Spain is cheap for western Europe and getting less so, and the gap between doing it well and doing it badly is mostly about two things: when you eat, and what you booked in advance. Nobody warns you that lunch is the main meal and that the Alhambra sells out in March for June.
Visas and the border
Spain is in Schengen, so this is a Schengen answer.
| Passport | What you need | | --- | --- | | Armenia | Schengen visa, applied for in advance. | | Georgia | Nothing. 90 days within any 180 across all of Schengen. | | Russia | Schengen visa, applied for in advance. | | EU and Schengen | Nothing. | | United States | Nothing for 90 days in 180. |
Armenian citizens apply at the Spanish visa centre in Yerevan. The appointment is the slow step, so start two to three months out for summer. You need 30,000 euros of insurance, accommodation for every night, bank statements covering roughly 100 euros a day, and a return ticket. Apply to the country where you sleep the most nights.
Since 10 April 2026 the Entry/Exit System has been live across Schengen. Passports are no longer stamped. Your fingerprints and facial image are registered on first entry and every crossing after that is logged automatically, which means the 90 in 180 day count is now exact. Barcelona and Madrid airports both have long biometric queues in summer.
ETIAS, the authorisation for visa-free nationalities including Georgians, is expected in the last quarter of 2026 and is not required yet.
When to go
May, June, September and October. April and early November work too.
July and August in the interior are the problem. Seville, Córdoba and Madrid regularly clear 40 degrees, and Córdoba in August is genuinely one of the hottest inhabited places in Europe. Andalusia in summer is a trip spent indoors between noon and six.
The north is the exception. Galicia, Asturias and the Basque country are green because it rains, and July and August are their best months by a wide margin. If you want summer in Spain without suffering, go north.
August is also when Spaniards take their own holidays, so cities empty, coastal towns fill, and a lot of good city restaurants close for the month.
The Balearics and the Costa del Sol are booked solid and priced accordingly from June to September.
Book these before you book flights
This is the part that ruins trips.
The Alhambra in Granada releases a fixed number of tickets and they go months ahead for high season. The ticket carries your name and you need the passport that matches. There is no reliable walk-up option.
Sagrada Família in Barcelona sells timed entry that goes weeks ahead. The tower access sells out first.
Park Güell has a paid zone with timed entry and a cap.
The Mezquita in Córdoba is free early in the morning on weekdays, which is both the cheapest and the best time to see it.
The Prado in Madrid is free in the last two hours of the day. So is the Reina Sofía. The queue for free entry starts forming well before, and it is worth it.
Getting around
High-speed rail is excellent and unusually competitive. Renfe's AVE now shares the Madrid to Barcelona line with Ouigo and Iryo, which has pushed fares down hard. That route takes about two and a half hours and beats flying once you count airports.
Book in advance. Renfe's cheapest fares appear months out and rise steadily.
Regional buses, mainly ALSA, reach the places trains do not, and in Andalusia they are often the only sensible option between white villages.
City transport is cheap. A single metro or bus ticket runs 1.50 to 2.50 euros, and a 24 hour pass is 7 to 10. Fares went up about 3.5 percent in January 2026. In Barcelona the multi-journey T-casual style tickets are far better value than singles.
Rent a car for Andalusian villages, Extremadura, the Picos de Europa and Mallorca's interior. Do not rent one for Barcelona, Madrid or Seville, all of which have low-emission zones with camera enforcement and fines that reach you months later.
What things cost
- Budget day: 60 to 90 euros
- Mid-range day: 120 to 240 euros
- Barcelona mid-range hotel: 110 to 130 euros, and 150 to 250 in summer
- Madrid equivalent: 120 to 200 euros
- Menú del día: 12 to 18 euros for three courses, bread and a drink
- Dinner à la carte: roughly double the same kitchen's lunch
- Metro or bus single: 1.50 to 2.50 euros
- Barcelona tourist tax: doubled on 1 April 2026, so check the current rate when you book
The menú del día is the single best thing about eating in Spain and the most commonly missed. Between about 13:30 and 16:00 on weekdays, ordinary restaurants serve a fixed three course lunch with bread and a drink for 12 to 18 euros. The same dishes at dinner cost twice that. Eat your main meal at lunch like everyone around you and your food budget halves while your food improves.
Tapas customs vary by city and this trips people up. In Granada and parts of León a tapa arrives free with every drink. In Barcelona and Madrid you pay for everything. Standing at the bar is usually cheaper than sitting at a table, and a terrace on a main square is a third price again.
Tipping is minimal. Rounding up is normal, ten percent is generous, and nobody expects more.
Rhythm and etiquette
Meal times are the thing to adapt to. Lunch is 14:00 to 16:00. Dinner starts at 21:00 and a restaurant full at 20:00 is full of tourists. Kitchens in smaller towns will not serve you at 19:00 and will not pretend otherwise.
The siesta is real outside big cities. Shops in small towns close roughly 14:00 to 17:00, and this catches people who planned an afternoon of errands.
Spain is loud, and volume is not rudeness here. So is standing close in conversation.
Churches and cathedrals expect covered shoulders and knees, and the big ones enforce it.
Barcelona has visible anti-tourism sentiment, expressed in graffiti and occasional protests. It is aimed at the volume of tourism and at short-term rentals, not at individuals, and it is a good argument for staying in a hotel rather than an apartment in Gràcia.
Safety
Spain is safe and violent crime against visitors is rare. Pickpocketing in Barcelona, however, is at a level that genuinely deserves the reputation.
The specific places: Las Ramblas, metro line 3, Barceloneta beach, Sants and Passeig de Gràcia stations, and the area around Sagrada Família. In Madrid it is Sol, the metro line 1 and El Rastro market on Sundays.
Methods are the standard set: the crowd on the escalator, the spilled drink, the map spread over your table, the person asking for directions while a second one works your bag. A front pocket and a cross-body bag remove most of it. Do not put a phone on a restaurant table on a terrace.
Beach theft while you swim is common on Barceloneta and the Costa del Sol.
Tap water is safe everywhere, though in parts of the south and the islands it tastes bad enough that locals buy bottled.
Staying connected
Coverage is good throughout, including on AVE lines and most of the coast, with gaps in the Pyrenees and rural Extremadura.
Coming from Armenia, Georgia or Russia, roaming is charged at your carrier's rate and adds up. A Spanish physical SIM from Movistar, Vodafone or Orange requires ID and a shop visit.
An eSIM gets you online at the airport, which matters more in Spain than in most places because almost every ticket you need, the Alhambra, Sagrada Família, the AVE, lives in an app or an email you have to open at the gate.
Where to go
Barcelona is three days. Gaudí, the Gothic quarter and one neighbourhood that is neither, such as Gràcia or Poblenou.
Madrid is three days and better than its reputation. The Prado, the Reina Sofía and a night that starts at eleven.
Andalusia is the trip. Seville, Córdoba, Granada and the white villages between them, ideally a week and ideally not in August.
San Sebastián and Bilbao are the food trip. Pintxos in the old town of San Sebastián is one of the best eating experiences in Europe and it costs very little.
Valencia has the original paella, the Albufera rice fields and a dry riverbed turned into a nine kilometre park.
If Spain sits in a longer European route, the France guide and the Italy guide cover the two most commonly paired countries, all drawing on the same 90 day Schengen allowance.
Questions people actually ask
Do Armenian citizens need a visa? Yes, a Schengen visa in advance. The appointment slot is the bottleneck.
Is my passport still stamped? No. Since 10 April 2026 fingerprints and a facial image are registered instead.
How far ahead do I book the Alhambra? Months for high season. The ticket is name-bound and matched to your passport.
When do people eat dinner? From 21:00. Restaurants busy at 20:00 are serving tourists.
Is Barcelona really that bad for pickpockets? Yes, in the specific places listed above. It is opportunistic and non-violent, and basic bag discipline handles it.
Is paella a Valencia thing? Yes, and outside Valencia what you are usually served is a tourist version. Also, nobody local eats it for dinner.
