Spain Travel Tips: What I Wish I Knew
If you’re starting to plan your trip to Spain (how exciting!), I want to share some practical Spain travel tips with you. These are the things I wish I knew before visiting Spain and things I always share with my family and friends.
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Practical Spain Travel Tips
These are all the things I wish I knew before I travelled to Spain for the first time.
Ask For Your Bill
It is not customary in Spain for your waiter to bring your bill until you have asked for it. If you aren’t aware of this, you can sit there for a long time thinking they’ve forgotten about you. Nope, you just need to ask. They let you be until you let them know you are ready. Just say “La cuenta, por favor” to ask for your bill. “La cuenta” is pronounced ‘lah kwen-tah’.
Slippery Tiles
I don’t know if this is specific to the Costa del Sol which is where I visit every year but the tiles they use in the sidewalks and along the promenade get very slippery when it’s raining. So take extra caution if you’re out walking in the rain.
Wave To Bus You Want To Catch
This is another Spain travel tip that might be specific to the Costa del Sol but it’s worth mentioning. If you’re taking public transit and standing at a bus stop waiting for a certain bus number/route to arrive, you might think that the bus will automatically stop for you. Nope! They drive right past you unless you give them a wave to let them know that’s the bus you’d like to get on.
Plan For Siestas
Yes, siestas are still a customary practice in Spain. Most businesses will shut down for a few hours in the early afternoon so make sure you plan around this. This is especially true in smaller towns and villages and with locally owned shops. You might not notice siestas as much in major cities in Spain but I’d always plan for it or check ahead if you’re hoping to visit a shop or restaurant.
Go With The Flow
Spanish culture is a lot more chill and carefree which can be hard to adapt to in the beginning. In my experience, they don’t take life as seriously as we do here in Canada and are more relaxed and less focused on timelines and schedules. The sooner you recognize this as a major part of Spanish culture, the less disappointment and frustration you’ll experience.
What I mean is that even if you’ve checked a businesses hours many shops and restaurants (in my experience), might just be closed or opening late – they’re completely on their own schedule. It can be hard to adapt to this in the beginning but now I kind of expect it. It’s been a good lesson in releasing control 😉 Again, this is likely something you’ll run into in smaller Spanish towns and villages rather than major city centres.
Bring Tissue Everywhere
Amazing. You’ve found public washrooms but then realize they don’t have any toilet paper…it’s truly the worst feeling. That’s why I now pack tissue everywhere I go.
Bring Hand Sanitizer
Adding onto the Spain travel tip above, they don’t always have somewhere to wash your hands in public washrooms so packing hand sanitizer is a must.
Bring Mini Hand Towel
This is a new one for me but I’ve decided I’m now bringing a small hand towel to carry in my bag. Many of the public washrooms might have a sink to wash your hands but they don’t have any way to dry them or the hand dryers barely work and take forever to dry your hands. It’s just easier to pack a mini hand towel.
Bring Wash Cloths
Depending on your personal preferences, if you use face/wash cloths, I recommend bringing them with you. It is not customary for many places in Europe, including Spain, to use facecloths. This means your hotel with not provide them.
Can’t Order Tap Water At Restaurants
Most restaurants and coffee shops in Spain don’t offer tap water, only bottled water. The bottled water is often more expensive than wine, beer or pop. I wanted to include this because sometimes I order water to be budget friendly thinking it’s free but I end up spending more than a glass of wine – which I’d prefer!
Bread To Table Doesn’t Mean It’s Included
In some restaurants, they will bring you bread after you order. Here in Canada, we would assume that’s included in our meal or we’d ask for it and know there will be an extra cost. In Spain they might bring bread to your table even if you didn’t ask for it and you will be charged extra for it. If you don’t want to eat it (or pay for it), it’s best to ask if it’s included and then you can let them know if you do not want it.
Outlet Converter
This is an obvious one but I figured I better include it, just in case. You need to make sure that you have the right outlet converter for your country.
These are my top Spain travel tips that I’ve been documenting for the past few years. I’ll keep updating this list as I continue to visit Spain every year and keep learning new things about the Spanish culture. Have a great trip!
- Make sure you check out my other Spain Travel Guides
