Credit card acceptance in Spain and wait time in restaurants

We have never had a problem using our US credit cards in Spain. For safety, use credit instead of debit.

Most restaurants in Spain do not open for the evening meal until around 8PM. Dining in Spain is slower than in the rush rush USA.

I remember in Barcelona trying to go to a top restaurant around 8PM and finding it wasn't open until 10PM, we didn't wait.

We have found some restaurants that serve great tapas in Barcelona that were open around 6PM.

We prefer to dine around 7PM and did that a lot.

We have used TripAdvisor to pick restaurants.

We used our Visa card in every restaurant we went to.

As far as reservations, it depends where you want to eat. We are foodies-- we generally don't go to Michelin rated places, but we like great local places, or trendy new spots, and those seem to be extremely popular. We booked a few places before our recent trip to Madrid, Sevilla and Granada, and then other places during the trip, based on conversations with people we met there. But we pretty much had a reservation every night that we went out to dinner and did not leave it to chance. We saw too many people being turned away at a few of the places we had really wanted to eat. My advice really applies only if you really care where you are eating-- if you don't have a burning desire to go to any specific restaurants you will always find good food in places you can just walk into. There is so much good food in Spain.

It also does depend what time you go. If you are an early eater, many places won't be open and those that are will likely be filled with tourists. We go later-- not really late, but usually around 9 or 9:30.

In the major cities you’ll need little cash. Contactless payment is the norm. Most of the time you’ll automatically be charged in Euros or you’ll be given the option of Euros or USD, but occasionally you’ll come across a hotel, restaurant or shop that attempts to charge in USD. Simply decline the conversion (probably twice) and you’ll be charged in Euros.

Some smaller shops or take-away restaurants may only accept cash, but they are a minority. In my last two trips to Spain (2022 and 2023), two places in Zaragoza and one in Burgos were cash only. We use cash for small purchases like a soda, pastry, or snack.

Regarding restaurants, if there’s a special one you want to go to, make a reservation. Your question says it all. Do you want a scheduled dinner time or be spontaneous. Since we never know when we’ll be hungry, how hungry we’ll be, or what we may feel like eating, we seldom make a reservation. Also, we seldom have difficulty finding a place to eat before 8pm or later, especially in the cities you mentioned. Those establishments will most likely cater to tourists and be very casual. In small towns it’s more difficult to find restaurants that open early.

We were in Spain for three weeks last month. We have our Visa card loaded into Apple Pay, so we just used our phone to pay for almost everything. Occasionally I would use Euro bills to pay for gelato.

Thanks so much for helpful and prompt everyone!

When it comes to planning for restaurants, I guess it’s a fine balance. When I visited Paris and Italy last year, I found it convenient to go to the restaurants I reserved in advance without wait, I also found there are so many unpredictable variables during travel - time, when we get hungry, location, which can change when and where we eat. Also, as a side note, it was surprisingly memorable to go to a local Carre Four grocery store and cook home/Airbnb-cooked meals for my family(though it can be more physically exhausting after long walks). I think I will mix up booking some restaurants; walking in Tapas restaurants; and potentially cooking meals at Airbnb if my energy allows.

Excuse my ignorance but what’s the rationale for paying in Euros than USD even if my credit card doesn’t charge transaction fees? When I called my card(Chase), it depends on currency rates at that time.

The meals are priced in euros. If you tell the restaurant to charge you in dollars instead, the exchange rate used in that calculation will not be good for you; therefore, you will pay a lot more. I've seen 7% mark-ups, maybe higher. I'm sure you don't want to pay an extra 7% for the privilege of instantly knowing to the penny what the meal cost.

The same rule applies to hotels, shops, and so on--and when you withdraw money from an ATM.

How bad the exchange is, will vary, but it will always be markedly in favor of the restaurant, hotel, shop or bank.

You get a worse exchange rate if you don’t select the local currency. In tourist areas the server will often just select EUR for you as they know the system. The restaurant doesn’t make any more or less money, only the banks.

As an example of what acraven and Helen stated, if you have a €130 hotel room charged in Euros at a $1.09 rate, the room would cost $141.70. If charged in dollars, the rate will be different. I used 5% which is not uncommon. At that rate, $1.14, that same room would cost you about $149. By itself it doesn’t seem like much, but if everything (rooms, meals, entrances, trains, etc.) was charged in dollars it would really add up. It’s simply money you’d be throwing away.

Thank you again for breaking it down for me on the rationale as well!
I unknowingly have made several reservations including stays and admission tickets for Spain in USD already so asked hotels and Airbnb to see if they can convert back to euros but they seemed to indicate I can’t and defer to bank. I was also told l credit card Chase defaults to euros so am unsure which one to go by. Oh well, at any rate, at least now I know and can do so for upcoming trips in Europe!
Hope you all have a great week!

For most places, even though you make the reservation in USD, you’ll be charged in the local currency when it’s time to pay.

Most of the time you’ll automatically be charged in Euros or you’ll be given the option of Euros or USD, but occasionally you’ll come across a hotel, restaurant or shop that attempts to charge in USD. Simply decline the conversion (probably twice) and you’ll be charged in Euros.

Consumer protections ensure that YOU are given this choice, but not every place follows the rules. We had an incident at the Maritime Museum in Barcelona where the ticket agent attempted to take back the handheld device before we had completed the currency selection. He was apoplectic we wouldn't given the device back until we had confirmed the transaction in Euros, but we held our ground. (I've often wondered if the museum got a cut of the unfavorable currency exchange, but have no proof of this. It was certainly odd behavior.) Bypassing this system, and these occasional interactions, is why we continue to use cash almost exclusively except in grocery stores.

Thank you both!
Didn’t know that it was even a consumer’s right!
I am even more convinced that I should be assertive in paying in euros!

Most places won't fight you on it, but the most trouble I've ever had was in northern Spain (Barcelona wasn't a problem) on a 2016 trip. I think it was shortly after the new credit card terminal software had been introduced, and places were choosing dollars for me even after I specified euros. I learned from that to pay my hotel bill the night before I checked out so I didn't have to fight with the front desk when I needed to be on the way to the train station. I don't remember any struggles during my 2019 trip to Andalucia/Valencia/Barcelona. However, you have to be on your toes, because the option shows up in more and more places every year, even at some museums (not speaking of Spain specifically here).

You will not convince me (without providing an official source) that the hotel/restaurant/merchant doesn't get a cut of the profits. If they don't, why have some of them so obviously instructed their employees to push the dollar option?