Spain

Spain uses standard long, white European plates with a single blue strip on the left.

NOTE: Most Portuguese plates have a yellow strip on the right. Italian plates have two blue strips on either side of the plate.

The standard Spanish bollards have a yellow-orange reflector on the front and two white dots on the back (though the back can also be blank). They are typically hollow.

NOTE: Very close to Andorra, you can find a slightly different bollard, which is also used in Andorra itself.

In Spain, you can find a variety of electricity poles and pole tops. In small towns and sparsely populated rural areas concrete ladder poles and wooden poles are the most common.

“Ladder” poles have indents that resemble a ladder, hence the name.

“French style” poletops are common in Spain. They are shaped like an upside down triangle, with a horizontal top bar that is curved slightly upwards. They are usually found on top of tall ladder poles or medium sized steel poles.

NOTE: As the name suggests, French poletops are also very common in France.

High voltage electricity lines supported by pylons are very common in Spain, especially compared to other Mediterranean countries.

Spain has distinct road markers with a variety of colourful borders. The code on top is the number of the road.

NOTE: Andorra has similar markers and the letter codes preceding the road number on these markers are often an important region-specific clue. You can learn more about these codes in the region guessing section.

In rural areas you will often find hunting signs. There are two versions, both of which are unique to Spain. One is a simple white sign with a text starting with “coto” and ending in “caza”. The other one has a diagonally divided black and white background.

NOTE: These signs have an identifying code that can sometimes be read. In this case “Ex” stands for Extremadura.

Spain has yellow reflectors on rounded A-type guardrails.

NOTE: Belgium, Andorra and Gibraltar also have yellow reflectors. For a good overview of European guardrails, see this infographic.

Spanish pedestrian crossing signs have 8 stripes. This is the highest number of stripes in Europe, and almost unique to Spain.

NOTE: The only other European country with 8 stripes is Andorra.

Spanish stop signs have a distinct small font.

NOTE: These are mostly useful to distinguish Portugal from Spain: Portuguese stop signs have a noticeably larger font.

Red borders on road signs extend all the way to the edge of the sign. There is no small white border separating the red part from the edge.

NOTE: France, Italy and Portugal have a small white border on the edge of such road signs.

Almost all traffic signs, kilometre markers, chevrons and some direction signs in Spain have a flat signpost.

NOTE: Flat signposts in Europe are also present in Portugal, France and Andorra.

Spain has two chevrons: black with white arrows, and blue with white arrows. Chevrons with a single arrow are rare.

NOTE:  

• In Southern Europe, black with white chevrons can be found in Italy, Greece and Albania. 

• France is the only other European country that has blue with white chevrons. 

• Portugal has black with yellow chevrons.

Spanish direction signs have a white background. They often feature colourful boxes with road numbers, making them recognizable. These road number boxes can be many different colours.

Highway signs have a blue background.

Rural roads sometimes have dashed outer lines. This can help tell Spain apart from Portugal and Italy, where such road lines are (almost) non-existent.

Note that the reverse is not true: like Italy and Portugal, many Spanish roads do have solid outer lines.

Spanish is the main language in most of the country. It is a Romance language that is closely related to Portuguese.

Spanish and Portuguese can look very similar. Some key differences between the two:

• Ñ is unique to Spanish. 

• Ç and lh are unique to Portuguese (Ç is also present in Catalan). 

• Portuguese uses the -ao word ending, and -nh- instead of ñ.

• Portuguese uses da and do, where Spanish uses de.

NOTE: Spain also has several regional languages, some of which are more common than Spanish in their respective regions. These languages are discussed in more detail in the region-guessing section.

The Spanish word for street is calle.

You will often find no parking signs in front of garage doors and gates. They will usually read “Vado permanente”.

These signs will very often have the name of the municipality after “Ayuntamiento de”.

NOTE: Italy uses signs that read “Passo carrabile”.

Spain has highly diverse landscapes, ranging from lush Atlantic forests to bone-dry semideserts. Elevation is also varied: highland plateaus interspersed with rolling hills are common, but you might also encounter jagged mountain ranges and very flat lowland areas.

While there is not one single definitive Spanish landscape, most of the country has a somewhat dry, Mediterranean climate, with matching vegetation and agriculture.

Generation 3 cars can have long, short or no antennas. The back of the car is usually not visible, but when it is, it can be either black or white.

NOTE: Coverage in Eastern Andalusia, Huesca, and Lleida sometimes has a long antenna with a distinctive white top.

Generation 4 cars are blue or less commonly black. The car can be completely hidden.

Spanish regional road numbers feature region-specific codes. These are found on road markers, and sometimes on direction signs. 

For example, the SG code on road markers refers to a road in Segovia province.

The infographic shows almost all the regional codes, except for some very rare codes. Click on the image to enlarge it.

NOTE:  

• National roads use the following codes: E, AP A, R, N. These can be found anywhere in the country. 

• Be careful: A is also used for community roads in Andalusia and Aragon.

• Some autonomous communities do not have community roads, only provincial roads. These have been indicated with grey on the map.

• Asturias uniquely has a large variety of local road codes.

• Ceuta only has N-roads. Melilla uses the code ML.

Area codes in Spain are very useful, as you only need two digits to get a very accurate guess. Every landline number starts with “9”, followed by the regional numbers.

Mobile numbers start with “6”, and are not relevant in region guessing.

Spain has several regional languages. The ones that are most useful to GeoGuessr are Catalan, Basque and Galician.

Some other regions, such as Asturias, also have their own regional languages. But there, non-Spanish signage is much more rare.

Catalan is a Romance language that is closely related to both Spanish and French. 

It is spoken in Catalonia, the Valencian Community, and the Balearic Islands. In Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, it is (much) more common than Spanish on signage. The Valencian Community is more bilingual.

If you are unfamiliar with Romance languages, it can be hard to distinguish between Catalan and Spanish. 

• The Catalan word for “and” is i, compared to Spanish y. 

• The grave accent (à, è, ò), is exclusive to Catalan within Spain and very common to see in words, especially on à.

The Catalan word for street is “carrer”.

No parking signs in Catalan speaking areas will read “Gual permanent”. Most municipalities use “gual” in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, while it’s more common to find a mix of Spanish and Catalan signs in Valencia.

Basque is a language isolate that is spoken in the Basque Country and northern Navarre. In these regions, you will find a mix of Spanish and Basque signs (often bilingual). 

Basque is not related to any other language, so it has a unique look. Z and K are common letters. 

NOTE: Basque is also used in the border area of southwest France.

Streets in Basque-speaking areas are sometimes called “kalea”. However, Spanish “calle” is also still common.

Road signs in the Basque Country and Navarre often have these distinctive bilingual sub-signs with a thick black border. 

Generally you will find Basque on top in the Basque Country, while it is more common to find Spanish on top in Navarre.

Galician is a Romance language that is closely related to Portuguese. It is (unsurprisingly) spoken in Galicia. Compared to Catalan, it is less dominant, meaning you will still find a lot of Spanish-only signs in this region.

Galician can look very similar to Portuguese. Some ways to tell them apart is the use of ñ and the lack of ç in Galician.

Streets are commonly called Rúa in Galicia, whereas in Portugal they are called Rua (without an accent). However, you can sometimes find signs without the accent in Galicia.

Many Galician town names start with A, O, As or Os articles (examples: “A Pena”, “O Burgo”, “As Cruces”). This is both very common and unique to this region, and rarely over the border in western Asturias.

The regional flags of the autonomous communities are reasonably common, so it is worth learning them.

NOTE: You can practise them with this quiz.

The Catalan Independence flag is not official, but is commonly found in Catalan-speaking areas. It uses the red-and-yellow striped Senyera pattern that is also used in four of the autonomous community flags.

Spain is a very mountainous country. 

The highest mountain ranges are the Pyrenees in the northeast, and the Baetic System (which includes Sierra Nevada) in the southeast.

The Meseta Central is a high altitude, mostly flat area in the centre of the country. It is surrounded by several smaller mountain ranges: the Cantabrian Range in the north, the Iberian System in the east, and Sierra Morena in the south.

Within the Meseta Central there are two more mountain ranges: the Sistema Central (going from the Portuguese border to the northeast of Madrid) and Montes de Toledo.

There are four big river basins in Spain. The Tajo and Guadiana cross Extremadura and go into Portugal, the Guadalquivir covers most of the southwest of Andalusia and the Ebro river basin starts in Navarra and flows into the mediterranean in the south of Catalonia.

The landscape in the far north is much more green and lush than the rest of Spain. The landscape is generally quite hilly. Hedges and green meadows are common. In some places, this region’s landscape bears a vague resemblance to Ireland, France and the UK.

The Pyrenees is a large mountain range on the border between Spain and France. Its mountains are some of the highest in all of Spain. It can be recognized by its light grey rock and abundance of pine trees. Local architecture features many rock walls.

NOTE: Andorra and the Spanish part of the Pyrenees look very similar in terms of landscape and architecture. And consider that the exclave of Llívia is part of Spain.

Thick forests of tall pines can be found all throughout the Pyrenees. When encountered in smaller mountains in between grazing fields or agricultural land, it will most likely be in the Basque Country or Navarra.

The centre of Castilla y León features a mostly flat agricultural landscape, with only slight changes in elevation. Most of the fields will have cereal crops like wheat and barley, and it is fairly common to find sunflower plantations.

Vineyards can be found in several places in Spain. However, if you see vineyards in between mountain ranges to the north and south, you are most likely in La Rioja.

Starting in Navarra and cutting across the middle of Aragón, there is a strip of semi-desert landscape on both sides of the Ebro river basin. Light sandy soil and small shrubs growing on small hills are common in this area.

Very arid looking and mostly flat areas are common in central and south Aragón.

The soil is very white and rocky in the northern part. Red soil is more common in Teruel.

Castilla la Mancha can have completely flat landscapes, which are not that common in Castilla y León. Half of Spain’s wine is produced in this region, so vineyards are fairly common.

In the western provinces of Ciudad Real and Toledo, it is very common to see olive tree plantations, generally in flatter ground than those found in Andalusia.

Open fields sparsely populated with holm oaks (Quercus ilex) and cork oaks (Quercus suber) are very common in Extremadura and neighbouring regions. These species of oaks tend to be on the smaller side, and have a Mediterranean look. Be careful not to confuse them with olive trees, as they can look superficially similar to the untrained eye.

North of Cáceres the vegetation is more lush and winter and spring coverage is more common.

In the southeast of Spain, especially in Murcia, you can find a rather arid landscape, with very sandy soil and medium sized mountains surrounding.

Small shrubs and small plantations of fruit trees and olive trees are a common sight around rural roads.

Mountains in this area, especially Murcia and the south of Alicante have a very distinct look.

They are quite rugged, usually lacking in vegetation. This region commonly features a hazy look, making mountains in the distance look like they are behind a sort of mist.

The mountain range of Sierra Nevada features snowy peaks through the months of November and May. Sierra Nevada is the only mountain range in south Spain with snow during most of the year.

Towns built on a mountain face, consisting entirely of white houses, are very common on the south coast of Spain, around Málaga.

Olive trees are one of the main crops planted in Spain, they can be commonly seen in more than half of the country.

Around Córdoba and Jaén, you can find massive olive tree plantations growing over rolling hills and going as far as the eye can see.

The bigger and more remote plantations are usually only covered in Generation 2.

South of Madrid, olive tree plantations are usually in small or medium sized fields, in mostly flat terrain and commonly accompanied by red soil.

Olive plantations on the east coast are commonly fenced or behind rock walls and you will almost always see mountains in some direction.

All throughout the north coast of Spain you will find eucalyptus plantations looking like this. Galicia has more plantations than the rest of the north combined.

NOTE: Eucalyptus plantations are also extremely common in Portugal.

When you encounter eucalyptus trees in a dry environment, you will most likely be in the province of Huelva. You can find them more rarely in Extremadura in the north and up until Córdoba in the east.

On the east coast of Spain, you can find many orange tree plantations. They are usually in small valleys, and if they are in flat land you can usually see mountains to the west, north or south.

In the Guadalquivir river basin you can also find many orange plantations, usually in much more open and flat terrain than those of the east coast.

There are some extensive plantations in the mountains, but coverage is sparse there.

Corn is most commonly grown in big river basins in Spain. It is also grown on the north coast, especially Galicia, and in an area in the north west of Castilla y León.

Stone pines (Pinus pinea) can be recognized by their fluffy leaves, and compact bulbous crown that is wider than it is tall.

Forests of exclusively stone pines in a flat area are very common around Valladolid and Huelva. It is common to see them in the mountains close to Barcelona in residential areas.

Aleppo pines (Pinus halepensis) also have fluffy leaves, but their crown is less compact, more disorganised looking, and often taller, compared to stone pines.

This is the most common pine on the east coast of Spain and the Balearic Islands.

Baltic pines (Pinus sylvestris) are tall and thin, with a dark bark that sheds at the top, revealing the orange-red wood underneath. They usually do not have branches on the bottom half of the trunk, especially when fully grown.

Baltic pines can be found in mainly three mountain ranges: the Pyrinees, Sierra de Guadarrama and the Iberian System.

Maritime pines (Pinus Pinaster) has two variants in Spain, near the Atlantic coast, it has grey bark with red undertones, and fluffy branches that point upwards. Older trees often don’t have any branches in the bottom half of the tree.

NOTE: Plantations of this pine are extremely common in north and central Portugal.

In the rest of Spain you can find the Mediterranean variant of the tree. It still has a grey bark with red tones, and it is usually very fissured.

You can find the tree in most of the mountain ranges in central and southern Spain. Extensive plantations in flat ground can be found North of Segovia.