Useful facts for travel to Spain

Tony Page — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 14:43:31 +0000

Useful facts to help you plan your visit to Spain

Festivals
Public Holidays
Visas
Health
Time
Electricity
Weights & Measures
Money, Banks etc.
Useful Telephone Numbers

Festivals

Spain is fiesta mad, there’s always some holiday or other taking place within striking distance of wherever you are, and the better known ones, like the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona and La Tomatina in Bunol (Valencia) are world-famous. It’s well worth checking out what’s on during the period you’re thinking of going.

EVENTS SEARCH CALENDAR (opens in new window)

Spanish Public Holidays – 2012

January 2nd, Ascension Day and Whit Monday are not public holidays in Spain. Except for Madrid, the local public holidays are not listed below. Every city, town and village has at least two or three local holidays!
When	What	Where
January 1st	New Year (Año Nuevo)	Spain
January 6th	Epiphany or Three Kings Day (día de los Reyes).	Spain
February 28th	Day of Andalusia (Dia de Andalucia)	Andalusia
March 1st	Day of Balearic Islands	Balearic Islands
March 19th	Saint-Joseph (San José – Father’s Day)	Aragón Castilla La Mancha Castilla y León Valencian Cty. Extremadura Galicia Madrid Murcia Navarra Basque Country Melilla
April 5th	Maundy Thursday (Jueves Santo)	Spain, except Cantabria Catalonia Valencian Cty.
April 6th	Good Friday (Viernes Santo)	Spain
April 8th	Easter Monday (Domingo de Resurrección)	Catalonia Valencian Cty. Navarra Basque Country La Rioja
May 1st	Labour Day (día del trabajo)	Spain
May 2nd	Day of the Communities (Fiesta de la Communidad):	Aragon Castilla y León
May 15th	San Isidro	Madrid (city)
May 17th	Day of the Letters	Galicia
May 30th	Day of the Canary Islands (Dia de Canarias)	Canary Islands
May 31st	Day of the communities	Castilla La Mancha
June 7th	no official holiday; check in Barcelona and Seville
June 9th	Day of the autonomous regions	Murcia La Rioja
June 7th	Corpus Christi: no official holiday; check according to your destination
June 24th	Saint-John (San Juan)	Catalonia
June 24th	no official holiday; check according to your destination
June 29th	no official holiday; check in many places: Burgos, Avila, Castellón, Segovia, Soria, Zamora…
July 25th	Saint-James (Santiago Apostol)	Castilla y Leon Galicia Navarra Basque Country
July 28th	Day of the Institutions	Cantabria
August 5th	Our Lady of the Snows	La Palma (Canary I.)
August 15th	Assumption Day (Asunción)	Andalusia Asturias Canary Islands Cantabria Madrid Ceuta Melilla
September 2nd	Day of Ceuta	Ceuta
September 8th	Day of the Communities	Asturias Estremadura
September 11th	Diada Nacional	Catalonia
September 15th	Day of Cantabria	Cantabria
October 9th	Day of Valencia	Valencian Cty.
October 12th	National Day (día de la Hispanidad)	Spain
November 1st	All Saints’ Day (Todos Los Santos)	Spain
November 9th	Virgen de La Almudena (Virgin of Almudena)	Madrid (city)
December 3rd	Unofficial holiday (check) in	Navarra
December 6th	Constitution Day (Dia de la Constitucion)	Spain
December 8th	Immaculate Conception Day (Immaculada Concepción)	Spain
December 25th	Christmas Day (Navidad)	Spain
December 26th	Saint-Stephen	Catalonia, Balearic I.
December 31st	New Year’s Eve

Visas:

Spain, along with Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Portugal, forms part of the border-free travel zone subject to the Schengen Agreement. US, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and Israeli citizens are among those who may enter Spain as tourists without a visa and stay up to 90 days. EU passport holders can come and go as they please.

Health risks:

Sunburn in summer, insect bites.

Time:

GMT/UTC +1 (+2 in summer)

Current Spanish time

Madrid

Electricity:

220V, 50Hz, 2-pin (round) plug

Weights & measures:

Metric (same as France)

Metric Weights and Measures and their equivalents

Clothing and shoe sizes conversion: US, UK, Europe

Money:

The Euro (€)

As of January 1, 2002, the euro (€) replaced the national currency of 12 countries within the European Union, including Spain. You can exchange currency at any bank branch (hours are listed below). Automatic cash machines can be found in most commercial centres.
Bank Opening Hours Standard banking hours are Monday to Friday from 8:30-9:00 in the morning until 2:00-2:30 in the afternoon. Some banks also extend hours once a week and/or are open on Saturdays from 9:00-13:00.
Note: In the summer months (June-August) most banks tend to shorten their opening hours. Don’t be late, either – Spanish banks are tough when it comes to closing time.
ATMs (cash machines)Most cash machines/ATMs (cajeros) in Spain operate on either the ServiRed or the 4B network (also known as Telebanco). Check which one your bank is affiliated to.
Currency exchangeCurrency exchange can be carried out at all bank branches, bureaux de change and major hotels, but banks give the best rates

Check out the current Euro exchange rate with your currency here (close the new window to return): TRAVEL SIGNPOSTS CURRENCY CONVERTER

Useful telephone numbers :

To call out of Spain dial the exit code (00) followed by country code and number
To call into Spain dial entry code (34) followed by the Spanish number