Estimated total
Assumptions used
| Item | Madrid & Barcelona | Rest of Spain |
|---|
About these numbers
Typical costs come from the fall 2026 prices in our money guide, planning guide and where to stay pages, using this site's hotel tiers for a room for two: $ under €100, $$ €100–200, $$$ €200–400 and $$$$ over €400 a night. A mid-range room in Madrid or Barcelona is about €200 a night, in line with the money guide's sample week in three- and four-star hotels, and about €130 elsewhere. A day's spending then lands in or near the money guide's daily budgets per person: about €80–120 on a budget, €150–250 mid-range and €300 and up at the Comfort level, which assumes a $$$ hotel in a central spot. Hotel rates are for one room shared by two people; the calculator adds a room for every two travelers.
Spanish prices include VAT (IVA, or the lower IGIC in the Canary Islands), and service is included, so the extra Americans miss is the tourist tax, paid per person per night at your lodging. Since April 1, 2026, Barcelona charges €12 (about $13.45) at five-star hotels, €8.40 (about $9.40) at four-star hotels, €9.50 (about $10.65) in tourist apartments, €7 (about $7.85) at other hotels and €6 in hostels, for up to seven nights; the calculator uses €7, €8.40 and €12 by hotel level. The Balearic Islands charge €1–4 per person per night from May to October, plus 10 percent VAT, and a quarter of that from November to April. Madrid and Andalusia have no hotel tax, Santiago de Compostela charges about €1, and the Basque Country's new tax is due from January 1, 2027. Children are exempt in Barcelona and the Balearics, but the calculator charges every traveler, so families come out slightly high. Food figures cover a breakfast, a menú del día or tapas lunch, an evening of tapas or a sit-down dinner, and drinks. Big-city transport is metro and bus tickets (a Barcelona single is €2.90, a 10-trip Madrid ticket €7.30), plus taxis at the Comfort level, and arrival and departure use Madrid's Airport Express bus (€5) or the €33 fixed-fare taxi.
The train fare is our estimate for a one-way high-speed ticket booked a few weeks ahead: low-cost Avlo and Ouigo seats can cost much less, and flexible fares or the top class much more. The car line is our estimate for a compact car with basic cover, plus the zero-deductible add-on at the higher levels and parking (central garages can cost more than €30 a day). Fuel uses the price you enter and about 39 US mpg (6 liters per 100 km), typical of the small cars you'll rent there; the €1.78 default is the national average for 95 gasoline on October 10, 2026, and diesel was about €1.89. Most Spanish motorways are now toll-free; we estimate about €0.10 per km on the share of your driving on toll roads in each area. Not included: traffic and parking fines, low-emission-zone rules for rental cars, the International Driving Permit, travel insurance, ferries, flamenco shows, football tickets and shopping. See driving in Spain, getting around and where to stay.
Save money
Book high-speed trains and timed tickets early, make the weekday menú del día your main meal, and drink at the bar, where prices are often lower than at a terrace table. The Prado is free for its last two hours every day, and the Reina Sofía on most evenings. Pay in euros on a card with no foreign transaction fee, rent the car only for the countryside days, and travel from November to March, outside the Canaries, when city hotels cost less.