Why Spain
Spain is not one country, it is a federation of climates. The Atlantic north — Galicia, Asturias, the Basque Country — is green, wet and cool; the Castilian interior bakes in summer and freezes in winter; the Mediterranean coast is mild all year; the Canaries sit at twenty degrees in January. The same month of July is unbearable in Seville and perfect in San Sebastián.
That is what makes the country workable twelve months a year, provided you move. Andalusia and Extremadura from November to April, the north coast and the mountains from June to September, the Canaries when the rest of Europe clouds over.
Entry and stay
Spain is in the European Union and in the Schengen area. Nationals of the EU, the European Economic Area and Switzerland move freely with an identity card.
For every other nationality, the framework has changed. The European Entry/Exit System, EES, has been fully in service since 10 April 2026: third-country travellers are registered digitally — biometrics included — at every crossing of a Schengen external border, whether or not they need a visa. It applies to short stays of ninety days in any hundred-and-eighty-day period.
The ETIAS travel authorisation is not yet live: it is expected in the final quarter of 2026. It will concern nationals of the fifty-nine countries exempt from short-stay visas, will cost twenty euros and will be issued within ninety-six hours at most.
Source: France Diplomatie and the European Commission, checked on 22 September 2026. Both systems are moving targets: re-check before publication.
Getting around
The AVE puts Madrid two and a half hours from Seville and three from Barcelona, often faster than flying door to door. Competition on the high-speed lines — Renfe, Ouigo, Iryo — has pushed fares down; they climb steeply as the date approaches.
Long-distance coaches, ALSA foremost, serve everything the train ignores, notably Extremadura and the Andalusian villages. Slow, and half the price.
In the cities, the Madrid and Barcelona metros are dense and cheap. The Canaries and the Balearics can be reached by ferry from the mainland, but the domestic flight is almost always cheaper and vastly faster.
Money
Euro, cards accepted everywhere, including for a one-fifty coffee. Contactless is the norm and cash machines are plentiful.
What surprises visitors is the rhythm of meals rather than the prices. Lunch runs from two to four in the afternoon, dinner starts at nine, and a restaurant serving at seven is a restaurant for tourists. The weekday menú del día at lunch remains the best value in the country: starter, main, dessert and a drink for the price of one evening dish.
Before you go
Opening hours are not those of the rest of Europe. Many shops close between two and five, especially in the south and especially in summer. The national museums, on the other hand, nearly all have a free window at the end of the day — the Prado, the Reina Sofía — but the queue forms an hour ahead.
The Andalusian summer is not a pleasant heat. Seville and Córdoba regularly pass forty degrees in July and August, and the afternoons there are unusable. This is not a marginal constraint: it decides which month you travel.