Introduction

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Subdivisions

Spain is divided into 50 provinces, or provincias, organized into 17 autonomous communities (comunidades autónomas):

• Andalucia

  • Sevilla
  • Córdoba
  • Jaén
  • Granada
  • Huelva
  • Almería
  • Cádiz
  • Málaga

• Aragón

  • Zaragoza
  • Huesca
  • Teruel

• Asturias

• Islas Baleares

  Balearic Islands

• Pais Vasco

  Euskadi

  Basque Community

  • Álava

  • Biscay

  • Gipúzkoa

• Canarias

  Canary Islands

  • Las Palmas
  • Santa Cruz de Tenerife

• Cantabria

• Castilla y León

  • León
  • Burgos
  • Salamanca
  • Zamora
  • Soria
  • Valladolid
  • Palencia
  • Ávila
  • Segovia

• Castilla-La Mancha

  • Guadalajara
  • Ciudad Real
  • Cuenca
  • Toledo
  • Albacete

• Catalunya

  Catalonia

  • Lleida
  • Barcelona
  • Tarragona
  • Girona

• Ceuta

• Extremadura

  • Badajoz
  • Cáceres

• Galicia

  • Lugo
  • A Coruña
  • Ourense
  • Pontevedra

• La Rioja

• Madrid

• Melilla

• Murcia

• Navarra

• Comunitat Valenciana

  Valencian Community

  • Valencia
  • Castellón
  • Alicante

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License Plates

As a member of the EU, Spain's license plates feature a blue band on the left side of the plate with the EU circle of stars and the country code E. Plates are white with black text: E1234 ABC.

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Phone Codes

Phone codes in Spain are organized by province, although occasionally they can spill over. Numbers are typically prefixed with a nine (9), although newer phone numbers can also be prefixed with an eight (8):

You can learn the phone numbers with the Phone number quiz for Spain.

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Roads, Markings, and Signage

yellow reflectors

yellow reflectors on the safety railing is unique to Spain.

speed limit

blue square speed limit signs are typically in Spain, even though you can also find some in Portugal.

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Highways & Road Numbering Schemes

Highways and national roads

There are 6 main directions :

On direction 1, there is the N-I (with a roman number), the A-1 which stands for Autopista 1, and the AP-1 that stands for Autopista Peaje 1. In general, for highways A, toll highways AP and national roads N, if the first digit is 1, the best scanning zone is between direction 1 and direction 2. However, some roads cross the whole country, sometimes with gaps. So you might want to check if your road doesnt restart further away. Beware, roads A are not always highways, some regional roads can also be named A.

Regional roads

All the roads have a prefix, usually 2 letters, but it can range between 1 and 4 letters. The prefix is linked either : - to the region (comunidades autónomas) : roads C in Catalunya, roads CM in Castilla la Mancha. - or to the province : OU around Ourense, SA around Salamanca. Roads names can have an additional P or V at the end, for example around Barajoz there are BA and BAV roads.

Most prefixes can be found in the spanish road quiz.

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Architecture

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Language

Spanish is the official national language, but there are regional languages.

Recognizing regional languages

One option is to look at the street names :

• In spanish , street = calle.
• In catalan, street = carrer.
• In galician, street = rua (galician is close to portuguese).
• In basque, street = kalea. Some other tips :
• Basque uses a lot of X and Z.
• In Galicia you may find "A","O" or "As" at the beginning of some location names : "A Coruna", "O Toxino", "As pontes de Garcia Rodriguez"...

Script

Language uses the 26 standard letters of the Latin alphabet:

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii
Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr
Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz

Samples

Spanish

Todos los seres humanos nacen libres e iguales en dignidad y derechos y, dotados como están de razón y conciencia, deben comportarse fraternalmente los unos con los otros.

Occitan (Val d'Aran, Catalonia)

Totas las personas que naishen liuras e egaus en dignitat e en dreit. Que son dotadas de rason e de consciéncia e que'us cau agir enter eras dab un esperit de hrairessa.

Basque (Pais Vasco)

Gizon-emakume guztiak aske jaiotzen dira, duintasun eta eskubide berberak dituztela; eta ezaguera eta kontzientzia dutenez gero, elkarren artean senide legez jokatu beharra dute.

Catalan (Catalonia and Valencia)

Tots els éssers humans neixen lliures i iguals en dignitat i en drets. Són dotats de raó i de consciència, i han de comportar-se fraternalment els uns amb els altres.

Galician (Galicia)

Tódolos seres humanos nacen libres e iguais en dignidade e dereitos e, dotados como están de razón e conciencia, díbense comportar fraternalmente uns cos outros.

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Most Similar

Portugal

Italy