105 Spanish Travel Phrases To Know For Your Next Trip

Learn these Spanish travel phrases before flying to a Spanish-speaking country

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Traveling 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 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

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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

 

Related: If you want to learn more than these basics, then read our in-depth guide on how to tell the time in Spanish.

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

 

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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!

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