Driving in Spain
Verdict
No vignette and few tolls. What a foreign car does need is its plate registered before it drives into a city's low-emission zone, a UK sticker on any UK car, and the new overtaking rules that started on 1 October 2026.
The limits are 120 km/h on motorways, 90 on other roads outside towns and 30 on most town streets. The drink-drive limit is 0.5 g/l, and 0.3 for drivers in their first two years. A foreign-registered car may still use warning triangles; the new connected V-16 light is compulsory only on Spanish plates, which includes almost every hire car.
Spain changed its road rules again today: a royal decree in force from 1 October 2026 adds an emergency corridor in motorway queues and a speed cut when overtaking cyclists. Every rule on this page was checked on 1 October 2026 in the consolidated texts of the Traffic Act and the General Traffic Regulation in the official state gazette, the BOE, and on pages from the DGT, Spain's traffic authority, and GOV.UK; the sources are at the bottom.
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| Road | Car, or motorhome up to 3,500 kg | Car towing a trailer, or motorhome over 3,500 kg |
|---|---|---|
| Motorway (autopista, autovía) | 120 km/h | 90 km/h |
| Other roads outside towns | 90 km/h | 80 km/h |
| Town street with one lane each way | 30 km/h | 30 km/h |
| Town street with two or more lanes each way | 50 km/h | 50 km/h |
| Street where road and pavement are on one level | 20 km/h | 20 km/h |
On a road outside towns with a physical barrier between the two directions, the road authority may sign 100 km/h for cars. In towns, the council may sign a single-lane street up to 50. The 30 km/h default on single-lane town streets is the one visitors miss: it applies wherever there is no sign saying otherwise.
Overtaking a cyclist: leave at least 1.5 metres, and on a road with more than one lane in your direction change lanes completely. Outside towns you must also slow to at least 20 km/h below the limit before you start and until you have passed. The same 1.5 metres and 20 km/h apply when you pass an emergency, recovery or road-works vehicle stopped in your lane.
An emergency corridor in queues: when motorway traffic slows to walking pace or stops, leave a free lane for emergency vehicles. On a two-lane carriageway it goes in the middle; with three or more lanes it goes between the far-left lane and the one next to it. In the left lane move left, in every other lane move right.
In snow, on motorways overtaking is banned and you keep to the right-hand lane.
Holding a phone while driving is a serious offence: €200, and six points off a Spanish licence. Wearing earphones or a headset, or working a sat nav by hand, is also €200. A hands-free system that needs no hands is allowed.
The limit is 0.5 g/l of blood alcohol, 0.25 mg/l of breath. For professional drivers and anyone in their first two years with a licence it is 0.3 g/l, 0.15 mg/l of breath.
Over the limit costs €500. It is €1,000 if you are over twice the limit, or were fined for alcohol in the previous year. Above 0.60 mg/l of breath or 1.2 g/l of blood it is a crime, with three to six months in prison or a fine, and one to four years without a licence.
Carrying a radar detector costs €200; a jammer costs €6,000. Unlike in Germany or France, warnings of where the cameras are, the kind your navigation app gives, are expressly allowed by the Traffic Act, and the DGT publishes camera locations itself for sat-nav makers to load.
Most fines are halved if paid within 20 days. A driver who does not live in Spain is asked to pay on the spot, by card or in euro cash, and still gets the 50% reduction; otherwise the car is immobilised where the officer says until the money is deposited, and in a hire car you are banned from using it instead. Points are taken off Spanish licences only. Camera fines reach other EU countries through the exchange of registration data, and on a hire car the rental company adds its own fee.
An EU or EEA licence is valid as it is. A UK photocard licence needs no International Driving Permit for a visit, according to GOV.UK; a paper licence may. A UK-registered car must show a UK sticker in Spain whatever the number plate shows, even a plate with the UK identifier: Spain, Cyprus and Malta are the exceptions to the plate rule.
For a licence from outside the EU, including a US licence, the DGT advises getting an International Driving Permit before you travel. A licence written in Spanish, or carried with an official Spanish translation, is also accepted.
Since 1 January 2026 the only legal way to signal a stopped car with Spanish plates is the V-16, a connected flashing light you switch on and put on the roof from inside the car. The DGT has said that cars registered in other countries comply if they use warning triangles, so a Dutch, German or British car needs nothing new. A hire car on Spanish plates must carry a V-16: find it before you need it.
Whenever you get out onto the road or the hard shoulder outside a town, you must wear a high-visibility vest. Get everyone out on the side away from the traffic and wait behind the barrier. The V-16 does not call for help: 112 does.
Children 135 cm tall or shorter must use a child restraint suited to them and sit in the back, unless the car has no rear seats, the rear seats are already taken by other children in child seats, or no more seats fit there. The fine is €200. If you are hiring, book the seats with the car.
Traffic already on the roundabout has priority over traffic entering, unless a sign or light says otherwise. Outside towns, keep to the outer lane whenever it is free and use the inner ones only to overtake. Leave from the outer, right-hand lane: the DGT's advice is to move across in good time, and if the traffic does not let you, to go round again rather than cut out from an inner lane.
There is no vignette. Most of the network is free autovía; the AP and R motorways that still charge take euro cash or a card at the toll booth. Tolls and how to pay.
Spain's low-emission zones have no sticker for foreign cars. Barcelona and several other cities want the plate registered before you drive in, and Barcelona can take 15 working days to answer. Which cities, and how to register.
When the DGT restricts traffic for snow, cars without winter tyres, all-season tyres or chains are turned back. Carrying chains is not compulsory, but for a winter trip across the Pyrenees or to the Sierra Nevada, have them or the right tyres. Winter rules.
Spain is, with France, the cheapest country in our ranking for ultra-fast charging, at about €0.59 a kWh without a subscription, and it has the fewest ultra-fast chargers per kilometre of motorway, so plan the stops. Electra's app price there moves between €0.39 and €0.59, and Electra+ Smart brings Ionity and Fastned down to €0.54. What charging costs on your route, and which app is worth having.
Where to leave the car, from our sister site. Each card is the short version; the full guide has every car park, the tow pound and the charging points.
ParkingInEurope
Gaudí on foot, the car in a garage, and your plate registered before you cross the Ronda.
Full parking guide for Barcelona Checked 16 September 2026
ParkingInEurope
The whole city is a low-emission zone and the centre a stricter one, and neither knows your foreign plate. Register it, or park at the line — a metro ticket makes the park and ride free.
Full parking guide for Madrid Checked 29 September 2026
ParkingInEurope
Two hours in the central blue zone cost €1.70 and you cannot buy a third; a garage day is €23.95. Register a foreign plate for the ZBE before you drive in.
Full parking guide for Valencia Checked 30 September 2026
ParkingInEurope
Three free car parks on Metro Line 1, and a blue zone that clocks off at two in August.
Full parking guide for Seville Checked 22 September 2026
ParkingInEurope
Cameras guard the Albaicín, the Realejo and parts of the centre, so park at the edge: €29.95 a day at Puerta Real, €13.95 through the app at Escolapios.
Full parking guide for Granada Checked 30 September 2026
We don't sell ZBE registrations, toll tags or V-16 lights and don't link to resellers.