How to Get a Spanish IP Address in 2020: Move via Madrid

Spain is known for many things, including fantastic sunshine, bullfights, Flamenco music and more. It’s also one of the biggest countries in the world for soccer, or, as called by its proper name, fútbol. If you’re outside of Spain and want to get in on the action, you’ll need a Spanish IP address.

In this guide on how to get a Spanish IP address, we’ll show you how to tunnel into the country securely. While accessing fútbol streams is great, we’re also going to talk about the security and privacy risks involved with connecting to another country virtually.

How to Get a Spanish IP Address

Before telling you how to get a Spanish IP address, we need to talk about what an IP address is. Like a physical address, IP addresses identify computers in a network. When you connect to a website, you share your IP address, which also notes your geographical location.

That can become a problem when trying to access content restricted to a certain country. Geoblocks are created to restrict content to a certain area. For example, Netflix has different libraries of shows and movies for different parts of the world (read our best Netflix hacks guide to see how to access them).

Replacing your IP address is, thankfully, simple, but many go about it the wrong way. One of the more common routes is to use a proxy, which allows you to connect to a server in the country you’re accessing before moving to the internet (read our best free proxy guide). When doing so, your IP address is replaced.

That said, as you can read in our how to beat the Netflix VPN ban guide, proxies are easily detected. Plus, they’re dangerous, which you can learn about in our VPN vs. proxy vs. Tor explainer.

That’s because your connection to the proxy isn’t encrypted. Virtual private networks bypass that. By using VPN protocols, you can tunnel anywhere in the world virtually. Unlike proxies, though, your connection will be encrypted, meaning your identity and requests you send will be kept private.

We’re going to give a few recommendations from our best VPN guide that have servers in Spain.

ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN is the most secure VPN we’ve tested. In addition to offering a streamlined user experience and excellent security, it’s quick. ExpressVPN is the fastest VPN we’ve reviewed, not just because it stays quick when tunneling close to home, but also because it maintains your speed over long distances.

It has two locations in Spain: one in Madrid and another in Barcelona. Though only two locations, ExpressVPN has a network of over 3,000 servers, meaning you should always be able to connect. You can learn more in our ExpressVPN review or try the service with its 30-day money-back guarantee.

NordVPN

NordVPN has a massive server network, but it still falls short of ExpressVPN. It’s not as consistent a provider, but it’s impressive. As the champion of our best VPN for torrenting guide, NordVPN stands out from the crowd with a great set of features and top-notch security.

It has 61 servers in Spain, and unlike with ExpressVPN, you can choose the one you want to connect to. Though Spain doesn’t have all of NordVPN’s specialty servers, you can use the P2P ones for torrenting. You can learn more about NordVPN’s features in our NordVPN review or see how you like it with its 30-day money-back guarantee.

CyberGhost

CyberGhost is one of our favorite providers here at CommQueR.com. It earned a spot in our best VPN for streaming guide thanks to its excellent range of dedicated streaming servers and comes with a low price tag, to boot. Though not as fast as ExpressVPN or NordVPN, CyberGhost does almost everything else right.

It has 64 servers in Spain distributed across Barcelona and Madrid, and as with NordVPN, you can choose the server you want to connect to. CyberGhost has more to offer than a large server network, though, so read our CyberGhost review for the specifics. Alternatively, you can sign up for the service to take advantage of its generous 45-day money-back guarantee.

Dangers of Using a Spanish IP Address

Spain has a generally free internet, despite issues with fair use in the past. Even so, there isn’t much to worry about when getting a Spanish IP address, unless you’re doing something illegal such as supporting terrorism, taking part in hate speech or distributing child pornography.

Though tunneling to Spain may not pose an issue, tunneling from another country can be problematic. As you can read in our internet censorship guide, many countries around the world restrict or block the internet. Using a proxy tool, such as a VPN, could mean fines or jail time.

Because of that, it’s important that you use a provider that adheres to the best in VPN security. By combining strong encryption and a strict no-logs policy, a VPN can keep you off the record. The three options listed above earned spots in our best VPN services for China guide because of their excellent security.

Even if you’re not living under the oppressive Chinese government, you should still factor in VPN security. The U.S. government, for example, tracks user data through programs such as PRISM, and massive tech companies such as Facebook and Amazon feed on the requests you send.

Though protecting yourself from obvious online threats is, well, obvious, some of the sneakier and more nefarious collection may slip through the cracks. A secure VPN stops that.

Final Thoughts

There are many reasons why you’d want a Spanish IP address, with fútbol streams being near the top of the list. While there isn’t much to worry about from the Spanish government when it comes to security or privacy, the country you live in and the services you use may cause problems.

A VPN is essential to online security, but it’s only one step in ensuring you’re safe while browsing the web. If you want to learn about more ways to protect yourself, check out our online security archive.

Which VPN are you using to get a Spanish IP address? Let us know in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.