Spain on a Budget
Spain is not the cheapest country in Europe any more, but it is still one of the best-value ones — provided you eat when Spaniards eat and sleep where they do not.
These are realistic numbers rather than survival ones: enough to eat properly, go out, and see the things you came for.
What a day actually costs
The gap between cities is real. Andalusia and the east coast run noticeably cheaper than Barcelona and the Basque country.
- Granada, Alicante, Valencia: €40–50 a day
- Seville, Málaga, Madrid: €45–60 a day
- Barcelona: €55–70 a day
- San Sebastián: €65–85 a day
Eat at Spanish times
The menú del día is a legal fixture of Spanish weekday lunches: a starter, a main, a dessert and a drink for a fixed price, usually between €11 and €14. Eating your main meal at lunch and having tapas in the evening is both cheaper and more Spanish than the reverse.
In Granada, tapas still arrive free with every drink. In León and parts of Andalusia the same custom survives. Elsewhere, expect to pay per plate.
Trains versus buses
High-speed rail is fast and expensive at short notice, and often cheap two or three weeks out. Buses cost less and take longer but are far more forgiving of last-minute plans.
For anything under three hours, compare both. For Seville–Málaga–Granada, the bus usually wins on price and frequency.
Where the bed money goes
Dorm prices swing hard by season and by festival. The same bed in Valencia can be €15 in November and €35 during Las Fallas. If your dates are flexible, shoulder season — April to June, September to October — is the sweet spot for both price and weather.
A NEXT PASS from a partner hostel unlocks the NEXT STOP rate at the next partner, which is where the network saves you money on a multi-city trip rather than a single stay.
