What's the Spanish currency?

Since 2002, the Spanish currency is the Euro, also known as EUR or €. We share it with 15 other European countries.

These countries, known as belonging to the eurozone are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia.

So if you plan to travel around the eurozone you won't have to change your notes and coins.

In the map on the right hand side, eurozone countries are in blue, other EU members are in red, orange or purple.

If you would like to know how much a Euro costs in your currency, you have a currency converter below.

While being abroad you will need to have access to your financial funds. If you plan to spend some time here you might want to open a bank account.

The currency in Spain

As I said before, the Spanish currency is the euro. The euro is divided into 100 cents.

We have €2, €1, 50c, 20c, 10c, 5c, 2c, and 1c coins. All the coins have a common side showing the value and a map in the background showing the eurozone countries. The other side is called the national side and each country can choose the design. Don't worry, all coins can be used in any eurozone country no matter their origin or design.

The euro banknotes go from €500 (purple), €200 (yellow), €100 (green), €50 (brown), €20 (dark blue), €10 (red), to €5 (light blue). All notes are the same on both sides though each one has a different color. You'll see that the design is pretty simple and each represents a different period of the European architecture.

Here is a converter to help you translate the Spanish currency into your own country's.

How to access your travel funds?

Having access to our currency in Spain is easy. The ATM network is one of the biggest in Europe, you will probably find a bank branch in each block of every city and every gas station has an ATM.

In general ATMs dispense both €20 and €50 notes. People usually carry notes up to €50 so it is not very common to see €100 notes or higher. And I'm not even talking about €500 ones... never had one myself!

Make sure you have enough change for small transactions. Taxis, for instance, are obliged only to change you up to a €20 note so they may refuse payment with a higher one. And some shops and restaurants do not accept €100 notes or higher.

On the other hand, if you want to pay with a debit or a credit card, you will not have a problem. Electronic payment is commonly used in Spain.

As a traveller myself, I have never used traveler checks abroad. Instead, I prefer to exchange little money in order to have some cash available. I usually do it at my bank, before catching the plane. Why? Because, in general, local banks and other exchange offices and hotels tend to apply incredibly high commission rates.

I always use my credit or debit card for bigger expenses. It is not very useful to bring traveler checks to Spain, you'll find that using a card is much easier and commission rates are not so high.

However, if you still need to exchange money you can do it at the Corte Ingles (opens Monday to Saturday from 10am to 10pm) and at some hotels.

What to do to open a bank account?

In general banks are open Monday to Friday from 9am to 2.15pm and on Saturday until 1pm (only in fall and winter). Some savings banks open on Thursday afternoon from 4.15pm to 8pm (only in fall and winter).

If you plan to stay in Spain for longer than 3 months opening a bank account is a good idea. Spanish banks have two types of accounts: resident and non-resident accounts.

The procedure is very easy. To open a non-resident account you'll have to justify your status by providing a non-residency certificate (certificado de no residencia).

You have two options:

a) You go with your passport and a copy of it to any police station and you ask for a non-residency certificate. You'll have to come back in a week or so to pick it up. You will then have to go to the bank with your passport (in general a driving license issued in your country is not considered an ID card in Spain) and your non-residency certificate. Your account will be immediately opened.

b) You go straight to the bank with your passport and ask to open an account. In this case the bank itself will ask for the non-residency certificate with your signed authorization. The account will not be available until the bank gets the certificate.

The non-residency certificate will cost you approximately 10 euros.

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