10+ things you should know before traveling to Spain 🛫 🇪🇸
by Joe · 54 things on NewTwos
- In Spain, they have a "work to live" culture not a "live to work" culture
- This means everything and everyone goes much slower
- Stores and restaurants may be randomly closed, shut down at 5pm, and people rarely ask "what do you do?"
- Learn to enjoy the slower pace and not to become frustrated with it
- Everything in Spain is much less expensive than it is in the United States
- A coffee + croissant will be ~$5-6
- An average lunch will cost ~$8-10 per person
- An average dinner (with drinks) will cost ~$20-25 per person
- A 20-minute walk should be something you are comfortable with
- The cities are much more compact and walkable
- You never know what you'll see when you commute from one area to another
- Each walk will be full of beautiful landscapes, history, and activity
- Tipping is not a thing
- In Spain (as with most of Europe) waiters are paid a fair wage
- Which means there is no expectation to leave a tip after your meals
- Sometimes it is appreciated, sometimes it is frowned upon, but there is certainly no expectation
- Public transportation is very developed and works seamlessly
- Many of the "larger" cities (Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia) have a great bus/metro that you should use
- Add trips or funds to one card and share it between everyone in your group
- Each ride will cost no more than $3
- Drinking and hanging out with friends is part of the culture
- On most days, you can expect to see groups of locals chatting it up over a coffee, beer, and tapas - at pretty much any time of the day
- Their average meal times are much later
- Lunch is typically eaten around 1-3pm (and tends to be a large meal)
- Dinner is typically eaten around 9-10pm (and is usually done with family)
- Then on the weekend, people will start going out around 11pm and stay up into the wee hours of the morning (4-6am)
- Traveling with someone who speaks Spanish will improve your experience drastically
- While many locals speak English, it is typically broken and not very clear
- Especially when visiting smaller cities (ie not Barcelona/Madrid) being able to speak spanish will make things move faster, get better recommendations, and improve the experience overall
- There is a lot of of culturally significant history that is very fun to explore
- As is with a lot of europe, there is a beautiful amount of old homes, churches, monuments, bridges, etc.
- Look up the historical places in any city you plan on visiting and see if you can do a bike tour to cover them all in good time
- If you have the opportunity to see a live fútbol (soccer) match, do it
- There is deep culture and history that is represented through soccer matches and it is an awe-inspiring experience
- Make sure to look up the home game schedule and try to plan around it
- Nobody drinks water (and you have to pay for it when you do)
- Coke, fanta, beer, wine - that's the motto
- When you do go to a restaurant, you will have to pay for a bottle (say "Un agua grande, porfavor") and it will only be $2-3
- You can "decline" suggested conversions from your currency to euros at ATMs
- ATMs are a for-profit business, which means they will give you a less favorable conversion rate than you would get otherwise
- Once you have selected how much you would like to withdraw, you can "decline" the conversion because it will typically be more expensive than normal
- When you decline, you will still get your cash out, and your home bank will do the conversions for you at a much better rate
- Almost every store/restaurant takes credit cards (w/ tap to pay)
- Do not take out too many euros before your trip
- You will be surprised to see how many places have "tap to pay" technology which allows you to hover your card over the machine and carry on
- Talk to locals to get the best recommendations for restaurants and sites
- Trip Advisor and Google Maps will only tell you so much - knowing what the locals like will almost certainly give you the best experience
- When staying at AirBnBs, expect less comfortable beds and thinner TP
- When compared to America, the beds are going to be much more stiff
- And the TP will be much more thin - prepare accordingly
- Trains/Planes are a great method of getting from city to city
- Roundtrip plane rides are usually less than $80 and get you all over europe quickly
- If you're looking for a more scenic experience, the train options are also very nice (but will take much longer)