Spain Travel Advice

General travel information for Spain

Continent: Europe

Geographical location: Western Europe, in the northern hemisphere between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

Highest point on the mainland: Mulhacén (3482 m above sea level)

Longest river: Teijo (1007 km)

Form of government: Parliamentary hereditary monarchy System of

Government: Parliamentary democracy

Languages: Spanish

Neighboring countries: Portugal, France and Morocco

Capital: Madrid

Area: Approx. 506,000 km² (Europe only)

Residents: Approx. 47 million people (2018)

Population density: 92 residents per km²

Religions: About 92% formally followers of Christianity (Roman Catholic, of which about 16% are non-believers), 4% Muslims, 9.5% atheists, less than 1% Protestants, Jehovah’s Witnesses

Currency: Euro; Travel

Climate: Oceanic-continental, Mediterranean travel climate on the Mediterranean coast

Time zone: UTC +1

Area code: +34

Country code: ES

Electricity: In Spain, the sockets of type C, F and L are used. The mains voltage is 230V with a 50Hz change interval. A travel plug adapter can be beneficial locally. An overview of the sockets and plugs used in our travel countries can be found at wikipedia.de.

Check a2zdirectory for old history of Spain and agooddir for modern history of Spain.

Travel climate in Spain

In the interior of Spain there is an oceanic-continental climate with hot, dry summers and cold, rainy winters, in the north also with regular snowfalls.

In the area of the northern Atlantic coast, the climate is much more moderate with very mild winters and tolerable summer temperatures. Here, too, precipitation falls mainly in the cold season.

In contrast, the south of Spain with the Mediterranean coast has a decidedly Mediterranean climate with mild winter temperatures and hot summers, with most rainfall occurring in spring and autumn, which can also be stormy directly on the coast and in the Balearic Islands.

The Canary Islands already have a subtropical climate without a pronounced winter season with consistently pleasant temperatures between 18 and 24 ° C.

In the high altitudes of the Pyrenees, the Cantabrian and Iberian Mountains, the Castilian Divisional Mountains and the Betic Cordillera, the climate is determined by long, cold winters and short, cool summers.

National parks and nature conservation in Spain

Nature conservation was established in Spain as early as 1916 with the enactment of the National Park Act. After a temporary standstill in nature conservation activities with the beginning of the Spanish civil war and under the Franco dictatorship, the Spanish government has been increasingly striving to protect and preserve the sometimes unique landscape, fauna and flora of Spain since 1970, most recently with the law on natural heritage and biodiversity of 2007 as well as the implementation of European and international nature conservation directives. In the meantime, 9 national parks have been established on the Spanish mainland, the largest of which is the Sierra Nevada National Park located on the Beltic Cordillera in southern Spain with an area of approx. 86000 km². In the Cantabrian Mountains in northern Spain, the Picos de Europa National Park, known for its caves and encompassing almost 70,000 km², is located in the heavily karstified mountain range of the same name. At the mouth of the Guadalquivir in Andalusia is the 50,000 km² Doñanain National Park in Spain’s largest wetland. A 34,000 km² large part of the impressive Castilian Divide Mountains is protected by the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park near Madrid. The impressive, almost 18,000 km² bird sanctuary Monfragüe is located in Extremadura in western Spain. Spain’s oldest national park is the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park, which was laid out in the Pyrenees in 1918 around the 3355 m high mountain Monte Perdido on an area of 15,600 km² . In 1955, the similarly large Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici national parks in the Pyrenees were added. In addition to several islands protected by the Islas Atlánticas de Galicia National Park off the coast of Galicia and the relatively small Tablas de Daimiel National Park to protect a wetland in the Spanish Mancha, there are other national parks and protected areas on the Balearic and Canary Islands.

Culture and sights in Spain

The settlement, which took place in prehistoric times, first by Iberians, Celts and Basques and later by Phoenicians, Romans and Visigoths, ensured a diverse cultural development and extensive cultural heritage on the Iberian Peninsula, which was also due to the Spanish conquests in South America Latin American cultural property was additionally supplemented. Unique art, world-famous museums, spectacular architecture and excellent cuisine make Spain a European cultural paradise and traditional folk festivals and customs make Spanish culture known outside of the country’s borders.

Starting with the world-famous Spanish artists like El Greco, Joan Miró or Pablo Picasso and architects like Antonio Gaudi, to writers like Miquel de Cervantes with the world-famous book Don Quixote, the music of Andalusia and the world-famous flamenco dance, to the meanwhile in The Spanish culture has made a decisive contribution to the history of art and culture in Europe.

Today, Spain’s culture is carried to the outside world through numerous popular festivals such as the folklore festival in Seville, which is dominated by flamenco, the Fiestas del Pilar in Saragossa or the New Year celebrations in Madrid, whose visits on a trip through Spain offer unforgettable cultural experiences, as well as internationally known singers like Enrique Iglesias.

Spanish flair and way of life are particularly worth experiencing on the squares and boulevards of the big cities.

In addition to the cultural and cultural-historical highlights, the multi-layered and varied landscape of Spain between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean during a trip through the country inspires. Some of the most beautiful natural landscapes in the country are developed through national parks. The high altitudes of the Pyrenees and other mountains in Spain are popular destinations for hikers, mountaineers, climbers and winter sports enthusiasts. The coastal stretches of the Mediterranean with the mountains rising behind them such as the Costa Brava, Costa Blanca or the Costa del Sol are popular holiday destinations for sun-hungry beach holidaymakers.

Holidays with a fixed date in Spain

The individual Spanish regions have additional holidays or deviating holiday dates

January 1 New Year

Jan. 6 Epiphany

Friday before Easter Good Friday

Sunday after Good Friday Easter

1 May Labor Day

15 August Assumption

12 October National Day

first Nov. All Saints day

December 6th Constitution day

8 December Immaculate conception

25 December Christmas

Medical information for Spain

For legal reasons, we as a tour operator are not allowed to communicate any binding medical information for Spain and therefore refer to the information provided by the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Robert Koch Institute and the German Society for Tropical Medicine and International Health

Travel advice for Spain

You can obtain current travel and safety advice, information on entering and leaving the country, as well as special criminal law advice and recommendations for your stay in Spain from the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Foreign representation in Spain

Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Madrid (There are other (general) consulates in Barcelona, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca and honorary consulates in Almería, Alicante, Bilbao, Cádiz, Mao-Mahón / Menorca, Lanzarote, Puerto de la Cruz, San Sebastián, Santa Cruz de La Palma, Valencia, Vigo and Saragossa).

Administrative district / consular district: Spain and Andorra.

Location: Madrid

Street address: Calle de Fortuny, 8, 28010 Madrid

Postal address: Embajada de la República Federal de Alemania, Calle de Fortuny, 8, 28010 Madrid, Spain

Telephone: +34 91 557 90 00

Fax: +34 91 310 21 04

E. -Mail: Contact form

Website: http://www.madrid.diplo.de

Official languages in the host country: Spanish; For Andorra: Spanish and French

Embassy of the Kingdom of Spain in Berlin

(There are other honorary consulates in Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart, Dresden and Munich, among others)

Place: Berlin