Know before you go: Spain

Verified essentials for Spain: connectivity, transport, tickets, money and etiquette — every fact checked by humans, with dates.

Last verified: 2026-07-28

Before you book4

1. Check your passport and entry rules first.

   Before booking anything, check your passport's validity and the entry rules for your nationality — visa or visa-waiver, allowed stay, and any pre-registration your destination asks for. Rules differ by passport, not by airline.

   Documents

2. Sort travel insurance while flights are refundable. Travel insurance for this trip

   Medical care abroad is paid care — a short hospital visit can cost more than the trip. Buy a policy that covers medical treatment and trip interruption when you book, not the week you fly.

   Health

3. Europe's border rules changed — know EES and ETIAS.

   Non-EU visitors now register biometrics (photo + fingerprints) at the border under the EU's Entry/Exit System (EES), fully live since April 2026 — no pre-registration, just expect a kiosk on first entry to Spain. The separate ETIAS travel authorization (€20, online, valid 3 years) is still targeted for Q4 2026 but has slipped before — check its live status before you book flights, since a grace period follows once it does start.

   Documents

4. August empties the neighbourhood kitchens.

   Madrid in particular thins out in August: family-run restaurants close for two or three weeks, and the ones that stay open are disproportionately the tourist-facing ones. Museums and monuments keep running, so the sightseeing is unaffected — but a specific restaurant you were counting on may simply be shut, with a handwritten note on the door. Have a second choice for every booked meal, and expect heat above 35°C.

   Tickets

2–4 weeks before3

1. Set up an eSIM before you land. Get an eSIM before you land

   Install a travel eSIM at home over Wi-Fi and it activates when you land — no airport SIM counters, no roaming surprises. Keep your home SIM active for bank SMS codes.

   Connectivity

2. Madrid's great museums have free evening windows.

   The Prado is free Monday to Saturday 18:00–20:00 and Sunday 17:00–19:00. The Reina Sofía is free Monday and Wednesday to Saturday 19:00–21:00, and Sunday 12:30–14:30 — there is no Tuesday slot because it is closed that day. These are the busiest hours of the day, so join the queue 30–45 minutes early, and don't try to see a whole collection in a two-hour window.

   TicketsMoney

3. Book Gaudí's houses and the Alhambra with a timed slot. Tickets on Klook

   The Sagrada Família, Park Güell, Casa Batlló, Casa Milà and the Alhambra all sell entry for a specific half-hour and regularly sell out days ahead in summer. There is no useful walk-up queue for any of them. Book the slot first and build the day around it, rather than hoping to fit one in — and arrive within your window, because a late arrival can be refused.

   Tickets

A few days before4

1. Download offline maps and the language pack.

   Before you fly, download your destination's offline map area and the offline language pack in Google Translate or Apple Translate. The camera/Lens mode reads menus and signs instantly — it works best with the pack already on your phone.

   Apps

2. Prep your cards, skip the worst exchange rates.

   Tell your bank you're traveling, carry a second card in a different bag, and when a terminal offers to charge you in your home currency, always choose the local currency — "dynamic currency conversion" is a built-in bad rate.

   Money

3. Carry cash — card acceptance is common but not guaranteed.

   Spain has no law obliging a business to take cards, and the places most worth eating in are often the ones least likely to. Older neighbourhood bars, market stalls, some famous tapas counters and the smallest shops still run on cash, and they rarely advertise it in advance. Keep €30–50 in small notes on you and treat a card as the convenience, not the plan.

   Money

4. The eating clock runs late — and kitchens really do shut.

   Lunch is the big meal and runs roughly 13:30–16:00, peaking around 14:00. Dinner service starts about 20:30–21:00 and runs to midnight. Between roughly 16:00 and 20:00 most traditional kitchens are simply closed — a real gap, not a quiet spell — and only tourist-facing places serve straight through. Arriving hungry at 18:00 is the single most common way to end up eating badly in Spain.

   Etiquette

On arrival1

1. In Barcelona, the default language is Catalan.

   Catalan is co-official in Catalonia and it is what you will see first on menus, street signs and museum labels — "carrer" not "calle", "sortida" not "salida". Everyone also speaks Spanish and menus usually have a Spanish or English version if you ask. A "bon dia" and "gràcies" instead of the Castilian equivalents is noticed and appreciated, and treating Catalan as a dialect of Spanish is not.

   Etiquette

Daily on the ground6

1. Don't assume Monday is the closed day.

   The Paris and Rome reflex misfires here. Madrid's Reina Sofía closes on Tuesdays, not Mondays. The Prado has no weekly closing day at all. The Thyssen-Bornemisza opens on Mondays too, on shorter hours. Municipal museums are the ones that usually do shut on Mondays. Check each institution rather than planning a blanket museum day.

   Tickets

2. Pickpocketing is the real risk, not violence.

   Spanish cities are safe to walk at night; what they are not is safe for a loose phone. Barcelona's Rambla, the Barri Gòtic, the metro at rush hour, Barceloneta beach and the area around the Sagrada Família are the classic spots, along with Madrid's Puerta del Sol and Gran Vía. Work is done by distraction, not force. Keep your phone off the table, your bag in front of you on transit, and one card and some cash separate from the rest.

   guide.topic.safety

3. Tap water is safe — ask for it by name.

   Tap water is safe to drink across mainland Spain, and since 2022 restaurants have been required to offer it free of charge. Ask for "agua del grifo" — if you just ask for water you will be brought a bottle and billed for it. Carry a refillable bottle in summer: Madrid and Seville regularly pass 40°C and public fountains are common.

   HealthFamily

4. Sunday closes the shops but opens the markets.

   Outside designated tourist zones most shops close on Sundays, and smaller ones shut for a few hours in the early afternoon on weekdays too. The exception is the street markets: Madrid's El Rastro runs on Sundays and public holidays only, so a weekday visit finds an ordinary residential street. Plan shopping for Saturday and leave Sunday for markets, parks and museums.

   guide.topic.shopping

5. Tipping is small and optional.

   Service is included in the price and staff are salaried, so there is no expected percentage. Rounding up the bill or leaving a euro or two per person for good table service is normal and generous; nobody tips at a bar counter for a coffee or a beer. A 15–20% tip marks you out as a tourist rather than a good guest.

   MoneyEtiquette

6. The bill won't come until you ask for it.

   Lingering at the table after eating — the sobremesa — is the norm, and clearing a table or dropping the bill early is considered rude. Your waiter is being polite, not slow. When you're ready, catch their eye and ask: "la cuenta, por favor". Build the extra time into any plan that has a booking straight after lunch.

   Etiquette

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