What is the ‘vibe’ of Spain?

Hi Amanda, if I was describing the Andalucia region of Spain, I wouldn’t use “charming”. I would use words like “earthy”, “spicy”, “lively” & a little mysterious.

Spain tends to be a little laid back. I think most from North America just never get into the "swing" of the culture. They show up, want a big breakfast at 7, light lunch at 12, and a big dinner at 6. That just doesn't happen, or at least you miss much of Spanish culture by doing so. Set out for coffee at 9, lunch at 2 PM, and dinner at 8 at the earliest. In between, yes you can get drinks, tapas, and even a meal.

As for the "Vibe", not charming. Barcelona and Madrid are cosmopolitan urban areas, many of the other areas are firmly tourist destinations, others are a weird expat British/Dutch/Russian culture scene. Where you are away from the tourist and expat trail, the people are just doing their thing, and kind of indifferent to you.

For Youtube videos. I always recommend the "Spain Revealed" channel. James Blick focuses on food, but also lots of culture and history. Covers some select Spanish towns, with a focus on Madrid.

Just doing a search by town will also bring up any number of videos with lots of great info, Just watch dates of publication, more than 3 years, things start to get dated.

Spent four nights in Barcelona which is very sophisticated and cultured but also very liberal and maybe a little wild here and there. Lots of partying going on. I think that there is a nude beach in Barcelona.

I was in Bilbao for only a few hours so I can not describe the vibe.

And then there is Santiago which is deeply religious. I would describe Santiago as charming and even if you are not religious, I suggest that you visit.

It is a great country.

I think you'll find every large country in Europe is quite diverse. And if you're just throwing out a single adjective or phrase, I don't think that's going to capture anything.

A good YouTube channel for general information about Spain is :
Spain Revealed

I think ultimately you can't really understand anywhere until you're actually boots on the ground. Spain is my favorite country in Europe so I would recommend you go. There's tons of great history, food, culture, and a modern European country with high speed rail, walkable streets, and amazing nature.

Spain is different, it's different from the rest of Europe and has developed in its own trajectory, having significant Jewish Christian and Muslim influences over a thousand years. Also not having endured both world wars, and being relatively isolated most of the 20th century due to Franco dictatorship. Today it's where tradition and innovation meet. You have the world's oldest restaurant in Madrid, yet you also have the highest Michelin stars per capita of any country. It's where you can find some of the most densely populated resort areas, yet also some of the most isolated nature areas in Europe, only matched by remote regions of Finland. As one of the biggest countries of Europe it really has something for everyone.

That’s like asking, what’s the vibe in the U.S. Spain is larger than one might think so it varies from region to region and city to city,

I found this channel useful https://www.youtube.com/c/ROADTRIPSpainandPortugal

Odd question from a first-time poster...

Answer me this: What is the "vibe" of the United States of America?

Thank you to those of you who gave helpful responses. I'm just looking for information at this point, trying to decide if Spain is my destination. Much appreciated!

The “At A Glance” section of the RS website on Spain has short descriptions on various cities/regions that may be helpful to you.

https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/spain

Maybe vibe isn’t the right word. What I can say is your experiences in the larger tourist destinations will be vastly different than going to medium or smaller cities where there are some tourists or villages and hamlets that seldom see a tourist.

You can experience everything from modern and cosmopolitan to thinking you’re walking through a medieval hamlet. Whatever you like I’m certain there’s some place in Spain for you.

”I'm just looking for information at this point, trying to decide if Spain is my destination.”

One year I put together an itinerary for our first time in Spain. But for some reason, it just didn’t click in my mind that it was where we should go. I tabled that itinerary, and we went to France, instead. The next year, I pulled out that itinerary for Spain, and it felt great! We went to Spain, had a wonderful time, and I have been back multiple times. So, if it doesn’t end up as your next destination after further research, don’t write it off for a different time. : )

I took one trip, solo, to Spain so far, in March 2021. 14 nights total, 13 on the ground. I liked that at the train stations, there was a line of taxis waiting. I just had to wait in line and then when i got to the front of the line I could get the taxi at the front of the taxi lineup.

In terms of major sites many tourists see, there are Alcazars or old fortresses left by the Islamists in addition to old Catholic churches, along with some small museums far fewer tourists bother seeing that express some nostalgia for old al-Andalus before the Catholics finished the reconquista in 1492 and started kicking the Jews and Muslims out. I really am unsure whether I experienced a "vibe" or whether I merely felt the vibe I expected to perceive from what I read before I left home. You could see the museum of the Americas in Madrid for a sense of nostalgia of the Spanish colonies before they became independent. There are the financial district and modern office buildings in Madrid where few or no tourists go - Rick Steves mentioned going there, possibly in the guidebook. There are the few ancient roman remains. The Visigothic museum. There were bitter orange trees full of oranges but they were too high to pick. I went out of the way to Castello del Almodovar del Rio - a castle. The town had no vibe. Almost nobody was there. I am not good at detecting a country's vibe. This is a catholic country with some effort to preserve some remains of buildings from before 1492. Madrid has some good museums including 3 semi-big art museum in addition to the Joaquin Sorolla house. Madrid is a Modern new city; it is newer than 1492, newer than other major cities in Europe. When people think evil they thing Nazis, but Spain kicked the Jews and Muslims out in 1492 and mistreated the few discovered to still be there after the expulsion and there was the Spanish inquisition.... Germany wouldn't tolerate a nostalgic memorials to high ranking nazis but Spain has the tombs of King and queen Ferdinan and Isabella...

Just to clarify a bit: France expelled far more Jews than Spain in several occassions from 1300 to 1685 (this last one, from the French colonies). England expelled thousands of Jews in the 13th century, one of the biggest expulsion of Jews and probably the first relevant one. Germany expelled (and burned) thousands of Jews during the 15th and 16th centuries. Other countries expelled thousand of Jews too. The kingdom of Castile and Aragon (not yet Spain) also expelled thousands of Jews, no doubt about it.

The Inquisition was founded in 1184 by Pope Lucius III and was extremely active in what today is France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Poland,..., but not in Spain, where it arrived in 1478. As an example, 25,000 "witches" were executed in Germany, while the number for Spain is "just" 300. The total number of persons executed in what is now Spain is calculated around 2,000 persons (in 400 years), a figure much lower than that in any of the other Inquisitions. The Spanish Inquisition had judges and held trials and all of them were registered, while the rest of the Inquisitons were far more "unfair" with no trials and a direct accusation was normally the origin of an execution.

As it happened with the "Spanish flu" (now proven as originated in a military camp in Kansas), that had nothing to do with Spain (the truth is that Spain remained neutral during WWI and it was the only country that published freely about the flu that was killing millions in the armies of the contendants in the war, but they kept it secret not to give clues to the enemy about their casualties), and the expulsion of Jews, Spanish Inquisition has been a very popular term used in other countries to denigrate Spain. The Black Legend propagated by the Protestants against the Catholics succeeded throughout the years and the term "Spanish Inquisition" still lingers there as part of popular expressions to refer to evil acts. Well, no doubt it existed and that it was cruel, but other Inquisitions were far more unfair (if this term is appropriate here) and far more cruel.

I would not define Spain as a "Catholic" country given that just around 12% of Spaniards go to church every Sunday and there´s almost a 50% of persons in 2025 that declare themselves as non-believers, while the number of declared Catholics is now just 53%. Spain has a strong Catholic tradition and most of our festivities are still celebrated, but out of tradition more than real beliefs.

Although many people don't follow the religion, the churches in Spain listed in guidebooks will all be catholic. In Madrid I noticed at least one place called "museo de jamón". It means "museum of ham". I didn't go inside but it looked like a place that sells pig products and possibly other stuff. Jews and Muslims have dietary laws that forbid eating pig products although now there are some ethnic Jews who will eat pig products. Maybe in the past the catholics went out of the way to sell more pig than in other countries and whoever wouldn't buy or eat it was likely to be a Jew or maybe a Muslim. I had pig 4 times in my life since I dropped following Judaism in my adult life but I wasn't impressed with the taste and pork products are rather high in fat and sometimes high in sodium. I actually didn't eat any restaurant food in Spain. I went to a museum that used to be a home for old priests - there may be other catholic related museums or monasteries in addition to old roman remains and other stuff that seems like it should give Spain a strange exotic vibe while I expect France to have a vibe that has something to do with 1800's to 1900's impressionistic paintings and whatever was in vogue when the Eifel tower was built. I have never been to France. I got a disease in Spain that affected my digestive tract severely for a day but I could have caught something similar in any place. Just search guidebooks and the open internet for commonly visited sites from times of the Ancient Romans, Moors, Catholics, Visigoths, and so on. Tourists typically don't walk by the modern office buildings. They go to the old historic neighborhoods, what you might call charming or exotic. You expect places near the Mediterranean to be poor and under-developed but that might not be the case.

Spain is a huge country with “modern and sleek “ cities and “charming” villages. What are you looking for?

Museo de Jamón is a chain of restaurants, nothing more. They serve more than pork products.

We're in Valencia at this moment, a city I love. The "vibe" in the old city is completely different from that in the 'burbs, as we're staying just across from the City of Arts and Sciences. The old city is dark and mysterious; the latter is more like Dallas or Minneapolis except for the ridiculous restaurant hours. (I understand the imperative to try to live on the locals' timetable, but for a variety of reasons I can't wait until 8 pm to eat dinner.)

Well, I wouldn't call our restaurant times "ridiculous". Lunch is the very main meal, not dinner (which is normally very small) and 8pm is still very early for us. If you visit a country pretending to live like in yours, you will never get the "vibe" of it. I do not pretend to be able to have dinner at 10pm in other countries but I don't consider that ridiculous, it's just the way it is there .

Ditto Mikel

Spain is one of those places that feels like it holds several worlds at once. You’ll find centuries-old alleyways opening into grand, modern boulevards, sleepy villages with timeless charm just a train ride from buzzing cities, and a culture that somehow blends laid-back warmth with real vibrancy. The “vibe” depends a lot on where you go: Barcelona feels creative and cosmopolitan, Madrid is energetic and elegant, Andalusia radiates history and soul, and the Basque Country feels distinctly different again. I love Spain.

Mikel and Enric, Spanish restaurant hours are not ridiculous for you. Unfortunately, because of a couple of health issues I have, they are for me. As a result, I'm aware that a city's vibe to me can never be what it is for you.

My comment seemed critical, but I didn't mean it to be. Lo siento.

Not ridiculous, just different. When traveling, embrace the differences. If I wanted more of the same, I’d just stay in the states.

I’ve yet to be in any city, town, village, or hamlet in Spain where I couldn’t get something to eat before 8pm. It may be a simple cafeteria or a stop in a grocery store, but it’s food.

One of the very important aspects of the vibe in Spain is that we love a long, complete three-course lunch around 2pm on weekdays and around 3pm on weekends. And that dinner is normally much less important to us and much smaller, around 09 or 0930pm on weekdays and later on weekends. But again, it´s lunch that matters.

Neither my husband or I had any interest in going to Spain; it just didn’t appeal to us. However, we went anyway in November 2021. We spent three weeks and did not go to Madrid or Barcelona. We went to Segovia, Toledo, Santiago de Compostello, Picos de Europa National Park, and Granada, as well as small villages in Asturias and Adalusia. We loved it! We found the people to be warm and friendly everywhere we went. Not a lot of people spoke English, which made it fun. The history of Spain is different than the rest of Europe, and the mix of Christian, Jewish and Islamic cultures made it a fascinating place to visit. We were so glad we decided to go.

I will say I never got used to the eating schedule. When I’m on vacation, I like to go go go all day, eat dinner around 7:00 or 7:30, then go to bed early, like 9:00 or 9:30. We usually skip lunch or have a snack. I gave it my best shot, but it was a struggle. I doubt I will return, but I’m really glad I went.