Travel tips for traveling around Spain on your own

Are you traveling to Spain? On this page, you will find a guide with all the information you need to travel to Spain. You will find practical information to plan your trip, tips to save money, itineraries and the essential places you have to visit, and much more!

Top 3 places to visit in Spain

More Places to Visit in Spain

1. Visit Malaga and let yourself be seduced by its beaches and beach bars, white villages, gastronomy, and places with a lot of charm.

2. Road Trip to Northern Spain and get to know one of the most beautiful regions of Spain. With spectacular gastronomy, cities, culture, and landscapes with a lot of charm.

3. Enjoy Galicia, its beaches, and sunsets. Galician gastronomy, with its first quality seafood, towns stopped in time. Without a doubt, an essential.

4. Get to know the World Heritage cities around Madrid. The Spanish capital has a lot of beautiful places around it, but what stands out the most are the World Heritage sites, such as Segovia, Avila, Toledo, Aranjuez, and Alcalá de Henares.

5. Visit Valencia. A beautiful city with many things to do and lovely picturesque towns.

6. If you are looking for a Spanish Gay-Friendly city, here you have 10 cities to choose from!

Itineraries to travel Spain

What to know about Spain before travel

Capital: Madrid

Population: 46.9 million

Official Language: Spanish

Co-official Languages: Catalan, Valencian, Balearic; Galician; Basque; Occitan / Aranese.

Non-official languages: Aragonese, Asturleonés.

Time Zone: UTC + 1, UTC + 2 in summer

Moneda: Euro

International travel insurance: not mandatory for members of the European Union. But it is mandatory for all those who have to obtain a Schengen visa to travel to Spain.

SIM card / Internet: you can buy a prepaid card to access the internet on your trips. In any shopping center or in the city center you will find the main telephone operators.

Voltage and plugs: The voltage is 220V, Schuko (Type F) or Europlug (Type C) plugs are used. My recommendation is a universal plug adapter.

Security: Spain, in general, is a safe country. Be careful with pickpockets in the center of big cities and on public transport, especially on the subway. Also, use common sense to avoid getting into trouble.

Lunch & Dinner Time: later than the rest of Europe.

  • Lunch: 14h-15 (2 pm to 4 pm) till 16h in some places…
  • Dinner: 21h-22h (9 pm to 10 pm) or later on weekends and touristic places.

VISA:

  • Citizens within the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein only need a valid National Identity Document or passport.
  • The United Kingdom and Ireland do not belong to the Schengen area and require a passport. In the case of a minor traveling with the DNI, it must be accompanied by parental permission.
  • List of countries that need a valid VISA or passport (click on link)

Tourist or private trips: In these cases, the presentation of any of the following documents may be required:

  • Document justifying the lodging establishment or letter of invitation from a private individual, if he/she is staying at his / her home, issued by the Police Station corresponding to his / her place of residence.
  • IMPORTANT: In no case, the invitation letter will replace the accreditation by the foreigner of the other requirements for entry.
  • Confirmation of the reservation of an organized trip with the itinerary.
  • Return ticket or tourist circuit

Basic vocabulary for traveling

Basic vocabulary to travel to Spain. Spaniards love when a foreigner tries to speak their language.

  • Hi/ Hello: Hola
  • Good Morning: Buenos días
  • Good afternoon: Buenas tardes
  • Good night: Buenas noches
  • Goodbye: adiós
  • See you later: Hasta luego (In Spain, you’ll hear: see you later, even if you will never see this person again in your life).
  • Thank you: Gracias
  • Please: por favor
  • I don’t speak your language, I speak English: No hablo tu idioma, hablo inglés.
  • Excuse me, do you know how to get to…? Disculpe, sabe como llegar a…
  • Where is it?: dónde está…?
  • A beer? please ;): una cerveza, por favor. Una caña (small beer)
  • A pint (of beer): una pinta (de cerveza)
  • How much is it? : Cuánto es esto?
  • How much does it cost? : Cuánto cuesta esto?
  • I don’t understand: No entiendo or no te entiendo.

Check on google translate for the proper pronunciation.

What is the weather in Spain?

The climate in Spain is temperate but varies greatly depending on the area you visit and the time of year.

Winter, from December to March, can be very cold in the center of the country and in the north. You can take the opportunity to ski in the Pyrenees (in the Sierra de Madrid or in many other places), but if what you prefer is more pleasant temperatures, travel south.

Malaga has a very good temperature in winter. I have spent New Year’s Eve there with 18 Celsius degrees at night !!! While in Madrid, they could do 5 ºC or less…

Summer (June, July, and August) is very hot in practically the whole country, with cooler places to the north (Galicia, Asturias, Basque Country). Also, it coincides with the high season and European holidays.

Autumn and spring, without a doubt, when the temperature is better, but there is more chance of rain.

What is the best time to travel?

What is the best time to travel to Spain? … it depends … In summer, it coincides with the high season in all of Europe, it is when prices rise, demand is higher, and the heat is hellish (at least for my taste), and there are people everywhere.

In winter, you will find many local people in the places you visit; it is low season everywhere, except the ski resorts.

Autumn and spring are my favorite seasons to travel. With more pleasant temperatures, less crowded places, and reasonable prices in most of the country.

PRICES: How much does it cost to travel to Spain?

Hotels: the price of hotels in Spain is one of the lowest than in the rest of Europe and varies greatly depending on which city you are in and if it is high season or long weekend. But you can find cheap hotels starting at € 45, but you won’t be wrong if you calculate an average of € 60 per hotel night.

Meals: Here, too, prices vary a lot from the city where you are. Madrid, Barcelona, and the Basque Country are the most expensive places to eat in Spain. But you can find menus for € 10-15 that include the first course, second course, dessert, and drink.

Of course, you have to try the tapas and the portions, a cheap and delicious way to get to know the local gastronomy and share with your travel companions.

Activities: You will find free activities, even visits to museums and monuments, and guided tours for between € 2 and € 20 per person.

Transport: the metro ticket is around € 1.50 for a single journey.

Campsites/areas for vans or AC: if you travel by camper van or motorhome, Spain, for now, is not the most “friendly” country. There are many places where you will not be able to park or spend the night, in those cases the best is a campsite, they are well priced, around € 20 per vehicle (varies according to high or low season)

Parking a car: in most cities, the downtown area is paid for. Depending on the area, you can park a maximum of 2 hours or 4 or all day. The price per hour also varies depending on the city. In Madrid, it is around € 2 an hour.

How to get around Spain

Rental car: renting a car gives you a lot of freedom to get to know a country at your own pace and the cities you want. There are toll and free toll roads. You can get to almost anywhere in the country by free roads, except in Barcelona where there are many tolls.

Camper van/motorhome: It is a good way to move around the country, although Spain does not make it easy in all its regions for this type of tourism, you can go camping if your house with wheels it’s very big.

Buses: it is one of the cheapest (and slowest) ways to get around Spain.

Train: There are high-speed trains that connect the most important cities in the country. Prices vary a lot, our recommendation is that you buy them in advance to find the best deals.

Shared car: bla bla car or similar. In Europe carpooling works very well to travel. It is a safe and cheap way to get around the country. You have to download the app on your phone or look at it on their website.

Plane: It is the most expensive way to move around the country, although sometimes there are very good offers. Between the plane and the AVE train, I prefer the train.

Where to Make Reservations for Your Trip

Where to Stay in Spain

Reserva tu Alojamiento

Booking.com

Best places to visit in Spain

Click on an Autonomous Community and start traveling

In this section, you will find all our publications for traveling in Spain. As you can see, each post is in the corresponding Autonomous Community, so it is easier to find them.

In these posts, you will find information to travel through cities and towns in Spain.

Travel to Andalusia
Travel to Aragon
Travel to Valencia
Travel to Castilla la Mancha
Travel to Castilla y León
Travel to Catalunya
Travel to Extremadura
Travel to Galicia
Travel to Madrid
Travel to Navarra
Travel to Basque Country

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