Santiago de Compostela

Currency budget Spain

Euro, and cards are taken almost everywhere, the market stalls included. Take the euro price when a terminal offers to convert.

ATMs & cards

Use a bank’s own machine — Abanca, Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank — and refuse the conversion. The standalone machines on the streets down from the cathedral are the ones to walk past.

A Spanish bank may charge a non-customer; the fee is shown on screen before you confirm. Refuse the conversion either way.

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. The crowds at the cathedral, the Obradoiro and the queue for the pilgrims’ office are where pockets get picked, and the polished granite of the old town is properly slippery in the rain, which is frequent — bring shoes with grip and a real waterproof. If you are walking in, the last stages share stretches of road with traffic, and high summer brings so many pilgrims that beds on the final days need booking.

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

Pulpo á feira, octopus boiled and dressed with paprika and olive oil on a wooden plate; pimientos de Padrón, of which one in a few is fiery; empanada; queixo tetilla, the soft cow’s cheese; and tarta de Santiago, the almond cake with the cross dusted on top. Albariño is the white, and Ribeiro is still poured into white china bowls in the older bars. Rúa do Franco and Rúa da Raíña are the tapas streets, and touristy for it.

Nightlife

A university town as well as a pilgrim one, so the evening is wine and tapas through the old town, then bars and live folk music late into the night in term time.

• Rúa do Franco — tapas and wine bars, end to end
• Rúa da Raíña — the same, a street over
• Casa das Crechas — regular live music, Galician folk among it

Closing: Tapas from about nine, bars late at weekends; out of term and out of season the old town goes quiet early.

Getting around

• On foot — the old town is compact and pedestrian, and every street in it ends at the cathedral
• Train — fast trains to A Coruña, Vigo and Ourense, and to Madrid in about three and a half hours
• Bus — to Finisterre, Muxía and the Rías Baixas from the bus station
• Hire car — for the Costa da Morte, where buses are slow and few
• Airport: Santiago (SCQ), about 30 minutes by bus; A Coruña and Vigo airports are each within an hour

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