8 of The Best Spanish Shows on Netflix

You can find most of these Spanish T.V. series and Spanish shows on Netflix, hurrah! Love, drama, intrigue, murder, history… these Spanish shows and series have it all. And watching them will help you improve your Spanish accent!

Listen to the Spanish and read the English subtitles in order to get an extra dose of Spanish comprehension practice or………for an extra challenge set Spanish subtitles! If you have been looking for Spanish television shows to get addicted to, while you improve your Spanish language skills and vocabulary look no further!

**If there’s a certain show that you can’t get access to from the country you are in or that has moved off of one of these platforms and is now available only in its home country (this happens quite often), you can use a VPN to watch any series you’d like. This is what I used when I was living in Spain and Italy.

1. EL TIEMPO ENTRE COSTURAS/THE TIME BETWEEN

A phenomenal Spanish show about a Madrid seamstress who leaves Spain with her lover and ends up abandoned and in debt in Morocco, forced to pay her criminal boyfriend’s debts off and remain under the watchful eyes of the law until she’s done.

She ends up opening a dress-making shop and creating dresses for some of the wealthy and elite foreigners in Morocco (including the wives of Nazi’s). We won’t spoil the end for you but the plot thickens continually.  This show involves spies, Nazis, fabulous fashion and drama. The heroine is a famous Spanish film actress who has won awards for many of her roles. This series was based on a very popular novel.

Who is this for? Drama lovers, lovers of movies with strong female leads who overcome odds, lovers of foreign films and seeing the past come to life……

2. Locked Up/Vis a Vis

This Spanish rendition of Orange is the New Black debuted a couple of years after the U.S. version and I have to be honest, I like this Spanish version a lot better! I actually could never really get into Orange is the New Black, but I find the main character in Vis a Vis (‘face to face’) much less annoying (at least for the first two seasons.. ?). I also love the cast of characters in this Spanish series, and the fact that the series is less graphic than the U.S. version.

Bottom line? If you like series focused on a diverse cast of female characters with a heavy dose of drama and somewhat unrealistic (mixed with all-too-realistic) situations thrown in, you’ll like this series. 

3. JUANA INES

A Spanish show based on Juana Ines de Asbaje, a brilliant young woman in Spain in the 12th century who ruffles feathers with her intelligence, wit, outspokenness, and prose at Court, where she is a favorite of the nobles. She is disliked by the religious confessors in the court due to her mouthiness and the fact that she’s a woman. Add to this, that once it is made public knowledge that her parents were unmarried, she is told the only options for her (a bastard!) are becoming a prostitute or a nun. Juana opts to become a nun so that she can study and write in peace.

The drama doesn’t end there though! The sassy, formidable, and intelligent Juana Ines continues to cause scandals and anger the church from inside the bars of the convent……..including becoming notorious for being gay (definitely not something people were ok with back then-particularly if you were a nun!).

4. VELVET

This might qualify as a modern-day Spanish telenovela (ok quite a few series here might qualify as Spanish telenovelas…) but the acting and story are much better than the old-school Spanish telenovelas and it’s set in Madrid! The fashion, music and cheesy-but-fun burst-into-American 50’s hit song moments alone make this great entertainment but this show also has a great cast and some super lovable quirky characters.

Velvet is set in a department store and based around the seamstresses/staff that work on the lower level and their relationships with the rich (and more upper crust society) owners of the store as well as their friendships with each other and life in Madrid in the world of high-end retail during the 50s.

The main characters though are Ana and Alberto- a beautiful seamstress from downstairs and the muy guapo son of the rich owners who have been in love since they were children but who continue to be torn apart by Alberto’s family…… dah dah dah (drama music….).

Sort of an Upstairs-Downstairs kind of thing but with more spicy romance, drama, and much better fashion. I’m so sad they only did three seasons!

5. LAS CHICAS DEL CABLE/THE CABLE GIRLS

A super cute (and very dramatic, bordering on telenovela-level dramatic) Spanish show/miniseries based in Madrid in the 1920’s. It focuses on the long-lost romance of a man and a woman who meet again after 10 years by chance in a company where the woman gets hired as a telephone operator. The man is married now…. The woman is a thief who has had run-ins with the law due to getting a tough break.

And… of course, there is the tight-knit girl crew who work at the telephone operating station, among them a rich elite rebel, a secret feminist, and a woman trying to leave her abusive husband in a country where divorce isn’t legal and a woman’s rights aren’t recognized. Scandal, drama, political strife, and romance ensue!

6. LA CASA DE PAPEL/MONEY HEIST

This is one of the most popular Spanish shows on Netflix. People seem to love it. Personally, I don’t understand the attraction and I find the plot and the acting to be pretty bad but hey who am I to judge with some of the other foreign television series I watch?

In any case, if so many people think it’s great it must have something going for it. The show is basically all about a group of criminals (who don’t know each other before they get together to hatch this plan) who get together and rob a bank (the Royal Mint in Spain). While the criminals know it won’t be an easy heist, and they hatch an elaborate plan, they don’t anticipate the huge obstacles they end up encountering.  Expect a lot of drama and action and some silly or emotional moments mixed in. This is the best kind of show to practice your Spanish by listening to!

7. ALTA MAR/HIGH SEAS

Murder on the high seas! Well.. mystery, and then murder, and then more murder with a lot of not-so-subtle romance thrown in and plenty of fabulous late 40’s/early 50’s fashion. Who is the murderer? It could be anyone…. 

This Spanish Netflix series, while a bit silly (and entirely entertaining), is great for practicing and understanding Spanish without the help of subtitles. On Netflix (U.S).

8. The Cook of Castamar

Based on the novel by Fernando J. Muñez (The Cook of Castamar), this series is a little bit like a cross between Chocolat and Downton Abbey, but Spanish… You have a heartbroken Spanish nobleman who runs his household fairly, treats his family and staff well, and is so annoyingly honorable that he is tricked into a situation that he can’t easily get out of by a fellow noblewoman.

Then, there is the newcomer to the household, a soft-hearted and honorable young cook who starts as a lowly kitchen hand but is quickly promoted to become the Chef thanks to her phenomenal cooking skills. But.. she is hiding a secret or two!

Will the cook overcome the challenges and tragedies she is faced with and has been forced to keep a secret? Will the nobleman be able to extricate himself from the sticky situation he finds himself in? Will they fall in love? Who will die? You’ll have to watch this romantic Spanish show on Netflix to find out.

Other Spanish language or Spanish language learning-related posts:

10+ Spanish Shows on Hulu, HBO, and Apple TV

7 Online Language Learning Programs that offer free trials

Babbel vs. Rosetta Stone vs. Pimsleur

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