105 Spanish Travel Phrases To Know For Your Next Trip
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More infoTraveling to a Spanish speaking country without knowing at least a few Spanish travel phrases is a bad idea.
Even the simplest of situations can become an ordeal, whether it’s understanding directions, ordering food in a restaurant, or if worse comes to worst, handling an emergency situation.
That’s not to say that you won’t have a good trip – just that it’s more likely to come with added stress when you can’t speak the local language.
On the flip side, you don’t need to speak perfectly fluent Spanish in order to communicate.
Learning even a couple of basic Spanish travel phrases and words will go a long way in preparing you for most scenarios you’ll encounter when traveling.
Not to mention automatically be treated better by the locals who’ll appreciate the effort you’re making to speak their language.
Plus, nobody wants to be “that tourist” who makes zero effort to speak Spanish, and is resigned to speaking painfully slow English and using excessive pointing as a last resort to be understood.
We put together a list of useful Spanish travel phrases and vocabulary for people who find themselves in a Spanish speaking environment and quickly need to learn survival Spanish.
Below, you’ll find vocab and native audio pronunciations for:
- Basic phrases
- Getting around
- Places
- Understanding directions
- Small talk
- Ordering food in a restuarant
- Dealing with an emergency
- Question words
- Telling the time
Basic Spanish Phrases
Hola – Hello
Buenos días – Good day/Good morning
Buenas tardes – Good afternoon
Buenas noches – Goodnight
¿Cómo estás? – How are you?
Por favor – Please
Gracias – Thank you
Me llamo… – My name is…
¿Habla inglés? – Do you speak English?
No hablo español – I don’t speak Spanish
¿Cómo se llama? – What is your name?
Disculpe – Excuse me/I’m sorry
No sé – I don’t know
¿Cómo se dice? – How do you say this?
No entiendo – I don’t understand
¿Qué hora es? – What time is it?
Hable más lento – Speak slowly
Download the expanded guide to read later
This page gives you a great overview of the most important concepts and strategies, but for the full, expanded guide, click the button below:
Download Guide Now!Getting around
These are likely to be your go-to Spanish travel phrases when getting around. Even when you don’t know the Spanish for the subject, these phrases can be combined with gentle pointing, and still come across as very polite.
Me gustaría – I would like
Quiero – I want
Necesito – I need
¿Dónde queda? – Where is?
¿Cuánto cuesta?– How much does it cost?
¿Qué precio tiene? – How much does it cost?
¿Tiene..? – Do you have..?
Yo tengo- I have
Yo no tengo – I don’t have
Qué significa (subject)…? – What does…(subject).. mean?
¿Como llego a..? – How do I get to…?
Places
You’ll want explore your new surroundings, so best to memorize the Spanish for some key places.
El aeropuerto – Airport
El banco – Bank
La biblioteca – Library
La cafetería – Café
El hotel – Hotel
El terminal – Terminal
La estación de bomberos – Firestation
La estación de ferrocarril – Railway station
El estadio – stadium
La farmacia – Pharmacy
La gasolinera – Petrol station
El hospital – Hospital
La librería – Bookshop
El mercado – Market
El museo – Museum
La parada – Bus stop
La policía – Police station
El restaurante – Restaurant
La tienda – Shop, store.
El Centro Comercial – shopping centre
Understanding Directions in Spanish
Understanding directions in a different language is always a challenge, but knowing a couple of these key phrases will help you if the situation calls for it. Either that, or you’ll end up with a general idea of where you need to go.
¿Entiende? – Do you understand?
A la derecha – To the right
A la izquierda – To the left
Derecho – Straight ahead
En la esquina – At the corner
A una cuadra – One block away
Hacia el Norte/Sur/Este/Oeste – To the North/South/East/West
Small Talk
Small talk is an essential part of everyday life, and Spanish speaking countries are no different.
Use these Spanish phrases to break the ice when you meet a local.
¿Cómo estás? – How are you?
¿Cómo te va? – How’s it going?
¿Cómo te ha ido? – How’ve you been?
Estoy bien ¡Gracias! – I’m fine, thanks
¿Y tú? – And you?
Bien/Más o menos. – Good/So-so
¿Qué tal? – How are you?
¿Qué pasa? – What’s happening?
¿Qué haces? – What are you doing?
Ordering Food In Spanish
For obvious reasons, it’s always a good idea to be polite to your waiter in a restaurant.
¿Me trae…? – Could I have …?
¿Cuál es el menú de hoy? – What is today’s menu?
¿Qué me recomienda? – What do you recommend?
¿Acepta tarjeta de crédito? – Do you accept credit card?
La cuenta, por favor – Check, please
Soy alérgico – I’m allergic
Soy vegetariano – I’m vegetarian
Emergency Spanish
Knowing a couple of key emergency phrases will make things much easier if worst case scenario happens, and you find yourself in trouble.
¿Puede ayudarme? – Can you help me?
Necesito ayuda – I need help
¡Ayuda! – Help!
Estoy perdido – I’m lost
¡Llame a la policia! – Call the police!
¡Llame una ambulancia! – Call an ambulance!
Quiz: Places, Directions, and Emergency
Before we move on, why don’t you see how much you remember from these three sections by watching this quiz video. You’ll be shown a selection of Spanish travel phrases and given a few moments to think of its English equivalent before we reveal the translation. Good luck!
Question Words In Spanish
Just like the “Getting Around” phrases, these Spanish question words will be useful even when you don’t know how to say the subject of the sentence in Spanish.
¿Qué…? – what?
¿Cómo…? – how?
¿Cuándo…? – when?
¿Dónde…? – where?
¿Quién…? – who?
¿Por qué…? – why?
¿Cuál? – which?
Examples:
¿Qué quieres hacer hoy? – What do you want to do today?
¿Como te sientes? – How are you feeling?
¿Cuándo vienes de nuevo? – When are you coming back?
¿Dónde está el museo? – Where is the museum?
¿Quién es? – Who is it?
¿Por qué quiere visitar este país? – Why do you want to visit this country?
¿Cuál prefieres? – Which one do you prefer?
Telling The Time
While almost everyone who travels has a smartphone these days, it’s still useful to know how to ask a stranger for the time, even if it’s only a tactic to break the ice and start a proper conversation.
¿Qué hora es? – What time is it?
¿Puede decirme la hora? – Can you tell me what time is it?
…En punto – O’ clock
…Y media/Y treinta – …And a half
…Y un cuarto/Y quince – …Plus fifteen/quarter past
Faltan … para las … – It’s … until …
Medianoche – Midnight
Mediodía – Noon
Examples:
Son las doce y treinta – It’s 12.30pm
Es la una y un cuarto – It’s 1.15pm
Faltan diez para las tres – It’s 2.50pm
Son las nueve de la mañana – It’s nine in the morning
Son las tres en punto – It’s three o’clock sharp.
Falta un cuarto para el mediodía – It’s quarter to midday
And that’s it.
Memorize these Spanish travel phrases before visiting a Spanish-speaking country for more comfortable, stress-free interactions in Spanish.
If you are serious about learning Spanish, then I recommend reading our 119-page Ultimate Guide to Spanish, which includes 10 principles behind learning Spanish fast, strategies to learn vocabulary and grammar, achieve perfect pronunciation and much more.
You can download the entire guide, for free, right below
Download the expanded guide to read later
This page gives you a great overview of the most important concepts and strategies, but for the full, expanded guide, click the button below:
Download Guide Now!
