What to Know About Touring to Spain Summer time 2025

When folks consider European Summers, loads of the pictures that pop up are most likely scenes from Spain. The Gaudi structure, seaside villages, rolling hills, Mediterranean waters, quiet cobblestone streets—all of it may be present in Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Granada, Córdoba, Girona, Ibiza, and numerous different cities throughout the nation. However with everybody dreaming of Spain, it means the nation is a well-liked vacation spot for lots of people. Like, a complete, entire lot of individuals.

In response to the most up-to-date knowledge, Spain has already had 17 million guests within the first quarter of 2025 alone. That’s a 5.7 p.c enhance in guests in comparison with final yr, and is the busiest yr for guests to the nation in recorded historical past. When accounting for Spain’s inhabitants of slightly below 50 million folks, it may be simple to see how such a excessive quantity of tourists may overwhelm.

That knowledge doesn’t even account for the busiest summer time journey months proper across the nook. And whereas a rise in tourism could be good for some locations, that hasn’t been the case for Spain in recent times. In cities like Barcelona, locals have outright rejected the inflow of tourists, going as far as to pour water on eating vacationers and mass protests.

There’s already been a number of points to pay attention to this yr. Within the final days of April 2025, a energy outage impacted transit, hospitals, and the whole lot else in Spain, France, and Portugal. On Might 5, cable thefts on main prepare strains triggered delays for 1000’s of individuals. Canada issued a journey advisory this week for the nation, warning vacationers to train a excessive diploma of warning as a consequence of an elevated risk of terrorism. The U.S. issued the same Stage 2 warning associated to the specter of terrorism and civil unrest again in December 2024.

Given all of this data, it may possibly really feel past intimidating to maneuver forward along with your booked journey to Spain this summer time. Right here’s what to know earlier than you go, together with recommendations on avoiding the key crowds.

Ebook upfront

Contemplate reserving your journey for one more season. At this time limit, the costs will likely be too excessive and the supply will likely be sparse. However, should you’ve already received your tickets and your resort reservations, be sure to’ve received reservations for eating places, excursions, transport, and museums earlier than your toes ever contact the bottom.

Put together for the crowds

If you’ll one among Spain’s extra well-liked cities, there will likely be crowds. Making reservations and bookings upfront will help, however that received’t spare you from the entire chaos. One nice possibility is to think about taking a day journey to smaller, much less well-liked locations throughout your go to. (T+L has suggestions on hidden gem wine areas and neglected locales bursting with Michelin starred eating places.) Spots like Barcelona and Madrid don’t must be completely unmanageable. We’ve received a information to visiting Barcelona in any season and recommendations on the greatest issues to see and do whereas in Madrid.

Journey responsibly

It will likely be scorching, will probably be crowded, and it is doable your expectations received’t reside as much as actuality—transit points and protests can pop up at any time, as we’ve already seen this yr. Be certain to maintain your wits about you in order to not make any journey woes flip into true nightmares. Preserve all of your valuables packed away safely, make a practical price range, keep road good, test your authorities’s journey advisories earlier than departure, drink loads of water, put on sunscreen, and act with grace in the direction of locals and anybody offering you with a service.