Who it's for
Is Spain your trip?
Every country is somebody's favourite. The honest question is whether it is yours, and for this trip.
This is your trip if…
- You want three or four very different cities on one trip without a car: Madrid is 2 h 30 min from both Seville and Barcelona by train.
- You eat lunch as the main meal and are happy for it to be a €15 three-course menú del día at half past two.
- You like art in quantity — the Prado, Reina Sofía, Thyssen, Guggenheim, Picasso and Dalí museums are all here, and several are free in the evenings.
- You travel with kids: children are welcome everywhere at every hour, the beaches are safe, and nobody minds noise.
- You want walking or cycling in real mountains (Picos de Europa, Pyrenees, Sierra Nevada, Tramuntana) within two hours of a city.
Think twice if…
- You want the whole country in a week. Madrid–Andalucía or Barcelona–Madrid is a week; adding the Basque Country or Galicia needs a fortnight.
- You need dinner at seven. Kitchens open at half past eight at the earliest and the good places fill from ten; fighting this is a losing battle.
- You are heat-averse and can only travel in July or August. Seville, Córdoba and Madrid hit 38–42 °C; the interior is for spring and autumn.
- You are looking for the Spain of the charter brochure. Benidorm and Magaluf exist, but they are the least Spanish places in the country and the guide below ignores them.
When to visit
April – early June and mid-September – October
Spring and autumn, without argument. April to early June gives you 20–27 °C in the interior, orange blossom in Seville and the two festivals worth planning around (Semana Santa and Córdoba's patios). Mid-September to October is the same weather in reverse with the sea still warm. July and August belong to the coast and the north — Madrid empties, Andalucía is dangerously hot, and everything on the Mediterranean doubles in price. Winter is underrated: Madrid is crisp and bright, Andalucía is 16–18 °C, and the Canaries are the only reliable warm place in Europe.
- Best
Spring
Late March – early June
The interior at its best: 18–27 °C, green for the only time all year, and the festival calendar (Semana Santa, Fallas, Feria, Córdoba's patios). Seville hotels triple around Easter and Feria; book six months out or go the week between.
- Good
Early summer
June
Hot but not yet punishing in the cities (30–33 °C in Madrid), sea warming up on the Mediterranean, and the Basque coast and Galicia finally dry. The last window for Andalucía before it shuts down in the heat.
- Mixed
High summer
July – August
38–42 °C in Seville and Córdoba, 35 °C in Madrid, and much of the country on holiday. Fine for San Sebastián, Galicia, the Pyrenees and the islands; avoid the southern interior. Madrid's restaurants close for August in numbers.
- Best
Autumn
Mid-September – October
The best single month is October: 20–24 °C in Madrid and Seville, sea still 22 °C, wine harvest in Rioja and Ribera, and the lowest crowds of the good-weather months. Mediterranean autumn storms (gota fría) can dump a month's rain in a day on Valencia and Catalonia.
- Good
Winter
November – February
Madrid is cold (2–10 °C) but dry and bright, Andalucía mild (16–18 °C), the north wet. City hotels are at their cheapest, the museums are empty, and Sierra Nevada skis from December. The Canaries run 20–23 °C and fill with northern Europeans.
Climate · monthly normals
Continental interior: representative of Castile, and a fair proxy for Seville and Córdoba if you add 4–6 °C to the summer highs.
For contrast
The Mediterranean coast: milder winters, humid rather than scorching summers, and most of its rain in autumn storms.
Festivals
Worth planning around
Dates a plan should either aim for or steer clear of. Both are useful; the second saves more money.
15–19 March (mascletà fireworks daily from 1 March)
Las Fallas
Valencia
Hundreds of building-sized satirical effigies erected across the city and burnt on the night of the 19th. The 2 pm mascletà in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento is the loudest thing you will hear in Europe outside a war.
Valencia hotels fill months out and nobody sleeps; the city is closed to traffic. Not for anyone who dislikes explosions.
Palm Sunday – Easter Sunday (28 March 2027, 16 April 2028)
Semana Santa (Holy Week)
Seville above all; also Málaga, Granada, and the austere Castilian versions in Zamora and Valladolid
Hooded brotherhoods carry tonne-weight floats through the streets for a week, at night, to brass bands and saetas sung from balconies. Seville's Madrugá (the night of Thursday to Good Friday) is the emotional peak of the Spanish year.
Seville hotel prices triple and sell out a year ahead; the processions close the centre for hours. Valladolid or Zamora give you the atmosphere with beds available.
Roughly two weeks after Easter; a week from the Saturday-night alumbrao to the following Saturday's fireworks
Feria de Abril
Seville
A thousand striped tents (casetas), horse carriages, flamenco dresses, sherry and sevillanas until dawn. The most photographed week in Andalucía.
Overrated for visitors: most casetas are private and you will be looking in from outside. The Feria del Caballo in Jerez (early May) has open casetas and is the better bet.
23 April
Sant Jordi
Barcelona and all of Catalonia
Catalonia's Valentine's Day: books and roses on every street, the Rambla and Passeig de Gràcia turned into an open-air bookshop, Casa Batlló dressed in roses. One perfect day, no closures.
First two weeks of May
Córdoba's Patios
Córdoba
Private courtyards, kept flowering all year for this fortnight, open free to visitors in a citywide competition. Córdoba's one ideal window, before the 40 °C summer arrives.
Queues of an hour for the famous patios in the San Basilio district; go at opening or after 8 pm. Combine with the Cruces de Mayo the week before.
6–14 July; the bull run at 8 am every day from the 7th
San Fermín
Pamplona
The encierro takes three minutes; the point is the other twenty-three hours and fifty-seven minutes, in which an entire city dressed in white and red does not sleep for nine days.
Hotels quadruple and sell out a year out. Day-trip from San Sebastián (1 h 15 min by bus) or stay in Vitoria. The run itself is best watched from a rented balcony, not the barriers.
Last Wednesday of August
La Tomatina
Buñol, 40 minutes from Valencia
An hour of throwing 120 tonnes of tomatoes at strangers. Ticketed and capped since 2013, which improved it considerably.
Buy the ticket in advance; go by train or organised coach from Valencia — there is nowhere to stay in Buñol and nothing else to do there.
Around 24 September (four or five days)
La Mercè
Barcelona
Barcelona's own festival, and the best week to be there: human towers (castells) in Plaça Sant Jaume, the correfoc fire-run, giants, and free concerts across the city. The heat has broken and the sea is still warm.
Even years add the Concurs de Castells in Tarragona in early October — the world championship of human towers, in the old bullring (Tarraco Arena).
Around 21 September; the harvest runs late September – October
Rioja harvest and San Mateo
Logroño and the Rioja wine villages (Haro, Laguardia)
A week of grape-treading, street food and the Calle Laurel pintxos crawl at its peak, while the bodegas are crushing. The best moment to do wine tourism in Spain.
Winery visits need booking in harvest season; the small Rioja Alavesa producers are the ones worth the effort, not the coach-tour châteaux.
Cities & regions
Where to go in Spain
The places that earn their nights, most important first, with how long each deserves. Nobody needs all of them on one trip.
- 01
Madrid
The capital that lives outdoors until 2 am
city3–4 daysNo single landmark, which confuses first-timers; Madrid is about how a day is lived — the Prado in the morning, a two-hour lunch, the Retiro, vermouth in La Latina, dinner at ten. The Prado, Reina Sofía and Thyssen sit on one boulevard and between them run from Velázquez to Picasso. Skip the stadium tour; use the spare half-day for Toledo (33 min by train) or Segovia (27 min).
Best for: art · food · nightlife · day trips · first-timers
- 02
Barcelona
Gaudí, the Gothic quarter and a strained welcome
city3–4 daysThe most visited city in Spain and, in the Ramblas–Sagrada Família corridor, the most overrun. The Gaudí buildings are genuinely extraordinary; the Boqueria market and Barceloneta beach are not. Stay in Gràcia or Eixample, book every monument as a timed ticket, and take the day trip to Girona (38 min) rather than a second Gaudí house. Locals are fed up with tourism — behave accordingly.
Best for: architecture · first-timers · with kids · beach-and-city
- 03
Seville
Andalucía's capital, orange trees and Moorish palaces
city2–3 daysThe Alcázar, the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, Triana across the river, and the flamenco heartland. Too hot from mid-June to mid-September to enjoy. Between Semana Santa and Feria (roughly the whole of April) it is at its best and its most expensive; late March or October are the honest alternatives.
Best for: first-timers · flamenco · architecture · spring
- 04
Granada
The Alhambra, and free tapas with every drink
city2 daysThe Alhambra alone justifies the detour; the Albaicín at dusk from the Mirador de San Nicolás is the rest of the argument. Granada still gives a free tapa with every drink, which halves the food budget. The train from Madrid takes 3 h 15 min; from Seville the Avant via Antequera (2 h 40 min) and the ALSA bus (3 h) are level, and from Málaga the ALSA bus (1 h 45 min) runs far more often than the handful of trains.
Best for: architecture · budget food · hiking (Sierra Nevada)
- 05
Córdoba
A mosque with a cathedral inside it
city1 dayThe Mezquita is one of the buildings of the world; the rest of the old town takes an afternoon. Stop between Madrid and Seville (the AVE calls here) or day-trip from Seville in 45 minutes. In May, for the patios, it deserves the night.
Best for: architecture · day trip · May
- 06
The Basque Country
San Sebastián, Bilbao and the best food in Europe
region3–4 daysSan Sebastián has one of the densest Michelin-star counts per head on earth and a pintxo bar culture that makes them unnecessary. Bilbao has the Guggenheim and a better old town than it gets credit for. Wet, green, expensive and worth it. The high-speed line to Madrid is still unfinished, so allow 5 hours by train or fly.
Best for: food · beaches · surfing · second visit
- 07
Valencia
Paella, a dry river of gardens and a real beach
city2–3 daysSpain's third city and the one first-timers skip, wrongly: Calatrava's City of Arts and Sciences, a nine-kilometre park in the old riverbed, an old town that is not a theme park, and a city beach better than Barcelona's. Eat paella at lunch by the Albufera lagoon where it was invented, never at dinner. 1 h 50 min from Madrid.
Best for: food · with kids · beach-and-city · value
- 08
Mallorca and the Balearics
The Tramuntana mountains, not the package resorts
island4–7 daysMallorca's north-west coast — Deià, Sóller, Valldemossa, the Tramuntana walking — is one of the finest landscapes in the Mediterranean and has nothing to do with Magaluf. Menorca is quieter and better for families; Ibiza's north is beautiful and not about clubs. Rent a car; avoid July and August unless you have a pool booked.
Best for: hiking · beaches · with kids · cycling
- 09
The Canary Islands
Volcanoes and 22 °C in January, off Africa
island5–7 daysEurope's only reliable winter sun, four hours from Madrid. Tenerife has Teide (3,715 m, cable car or a permit to summit), Lanzarote is a César Manrique art project on black lava, La Palma and La Gomera are for walkers. Each island needs a car; Binter flies between them in 30–45 minutes.
Best for: winter sun · hiking · with kids · volcanoes
- 10
Galicia and the Camino
Green, wet, Celtic, and the best seafood in Spain
region3–5 daysSantiago de Compostela at the end of the Camino, the Rías Baixas estuaries, the Costa da Morte, and octopus and Albariño at prices Madrid forgot. It rains — that is why it is green. 3 h 30 min from Madrid by train since the high-speed line opened; combine with walking the last 100 km of the Camino from Sarria.
Best for: walking · seafood · second visit · summer escape
Not to miss
The essential experiences
Not a bucket list — the handful of things that make this country this country, with the timing catch that stops people doing them well.
- 01
The Alhambra at opening time
Granada
The finest Islamic palace in Europe, and the one sight in Spain that sells out. Tickets are released months ahead and go within days for spring and autumn; if you find none, the Granada Card includes an allocation, and the Dobla de Oro night visits often have space. Book the Nasrid Palaces slot for the first hour.
- 02
Sagrada Família, then Girona
Barcelona
Gaudí's basilica is the only Gaudí ticket that is unarguably worth the €26 and the queue; buy a timed slot two or three weeks out. Casa Batlló and La Pedrera are optional. Spend the saved half-day in Girona, 38 minutes by AVE.
- 03
The Prado in its free evening hours
Madrid
Velázquez, Goya and Bosch, free for the last two hours of every day (the queue moves fast). Come back for a full paid morning if it takes; the Reina Sofía (Guernica) and the Thyssen are a ten-minute walk on the same boulevard.
- 04
A pintxo crawl in the Parte Vieja
San Sebastián
One or two pintxos and a small glass per bar, five or six bars, standing, over two hours. The counters are self-service but the hot dishes are ordered from the kitchen and are what the bar is known for — ask. Budget €40 a head and go on a weekday evening.
- 05
The Mezquita before the coaches
Córdoba
Eight hundred and fifty striped arches with a Renaissance cathedral dropped in the middle. Entry is free early on weekday mornings (before the ticketed hours start), which is also when the light is best. Check the current window; it has moved over the years.
- 06
Flamenco in a peña, not a dinner show
Seville, Jerez, Cádiz
The tablaos with a paella menu are for coaches. Seville's small venues in Triana and the Casa de la Memoria run intimate hour-long shows for €20–25; Jerez's peñas and its February–March festival are the real thing. Book a day or two ahead.
- 07
The last 100 km of the Camino
Sarria to Santiago de Compostela, Galicia
Five days of walking at 20 km a day through eucalyptus and stone villages, ending at the cathedral and the pilgrims' mass, and enough to earn the compostela certificate. No training required; book beds in May–September. Luggage transfer services carry your bag for about €5 a stage.
- 08
A weekday menú del día
Any bar with a chalkboard outside, anywhere
Three courses, bread, wine or water and coffee, €13–18, served from 1.30 to 4 pm on working days. The single best-value meal in Europe and the way Spain actually eats; order it where the workmen are.
- 09
A mountain day within reach of the city
Picos de Europa, Ordesa (Pyrenees), Sierra de Tramuntana, Sierra Nevada
Spain is one of the most mountainous countries in Europe and nobody plans for it. The Cares Gorge walk in the Picos and the Ordesa valley are world-class day hikes with a rental car; the Tramuntana starts an hour's bus ride from Palma. June and September–October.
Getting around
How Spain moves
Spain has the longest high-speed rail network in Europe, built as a star centred on Madrid: Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Málaga, Córdoba, Zaragoza, Alicante, Valladolid and Santiago are all 1 h 40 min to 3 h 30 min from the capital, and since Iryo joined Ouigo in late 2022 three operators compete with Renfe on the main lines, which has cut fares by a third or more. The catch is the star shape: cross-country journeys that avoid Madrid — Barcelona to Seville, Bilbao to Andalucía, anything along the north coast — are slow, and that is where you fly or drive. Cities themselves are walkable with good metros in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Bilbao. Rent a car only for the countryside — Andalucía's white villages, the Picos, the Pyrenees, Rioja, and any island — and collect it on your way out of the last city, never in it.
High-speed rail: Renfe AVE, Iryo, Ouigo, Avlo
Madrid–Barcelona 2 h 30 min; Madrid–Seville 2 h 30 min; Madrid–Valencia 1 h 50 min; Madrid–Málaga 2 h 40 min; Madrid–Córdoba 1 h 45 min; Madrid–Granada 3 h 15 min; Madrid–Santiago 3 h 30 min; Barcelona–Valencia 2 h 45 min on the Euromed (not full high speed). Fares run €25–90 depending on operator and lead time — Ouigo and Avlo (Renfe's low-cost brand) start under €20 booked six weeks out but charge for a second bag; Iryo is the most comfortable and often the cheapest on the day. Renfe's own website is poor; Trainline and Omio sell all three. Big stations have baggage X-ray, so arrive 20 minutes early — doors close two minutes before departure. Regional lines (Avant, Media Distancia) do Madrid–Toledo in 33 min and Seville–Córdoba in 45 min for €13–30 depending on train type. The Basque Country is the gap: Madrid–San Sebastián or Bilbao is still 5 hours on the Alvia until the Basque high-speed 'Y' opens.
Rule of thumb: Any city pair under four hours by train → train, booked four to eight weeks ahead. Madrid–Barcelona, Madrid–Andalucía and Madrid–Valencia are never worth flying.
Domestic flights
Vueling, Iberia Express, Ryanair and Air Europa cover the mainland; Binter and Canaryfly link the Canary Islands; Vueling and Air Europa do the Balearics. Madrid–Palma 1 h 15 min, Madrid–Canaries 2 h 45–3 h, Barcelona–Seville or Málaga 1 h 45 min, Bilbao–Málaga 1 h 30 min. Fares €30–120 one way; the Canaries and Balearics are cheap from every mainland city. Madrid–Barajas and Barcelona–El Prat are both 30–40 minutes from the centre by metro or train.
Rule of thumb: Mainland ↔ Canaries always fly; mainland ↔ Balearics fly unless you want the overnight ferry; Barcelona ↔ Andalucía or the Basque Country ↔ Andalucía fly, or accept 5–6 hours of rail.
Driving
EU and UK licences are valid; US, Canadian and Australian drivers should carry an International Driving Permit with their licence. Rentals from €25–60 a day (much more in August on the islands); the big airports are cheapest. Motorways are excellent and mostly free since the Catalan and Valencian AP-7 tolls were lifted in 2021 — the AP-6 out of Madrid to Segovia and a few others still charge. Fuel around €1.60 a litre. Speed cameras are everywhere and fines follow the rental company home. Madrid and Barcelona are low-emission zones; rental cars carry the required sticker, but parking is €30 a night and driving in either is pointless.
Rule of thumb: Cities and city-to-city → never. Andalucía's white villages and Ronda, the Picos and Pyrenees, Rioja, Mallorca beyond Palma, every Canary Island → car, collected on the way out of the last city.
ALSA and the regional coach network
ALSA is the national operator and wins wherever the rail line bends or thins: Granada–Málaga 1 h 45 min (€13) hourly against a few trains a day, Seville–Granada 3 h (€25) level with the train, Madrid–Granada 4 h 30–5 h (€20–35 on the ALSA app) for a third of the rail fare. Avanza covers Madrid's hinterland and Salamanca; Monbus runs Galicia. Coaches are modern, with Wi-Fi and reserved seats, and go where trains do not: Ronda, the Alpujarras, Cadaqués, the Picos villages.
Rule of thumb: Where the train is slower, rarer or absent — Granada ↔ Málaga, Ronda, the Alpujarras, the Picos villages — → ALSA, booked a few days ahead in season.
Ferries
Baleària and Trasmed sail Barcelona, Valencia and Dénia to Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza: Dénia–Ibiza 2 h on the fast ferry, Barcelona–Palma 7–8 h overnight with a cabin — the way to bring a car. In the Canaries, Fred. Olsen Express and Naviera Armas link the islands (Tenerife–La Gomera 50 min, Tenerife–Gran Canaria 1 h 20 min). Tarifa–Tangier is 1 hour for a Morocco day trip. Mainland–Canaries by sea is 30+ hours and not worth it.
Rule of thumb: Islands: fly there, ferry between them, ferry with the car only if you already own it.
In the cities
Madrid: a Multi card (€2.50) loaded with ten journeys (about €12) covers metro and bus; the airport is on metro line 8 with a €3 supplement or the C1 Cercanías train from Terminal 4. Barcelona: the T-casual ten-journey card (about €12) does the same; the Hola Barcelona 48–72 h pass adds unlimited metro including the airport line. Contactless bank-card tap is rolling out on both networks but is not yet universal — buy the local card. Seville, Granada and Córdoba are walking cities with one tram or bus line each. Taxis are metered and honest; Cabify and Bolt work in every big city and Uber in most. Bicycle share is residents-only in Barcelona but open to visitors in Seville (Sevici) and Valencia.
Rule of thumb: Inside cities → walk plus a ten-journey metro card; taxi or Cabify only late at night or to the airport with bags.
Passes and cards, honestly
- Interrail / Eurail Spain One Country Pass: high-speed and Alvia trains need a compulsory seat reservation (about €10–13 each, quota-limited), and Iryo and Ouigo do not accept the pass at all. Advance point-to-point fares on the three operators beat it on almost every itinerary; buy it only if Spain is one leg of a longer European rail trip.
- Renfe's own Spain Pass is no longer on sale as of this update — ignore any blog post that plans around it.
- Paseo del Arte card (Madrid, about €32): the Prado, Reina Sofía and Thyssen for less than three tickets. Worth it if you want full paid mornings in all three; not if you are happy with the free evening hours at two of them.
- Madrid Tourist Travel Pass and Barcelona's Hola Barcelona card only pay off above six rides a day; a ten-journey card is enough for most visitors. The Barcelona Card (museums + transport) is overpriced for what most people actually visit.
- Granada Card (about €45–50): mostly a way to get Alhambra entry when the standalone tickets are sold out — it carries its own allocation. That alone can justify it in April, May and October.
Culture
Know before you go
The things locals assume you know. Most travellers learn them by getting one wrong on day two.
- Eat when Spain eats
- Lunch is 2–4 pm and is the main meal; dinner is 9–11 pm. Between 4.30 and 8.30 most kitchens are shut, and a restaurant full at 8 pm is full of tourists.
- Bars: pay at the end, and the counter is cheaper
- You order, you eat, you tell them what you had, you pay. Standing at the bar costs less than a table, which costs less than the terrace; bread and olives may appear unasked and be charged for. None of this is a scam, it is the price list.
- Spain is plural — and sensitive about it
- Catalan, Basque and Galician are languages, not dialects, and half the country has an opinion about the flag. In Barcelona, do not call Catalan 'Spanish' or the region a province. A thank-you in the local language costs nothing and is noticed.
- Sundays, the siesta and August
- Shops close on Sundays outside the tourist zones of big cities; in small towns everything shuts from 2 to 5 pm. In August Madrid empties, family restaurants close for two to four weeks, and the whole country is on the coast — which is why the coast is the wrong place to be.
- Cathedrals and swimwear
- Shoulders and knees covered in cathedrals, enforced in Seville and Córdoba. Barcelona, Málaga and the Balearic resorts fine people for walking the streets in bikinis or bare-chested; the beach ends at the promenade.
- Pickpockets, not muggers
- Violent crime is rare; theft of unattended phones and bags is not. The Barcelona metro and the Ramblas, Madrid's Sol and the Rastro, and Seville's cathedral square are the hotspots. The rosemary sprig 'gift' from a woman in Seville ends with a demand for money; the helpful stranger at the ticket machine is after your card. Nothing on the terrace table.
- Noise is normal
- Spain is the second-loudest country in the world by one measure and does not apologise. Children are out at midnight, streets are full at 1 am, and a quiet room means one facing the inner courtyard ('interior') — ask for it.
Practicalities
Visa, SIM, plugs & the rest
The boring section, which is why it is the one people skip and then regret at the airport.
visa
Visa and borders
EU/EEA/Swiss citizens need only an ID card. UK, US, Canadian, Australian and NZ passports get 90 days in any 180 across the whole Schengen area, counted together with any other Schengen country. The EU's Entry/Exit System now registers biometrics at first entry (expect a slower queue); ETIAS, a €20 online pre-authorisation valid three years, is expected to become mandatory from late 2026 — check before you fly. Passport valid three months beyond departure and issued within the last ten years.
money
Money
Euro. Cards and phone wallets work almost everywhere; carry €50 or so for markets, village bars and the occasional taxi. At ATMs decline the 'conversion' offer (dynamic currency conversion) and expect a €2–6 fee from many Spanish banks on foreign cards — ask your bank which network is free. Nothing needs cash in Madrid or Barcelona.
connectivity
SIM and data
EU SIMs roam at home rates. Everyone else: an eSIM bought before departure (Airalo, Holafly, or a Spanish operator's own prepaid eSIM from Orange, Vodafone or Simyo) is cheaper than the airport counter. 5G coverage is good in cities and on the AVE. Apps that matter: Renfe (or Trainline/Omio, which sell all three rail operators), ALSA, Cabify and Bolt for taxis, Moovit or Google Maps for city transit, TheFork for restaurant bookings.
plugs
Plugs and power
Type C and F (European two-pin) at 230 V, 50 Hz. UK and US visitors need an adapter; most modern chargers handle the voltage.
safety
Safety
One of the safer countries in Europe. The real risks are pickpockets (see culture) and heat — 35–44 °C in the interior from June to September kills people every year, so structure days around the siesta and carry water. Red flag on a beach means no swimming, and it is enforced. Emergency number 112, English spoken.
health
Health and water
Tap water is safe everywhere; Madrid's from the Sierra is excellent, coastal cities' is hard and chlorinated, which is a matter of taste not safety. EU and UK travellers should carry the EHIC/GHIC; everyone else needs insurance, because the public hospitals are good and will bill. Pharmacies (green cross) are everywhere, pharmacists are well trained, and many things prescription-only elsewhere are sold over the counter.
language
Language
Castilian Spanish nationally; Catalan in Catalonia and the Balearics (Valencian in Valencia), Basque in the Basque Country and Navarre, Galician in Galicia — signage is bilingual. English is reliable in Madrid, Barcelona, the coast and anywhere under 35; rural Spain and the older generation will not speak it. Menus in tourist areas are translated, often badly.
tipping
Tipping
Not expected. Round up taxis and bar tabs, leave 5–10 % for a good sit-down dinner, nothing for a coffee or a menú del día. Hotel porters a euro or two a bag.
other
Timed tickets and closing days
The Alhambra, the Sagrada Família, Seville's Alcázar and Park Güell all sell timed entry online and all sell out in season — book them before the hotels, not after. Most museums close on Monday (the Prado is the exception; the Reina Sofía closes Tuesday), and many close on 1 January, 1 May and 25 December.
Sample routes
Starting points, not scripts
Each of these is a real request you could hand to Menta as written. Change the people, the month and the pace; the structure will hold.
Andalucía in a week
7 days- Seville
- Córdoba
- Granada
- Málaga
The classic southern loop, in the only season it should be done: three nights in Seville with Córdoba as a day trip, two in Granada with the Alhambra booked before anything else, and a last night in Málaga near the airport. Trains and ALSA buses only.
The first-timer's triangle
10 days- Barcelona
- Madrid
- Toledo
- Seville
- Granada
Barcelona, Madrid and Andalucía linked by high-speed rail, with Toledo as a day trip from Madrid. Three nights in each big city, two in Granada, and a flight home from Málaga or Granada. About eight hours of train time in total.
Green Spain by car
14 days- Bilbao
- San Sebastián
- Rioja (Laguardia)
- Picos de Europa
- Oviedo
- Santiago de Compostela
The north, which most visitors never see: pintxos in San Sebastián, the Guggenheim, two nights among Rioja bodegas, three in the Picos for the Cares Gorge, the Asturian coast, and Santiago at the end. Rental car from Bilbao airport, dropped in Santiago; train or flight back to Madrid.
Three weeks, the whole country
21 days- Barcelona
- Valencia
- Madrid
- Toledo
- Córdoba
- Seville
- Granada
- San Sebastián
- Bilbao
The full first visit: the Mediterranean cities, the capital and its day trips, Andalucía, then a flight north to end with Basque food. Rail for everything except Granada–Bilbao, which is the one leg where flying is unavoidable.
More destinations
Where else?
- JapanA megacity, a thousand temples and trains that leave to the second.
- ItalyThree civilisations' worth of cities, and lunch takes two hours.
- PortugalTwo hilly cities, a valley of port and a long Atlantic coast.
- GreeceAntiquity, two hundred inhabited islands and a ferry timetable to respect.
- IcelandOne road, no trains, and weather that rewrites the plan daily.
- ThailandStreet food, temples, two coasts and Asia's cheapest good hotel room.
- VietnamTwo capitals, one slow railway and the best street food in Asia.
- MoroccoMedinas, the High Atlas and the Sahara, a ferry ride from Europe.
- MexicoA 3,000-year-old civilisation, the best street food on earth, and two coastlines.
Spain is a good trip. Make it your trip.
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Start planning SpainGuide last reviewed 2026-09. Check visa rules against your own passport before you book.