Pamplona

Currency budget Spain

Euros, cards everywhere, including the pintxo bars. During San Fermín, rooms in and near the old town cost several times their normal price and sell out a year ahead; the rest of the year Pamplona is one of the better-value cities in northern Spain.

ATMs & cards

Bank machines all over the centre, Caja Rural de Navarra among them. Cards work almost everywhere, so little cash is needed; decline any machine's conversion offer.

Decline the machine's offer to convert into your own currency and take the euro amount.

Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.

Safety all of Spain

Very safe for fifty weeks a year. San Fermín is different: a million or so visitors in nine days, overnight crowds, theft, drink, and the bull run, which injures people every morning and has killed sixteen since records began. Only the runners are at risk from the bulls; watching from a balcony is safe and costs money, and booking one is the sensible way to see it.

Our own assessment, not a sourced index.

Entry & visa Spain visa rules

Health & emergencies all of Spain

Required to enter

No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.

Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.

Food tip

Pintxos along Calle San Nicolás and Calle Estafeta, a few at each bar. Navarra's vegetables are the point of the cooking: piquillo peppers from Lodosa, white asparagus, and menestra, a stew of whatever the Ribera grew. Chistorra, a thin fresh chorizo, and pacharán, the sloe liqueur, after dinner.

Nightlife

At weekends the old town fills with pintxo crawls that turn into a night out; in San Fermín the whole city is a party for nine days straight.

• Calle San Nicolás — pintxo bars, the start of most evenings
• Calle Estafeta — bars along the bull-run street
• Calle Jarauta — the late bars of the old town
• Plaza del Castillo — the terraces, and the centre of everything in festival week

Closing: Old-town bars around 02:00 or 03:00 at weekends; in San Fermín, not at all.

San Fermín opens with the chupinazo at noon on the first day and the runs are at eight every morning after it; white clothes and a red scarf are what everyone wears.

Getting around

• On foot — the old town, the Ciudadela and the bull-run route are all within twenty minutes' walk
• Bus — the villavesas, the city buses, cover the outer districts and the bus station
• Train — to Madrid in about three hours, and to Zaragoza and Barcelona; the station is across the river from the centre
• Hire car — for Olite, the Bardenas Reales and the Pyrenean valleys, none of which the buses do well
• Airport: Pamplona (PNA), 15 minutes from the centre, with few flights

eSIM

A data eSIM for Spain, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:Works hereWorks hereRevolutIn the app

Must-see

Nearby day trips

Say a few words

Spanish

• HelloHolaOH-la
• PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
• Thank youGraciasGRA-thyas
• Yes / NoSí / Nosee / no

Religion

Catholic

Nominally Catholic and deeply secular in practice. Churches are working buildings as well as sights, and Semana Santa is taken seriously even by people who never attend Mass.

Do's and don'ts

Do

• Eat late — lunch from 14:00, dinner rarely before 21:00
• Greet with two cheek kisses, right cheek first, between women or a man and a woman
• Stand at the bar to drink; it is cheaper than sitting and more sociable
• Say buenos días on entering a small shop, and adiós on leaving

Don't

• Do not expect anything to be open between 14:00 and 17:00 outside the big cities
• Do not order sangria in a serious restaurant — it is a tourist drink; ask for tinto de verano
• Do not tip heavily; rounding up or a euro or two is normal
• In Barcelona, do not assume Catalan and Spanish are interchangeable — the distinction matters to people