# How Much Money to Bring to Spain for a Week: a No-Illusions Budget > How much money to bring to Spain: three budget levels in a table, the 12-16 euro menu del dia, booking Renfe trains early, museums with free hours. - URL: https://langandtrip.com.ua/en/article/skilky-hroshei-ispaniia/ - Language: en - Published: 2026-10-29 - Categories: Travel, Restaurants, Hotels, Tours, Spain, Food & Drinks --- **How much money to bring to Spain** for a week: the realistic range is 350 to 1400 euros per person, flights and accommodation excluded. Spain costs more than Turkey or the Balkans, but it hides a magnificent money-saving institution called the menu del dia: a full three-course lunch with a drink for 12-16 euros, even in Madrid. ## Three weekly budgets in numbers The table shows pocket expenses for one person over seven days, with flights and hotel already paid. Treat the figures as a guide and verify current prices before you go. ExpenseBudgetMid-rangeComfortFood120-160 €220-320 €450-650 €City transport and intercity travel40-60 €80-140 €180-300 €Museums and activities30-50 €70-120 €150-250 €Extras, souvenirs, buffer60 €100 €200 €**Weekly total****350-430 €****570-780 €****1000-1400 €**Budget mode means Mercadona supermarkets plus one menu del dia a day, the metro and a couple of paid museums. Mid-range adds tapas dinners, a high-speed train between cities and all the headline sights. Comfort means restaurants with 40-euro bills, taxis and tickets bought without checking the price. ## Cities or the coast: where a week costs less Intuition says a resort is pricier than a city. In Spain it is often the reverse. Madrid and Barcelona collect their toll through entry tickets, expensive centres and temptation on every corner: a Barcelona week with the Sagrada Familia, Park Guell and Gothic Quarter dinners eats a mid-range budget with ease. The coast, Costa Brava, Costa Blanca or Andalusia beyond Marbella, lives at a calmer price point: the beach is free, so is the main activity, and the locals' bars two streets back from the sea charge prices that would make a Barcelona waiter blush. The most expensive spots in the country are San Sebastian, Ibiza and central Barcelona. The kindest of the touristically worthwhile are Valencia, Seville, Granada and Alicante. Valencia is genuinely underrated: the country's third city, with a beach, paella in the homeland of paella, and prices a quarter below Barcelona's. ## Menu del dia: the single best Spanish lunch hack If you remember one thing from this article, make it this. The menu del dia is a fixed-price set of starter, main, dessert, bread and a drink, often including a glass of wine, for 12-16 euros. It is served on weekdays roughly from 13:00 to 16:00, and it is not a tourist gimmick but a leftover of a Franco-era law guaranteeing workers an affordable lunch. Look for a chalkboard by the door and a room full of Spaniards in office clothes. The same food ordered a la carte in the evening would cost two to three times more. - **Breakfast**: coffee and a tostada at a bar, 3-5 euros. A 15-euro hotel breakfast in Spain is money thrown away. - **Lunch**: menu del dia, 12-16 euros in Madrid and Valencia, up to 20 in central Barcelona. - **Dinner**: a tapas bar, 15-25 euros with drinks. Granada still serves a free tapa with every drink, so dinner there costs as much as three glasses of wine. - **Supermarket**: jamon, cheese, a baguette and a decent 3-5 euro bottle of wine make a 10-euro picnic for two. ## Intercity transport: book ahead or pay double Getting between cities is the sneakiest line in a Spanish budget. The high-speed AVE from Madrid to Barcelona costs 25-40 euros booked early and 90-120 on the day. The rule is simple: buy train tickets on the official [Renfe](https://www.renfe.com/es/en) site three to four weeks out. Cheap alternatives exist too: low-cost trains Avlo and Ouigo from 7-15 euros on the main corridors, and ALSA buses between practically any two cities for 10-25 euros, slower but reliably cheap. RouteBooked earlySame dayMadrid - Barcelona (AVE/Avlo)15-40 €90-120 €Madrid - Seville (AVE)20-45 €70-100 €Barcelona - Valencia (train)15-30 €45-60 €ALSA bus between major cities10-25 €20-35 €In the cities, buy passes: Madrid's tourist travel pass for zone A, or Barcelona's T-casual card with 10 rides, noticeably better value than singles. Save taxis for late returns; daytime distances in Spanish centres are mostly walkable. ## Museums: where to pay and where to walk in free Spanish museums are not cheap: the Prado charges 15 euros, the Sagrada Familia starts at 26, Park Guell is 10, the Alhambra in Granada around 19, and Alhambra tickets vanish weeks ahead. Yet almost every state museum has free hours. The Prado opens its doors for free during the last two hours of every day, with a queue forming well in advance. The Reina Sofia, home of Picasso's Guernica, keeps free evening windows too. Buy Sagrada Familia and Alhambra tickets only on official sites and weeks ahead; touts at the entrance charge half as much again or more. Free-hour schedules shift, so verify on the official pages before visiting. ## The bottom line A week in Spain per person, excluding flights and lodging, runs about 400 euros in sensible-economy mode, 600-800 at a comfortable middle pace, and upwards of a thousand if you stop counting. A couple can multiply by two and subtract roughly ten percent as shared costs blur. Spain is nearly cashless, cards work even at churros stands, so 100-150 euros of cash per week covers markets and tips. The final advice: book trains and flagship museums early. Those two items separate a well-planned Spanish budget from a spontaneous one that costs twice as much.