to rebuild deliberately — a workspace, fixed anchors in the week, and travelling with intent.
A letter, roughly monthly
One essay a month on building companies, AI, investing and life in Marbella. No pitches, no funnels. Unsubscribe in one click.