About Spain Pest Guide
Spain Pest Guide is an independent pest control resource built specifically for English-speaking expats, property owners, and holiday home managers across all 16 regions of Spain – from Andalucia and the Costa Blanca to Catalonia, the Balearics, the Canary Islands, and beyond.
We started Spain Pest Guide because we experienced the same thing you're going through. Moving to Spain is an incredible experience – until the first cockroach appears in your kitchen at 2am. Suddenly you're searching in English for Spanish pest control advice, finding outdated forums or Google-translated product labels.
Our Mission
We provide clear, accurate, and actionable pest control guidance written in plain English. Every recommendation is based on real-world testing in Spanish homes, verified against data from ANECPLA (Spain's National Environmental Health Association), and informed by conversations with local pest control professionals.
Our Editorial Process
Every guide on Spain Pest Guide goes through a rigorous editorial process:
- Research – We consult ANECPLA guidelines, peer-reviewed entomology research, and regional government pest advisories specific to Spain.
- Expert review – Content is reviewed by pest control professionals with ROESBA certification (Spain's official pest control registry).
- Real-world testing – Product recommendations are based on genuine testing in Spanish homes across coastal, inland, and island environments.
- Community feedback – We incorporate data from our 2026 Expat Pest Survey (214 respondents across 9 regions) and ongoing reader feedback.
- Regular updates – Guides are reviewed and updated quarterly to reflect seasonal changes, product availability, and new pest data.
Independence & Transparency
Spain Pest Guide is an independent resource. We are not affiliated with any pest control company. Our product recommendations are based on genuine testing and research. Some links on this site are affiliate links – this means we may earn a small commission if you purchase a product through our link, at no extra cost to you. This is how we keep the site free. See our full affiliate disclosure.
Who We Help
Whether you've just arrived in Málaga, own a rental property on the Costa Blanca, are dealing with a recurring cockroach problem in your Barcelona flat, or managing a holiday home in the Canary Islands – our guides are written for you. We cover 89 cities across Spain. Pest control advice here is often only available in Spanish, aimed at professionals, or simply wrong for residential situations. We fix that.
Connecting You With Professionals
In addition to DIY guidance, we help connect homeowners with vetted, English-speaking pest control professionals in their area. When you submit your contact details through any of our forms – including your email address, phone number, city, property type, and pest details – we may share this information with a trusted local pest control company so they can reach out to you directly with a quote or consultation.
We only work with licensed professionals who are experienced in residential pest control and can communicate in English. Your information is never sold to third parties for marketing purposes – it is used solely to match you with a relevant pest control provider in your region.
If you prefer not to be contacted by a professional, simply leave the phone number field empty and use our free guides and checklists for DIY prevention instead.
Meet the Team
Spain Pest Guide is built by a small team of expats and local professionals who understand both worlds – the confusion of dealing with Spanish pest control for the first time, and the technical expertise needed to actually solve the problem.
James Thornton
Founder & Lead Writer
British expat living in Málaga since 2019. After spending months researching cockroach solutions in broken Spanish and outdated forums, James built Spain Pest Guide to save other expats the same frustration. He's since researched 200+ pest control cases across 16 Spanish regions and authored the 2026 Expat Pest Survey with 214 respondents.
María García López
Spanish Content Lead
Native Sevillana with a degree in Environmental Health Sciences from the Universidad de Sevilla. María previously worked as a municipal pest control coordinator and now bridges the gap between Spanish pest control practices and expat needs. She leads all Spanish-language content and ensures our advice aligns with ANECPLA guidelines.
Carlos Ruiz Martín
Technical Reviewer
ROESBA-certified pest control professional with 15+ years of field experience across Andalucía and the Costa del Sol. Carlos is a DDD (Disinfection, Disinfestation, Deratization) specialist and active member of ANECPLA. He reviews all product recommendations and treatment guides for technical accuracy.
Every article on Spain Pest Guide is written by our editorial team and reviewed by Carlos or another qualified pest control professional before publication.
Our Data & Research
We invest in original research so our advice is grounded in real data, not assumptions. Here are three of our flagship studies:
- Expat Pest Survey 2026 — We surveyed 214 English-speaking expats across 9 regions of Spain about their pest encounters, costs, stress levels, and prevention methods. The largest English-language pest survey focused on Spain's expat community.
- Climate & Pest Season Analysis — A 10-year analysis of how rising temperatures are extending cockroach and mosquito seasons across Spain. Includes city-level data on season-length changes and projected trends.
- Spain Pest Risk Index — All 89 cities we cover scored and ranked across 5 risk factors: climate, humidity, infrastructure age, population density, and pest season length. A data-driven tool for understanding pest pressure by location.
These resources are cited across our guides and form the evidence base behind our city-specific recommendations. If you are a journalist, researcher, or blogger looking for original pest control data from Spain, you are welcome to reference our findings with attribution.