At a glance
Quietest month: January. Busiest: August, with about 3.2 times as many tourist nights as January. In Madrid, July is warmest (average high 33.3 °C) and October wettest (64 mm of rain).
- January: 4.5%, quieter than average
- February: 4.9%, quieter than average
- March: 5.9%, quieter than average
- April: 7.7%, quieter than average
- May: 9.2%, busier than average
- June: 10.6%, busier than average
- July: 13.1%, one of the two busiest months
- August: 14.6%, one of the two busiest months
- September: 10.5%, busier than average
- October: 8.7%, busier than average
- November: 5.3%, quieter than average
- December: 5.0%, quieter than average
quieter than average busier than average two busiest months · each month's share of Spain's 2025 tourist nights; an even spread is 8.3% a month
- Weather
- Coldest: January (average low 3.0 °C). Driest: July (9 mm). Month by month
- Prices
- Restaurants and accommodation in Spain: about 15% below the EU average in 2025. Is Spain expensive?
- Holidays
- 8 national public holidays in 2026. See the dates
- Next
- Plan a trip with your dates
Measured by its share of the year's tourist nights, January was Spain's least crowded month in 2025, with 4.5%, and August the busiest, with 14.6%. July and August together carried 27.6% of the year, making Spain the 20th most seasonal of 35 European countries we measured. June and September were almost identical, at 10.6% and 10.5%.
Spain, month by month
- Two busiest months
- Other months
When is Spain busiest, and when is it quietest?
August was the busiest month in 2025, with 14.6% of the year's tourist nights. January was the quietest, with 4.5%. That makes August 3.2 times as busy as January.1
Six months each carried less than an average month's share of 8.3%: January, February, March, April, November and December.
Who stays in Spain: residents or guests from abroad?
In 2025, guests living abroad spent 64.1% of Spain's tourist nights. Residents of Spain spent the rest.1
- Highest share from abroad
- Other months
The share from abroad was highest in October, at 71.1% of that month's nights, and lowest in August, at 57.2%.1
Guests from abroad spent more than half of the nights in every month of the year.
Eurostat counts guests by the country they live in, not by nationality.2
How seasonal is Spain compared with the rest of Europe?
July and August together carried 27.6% of Spain's nights. Ranked by that share, Spain is the 20th most seasonal of the 35 European countries we measured, where 1 is the country most concentrated into its two busiest months.1
For comparison, the most seasonal country on this measure was Croatia at 54.5%, and the least seasonal was Malta at 21.8%. See all 35 countries ranked.
How full are Spain's hotels each month?
Hotel rooms were fullest in August, when 79.4% were in use, and emptiest in January, at 56.8%.3
- Fullest month
- Other months
This is Eurostat's net occupancy rate of bedrooms: bedrooms in use divided by bedrooms available. It covers hotels and similar places only, not campsites or holiday lets, so it can peak in a different month from the nights figures above.2
How long do guests stay in Spain?
Guests stayed an average of 3.4 nights each time they checked in at tourist accommodation in Spain in 2025: 512,892,982 nights across 152,938,437 arrivals.4 Across the 33 countries on this site with complete figures, the average ran from 1.5 nights in Iceland to 4.7 in Cyprus.4
This is our division of Eurostat's two counts. Eurostat counts an arrival each time a guest checks in at a place to stay, so a traveller who moves between places is counted more than once, and a whole trip is longer than the figure suggests.2
Did accommodation in Spain get more expensive in 2025?
On Eurostat's harmonised index of consumer prices, prices of accommodation services in Spain were 6.4% higher on average in 2025 than in 2024. Across the EU the rise was 4.1%.5
This measures how prices changed, not what a stay costs, so check the current price when you book. Accommodation services cover hotels, motels and inns; holiday centres, campsites and youth hostels; and other places to stay.
What are Spain's public holidays in 2026?
Spain's public holidays on one page: every date with its weekday and the ones next to a weekend.
8 days were holidays in every region of Spain in 2026: Thu 1 January, Tue 6 January, Fri 3 April, Fri 1 May, Sat 15 August, Mon 12 October, Tue 8 December, Fri 25 December. Each region adds its own, so every region has 12 days on the national list, except the Canary Islands, which have 11 plus one day for each island.6 Each municipality can also set up to two local holidays, which are not on this list.6
| 2026 | Holiday (Spanish name) | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Thu 1 January | Año Nuevo | All regions |
| Tue 6 January | Epifanía del Señor | All regions |
| Sat 28 February | Día de Andalucía | Andalucía |
| Mon 2 March | Lunes siguiente al Día de les Illes Balears | Illes Balears |
| Thu 19 March | San José | Galicia, Región Murcia, C. Foral Navarra, País Vasco, Comunitat Valenciana |
| Fri 20 March | Fiesta del Eid Fitr | Ciudad de Melilla |
| Thu 2 April | Jueves Santo | Andalucía, Aragón, Asturias, Illes Balears, Canarias, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Extremadura, Galicia, Com. Madrid, Región Murcia, C. Foral Navarra, País Vasco, La Rioja, Ciudad de Ceuta, Ciudad de Melilla |
| Fri 3 April | Viernes Santo | All regions |
| Mon 6 April | Lunes de Pascua | Illes Balears, Castilla-La Mancha, Cataluña, C. Foral Navarra, País Vasco, La Rioja, Comunitat Valenciana |
| Thu 23 April | San Jorge/Día de Aragón | Aragón |
| Thu 23 April | Fiesta de Castilla y León | Castilla y León |
| Fri 1 May | Fiesta del Trabajo | All regions |
| Sat 2 May | Fiesta de la Comunidad de Madrid | Com. Madrid |
| Wed 27 May | Fiesta Sacrificio-Eidul Adha | Ciudad de Ceuta |
| Wed 27 May | Fiesta Sacrificio-Aid al Adha | Ciudad de Melilla |
| Sat 30 May | Día de Canarias | Canarias |
| Thu 4 June | Corpus Christi | Castilla-La Mancha |
| Tue 9 June | Día de la Región de Murcia | Región Murcia |
| Tue 9 June | Día de la Rioja | La Rioja |
| Wed 24 June | San Juan | Cataluña, Galicia, Comunitat Valenciana |
| Sat 25 July | Santiago Apóstol/Día Nacional de Galicia | Galicia, País Vasco |
| Tue 28 July | Día de las Instituciones de Cantabria | Cantabria |
| Wed 5 August | Nuestra Señora de África | Ciudad de Ceuta |
| Sat 15 August | Asunción de la Virgen | All regions |
| Wed 2 September | Día de Ceuta | Ciudad de Ceuta |
| Tue 8 September | Día de Asturias | Asturias |
| Tue 8 September | Día de Extremadura | Extremadura |
| Fri 11 September | Fiesta Nacional de Cataluña | Cataluña |
| Tue 15 September | La Bien Aparecida | Cantabria |
| Fri 9 October | Día de la Comunitat Valenciana | Comunitat Valenciana |
| Mon 12 October | Fiesta Nacional de España | All regions |
| Mon 2 November | Día siguiente a Todos los Santos | Andalucía, Aragón, Asturias, Canarias, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Extremadura, Com. Madrid, C. Foral Navarra |
| Mon 7 December | Lunes siguiente al Día de la Constitución Española | Andalucía, Aragón, Asturias, Cantabria, Castilla y León, Extremadura, Com. Madrid, Región Murcia, La Rioja, Ciudad de Melilla |
| Tue 8 December | Inmaculada Concepción | All regions |
| Fri 25 December | Natividad del Señor | All regions |
| Sat 26 December | San Esteban | Illes Balears, Cataluña |
Island days in the Canary Islands: El Hierro 24 September, Fuerteventura 18 September, Gran Canaria 8 September, La Gomera 5 October, La Palma 5 August, Lanzarote and La Graciosa 15 September, Tenerife 2 February. In Catalonia's Val d'Aran, 26 December is replaced by 17 June. The 8 days common to every region match the European Commission's list for 2026.7 We will add 2027 when the Boletín Oficial del Estado publishes it.
What is the weather like in Madrid each month?
Madrid weather by month on one page, with golden hour, sea temperature where there is one, and how busy each month was.
Other cities in Spain, month by month: Barcelona, Málaga, Seville, Valencia, Bilbao, Palma, Ibiza, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Santander, Zaragoza, Salamanca, Santiago de Compostela, Oviedo, Alicante, Granada, Córdoba, Cádiz, A Coruña, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura.
Averaged over 1991–2020, the MADRIDRETIRO weather station, which we use for Madrid, is warmest in July, with an average high of 33.3 °C, and coldest in January, with an average low of 3.0 °C. Its wettest month is October (64 mm of rain on average) and its driest July (9 mm).8
In January, Spain's quietest month, the station's average high is 10.2 °C and its average low 3.0 °C, with 32 mm of rain. In August, the busiest, the average high is 32.6 °C.8
In January the station averages 5.5 days with at least 1 mm of rain.8 On 15 January the sun is up for about 9 h 35 min there, against 13 h 45 min on 15 August.9
| Month | Average high | Average low | Rain | Rainy days | Daylight on the 15th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 10.2 °C | 3.0 °C | 32 mm | 5.5 days | 9 h 35 min |
| February | 12.3 °C | 3.7 °C | 34 mm | 5.1 days | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 16.4 °C | 6.3 °C | 35 mm | 5.4 days | 11 h 55 min |
| April | 19.1 °C | 8.2 °C | 46 mm | 6.7 days | 13 h 15 min |
| May | 23.5 °C | 11.9 °C | 48 mm | 6.8 days | 14 h 25 min |
| June | 29.4 °C | 16.5 °C | 20 mm | 3.3 days | 15 h 5 min |
| July | 33.3 °C | 19.5 °C | 9 mm | 1.5 days | 14 h 45 min |
| August | 32.6 °C | 19.3 °C | 10 mm | 1.5 days | 13 h 45 min |
| September | 26.9 °C | 15.5 °C | 24 mm | 3.5 days | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 20.0 °C | 11.1 °C | 64 mm | 7.2 days | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 13.7 °C | 6.4 °C | 52 mm | 6.7 days | 9 h 55 min |
| December | 10.4 °C | 3.7 °C | 42 mm | 5.9 days | 9 h 20 min |
Thirty-year averages from one weather station, MADRIDRETIRO, which we use for Madrid. They describe a typical year at that station, not a forecast, and weather varies across Spain. A rainy day is one with at least 1 mm of rain. The source has no complete sunshine figures for this station, so we show none. Daylight is not measured: it is our calculation of the time from sunrise to sunset.
June or September? May or October?
June and September were almost identical, at 10.6% and 10.5%.
October was quieter than May, at 8.7% against 9.2%.
These compare months at similar distances from the summer peak. For typical weather in Madrid, see the weather section.
Similar weather, quieter: ideas for August
August was Spain's busiest month in 2025 (14.6% of its tourist nights). No place in our data had an average high within 2 °C and rainy days within 3 of Madrid's in August, in a different country, and August took a smaller share of its 2025 tourist nights than August did of Spain's.
Weather: 1991–2020 averages at each city's weather station (World Meteorological Organization normals in Europe, Japan Meteorological Agency in Japan); a rainy day has at least 1 mm of rain. “Quieter” compares a month with the rest of that place's own year. Try another month or place.
What these figures cannot tell you
These figures are good at one thing: showing when a country's registered tourist accommodation fills up. Four things they cannot do.
They miss some small places. The counts cover hotels, holiday and short-stay accommodation and campsites, but countries may exclude establishments with fewer than ten bed places, so small guesthouses can be missing.2
Nights are not queues. A national monthly total cannot see how busy one old town, beach or museum is on a given day.
Tourist nights say nothing about weather or prices. The weather section uses 30-year averages from one station, not a forecast. The price section shows how accommodation prices changed, not what a stay costs.
They are one year. These are 2025 figures. Patterns shift from year to year, and Eurostat revises its data as countries update their returns.
The full year
| Month | Share of year | Nights | From abroad |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.5% | 23,206,589 | 69.0% |
| February | 4.9% | 25,019,994 | 67.0% |
| March | 5.9% | 30,061,055 | 65.5% |
| April | 7.7% | 39,647,429 | 62.4% |
| May | 9.2% | 47,107,877 | 67.3% |
| June | 10.6% | 54,355,484 | 64.1% |
| July (one of the two busiest months) | 13.1% | 67,016,409 | 61.3% |
| August (one of the two busiest months) | 14.6% | 74,687,778 | 57.2% |
| September | 10.5% | 54,050,659 | 66.3% |
| October | 8.7% | 44,701,272 | 71.1% |
| November | 5.3% | 27,293,157 | 64.7% |
| December | 5.0% | 25,745,279 | 62.6% |
Total for 2025: 512,892,982 nights, 64.1% of them by guests living abroad. The two busiest months are marked. "From abroad" is the share of that month's nights spent by guests living outside Spain.
More about Spain
- Public holidays in Spain 2026
- When to visit Madrid
- When to visit Barcelona
- When to visit Málaga
- When to visit Seville
- When to visit Valencia
- When to visit Bilbao
- When to visit Palma
- When to visit Ibiza
- When to visit Santa Cruz de Tenerife
- When to visit Gran Canaria
- When to visit Santander
- When to visit Zaragoza
- When to visit Salamanca
- When to visit Santiago de Compostela
- When to visit Oviedo
- When to visit Alicante
- When to visit Granada
- When to visit Córdoba
- When to visit Cádiz
- When to visit A Coruña
- When to visit Lanzarote
- When to visit Fuerteventura
- France or Spain? When each is busy and quiet
- Italy or Spain? When each is busy and quiet
- Spain or Greece? When each is busy and quiet
- Spain or Portugal? When each is busy and quiet
- National parks of Spain
- How many days do visitors spend in each European country?
- Is it expensive? Price levels in Europe and Japan, 2025
- Which months is accommodation dearest? Europe by country
- Bathing water quality in Europe by country, 2025
- Is Spain expensive? Official price levels, 2025
- Long weekends 2026 and 2027
- How many hotels close in Spain out of season?
- Total solar eclipse in Spain, 2 August 2027
- Tourist tax in Florence, Barcelona and Amsterdam
Officially recognised in Spain
- European Capital of Culture: Madrid (1992), Santiago de Compostela (2000), Salamanca (2002), Donostia-San Sebastián (2016).
- European Green Capital: Vitoria-Gasteiz (2012), Valencia (2024).
- European Green Leaf: Mollet del Vallès (2015), Cornella de Llobregat (2019), Viladecans (2025).
- European Heritage Label: 6 sites.
Show the 6 sites
- Archive of the Crown of Aragon, Barcelona, Spain (2014)
- Residencia de Estudiantes, Madrid, Spain (2014)
- Almadén Mining Park (Spain) (2021)
- Monastery of San Jerónimo de Yuste, Cuacos de Yuste (Spain) (2023)
- La Nau Cultural Centre (Spain) (2025)
- Places of Peace (Portugal, Spain, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia and Bulgaria) (2025) – shared with Portugal, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Bulgaria
- European Capital of Smart Tourism: Málaga (2020), Valencia (2022), Seville (2023).
- European Green Pioneer of Smart Tourism: Benidorm (2025).
Source: European Commission (Capitals of Culture, Green Capital and Green Leaf, Heritage Label, Smart Tourism), checked 1 Oct 2026. © European Union, CC BY 4.0; lists reformatted by Traveloffsy. Not endorsed by the Commission. See all officially recognised places.
Key takeaways
- January was Spain's quietest month in 2025, with 4.5% of the year's tourist nights.
- July and August were the busiest, carrying 27.6% of the year between them.
- Spain ranks 20 of 35 European countries for seasonal concentration, where 1 is the most concentrated.
- Guests living abroad spent 64.1% of Spain's 2025 tourist nights; residents spent the rest.
- Hotel rooms were fullest in August (79.4% in use) and emptiest in January (56.8%).
- 8 public holidays applied in every region of Spain in 2026; each region adds its own.
- June and September were almost identical, at 10.6% and 10.5%.
- What we would skip: choosing between June and September on crowds alone. In Spain they were 10.6% and 10.5%.
Sources
The tourism and hotel figures on this page come from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, which receives them from each country's national statistical authority. The weather averages come from the World Meteorological Organization's 1991–2020 climate normals, published by the US National Centers for Environmental Information. We downloaded the data directly and calculated the shares, rankings and comparisons ourselves. See how we research.
- Source: Eurostat, Nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments – monthly data, doi:10.2908/TOUR_OCC_NIM, accessed 25 September 2026. Dataset last updated by Eurostat on 22 September 2026. Extract: number of nights, NACE codes I55.1–I55.3, all guests and split by guests resident in the country and abroad, January–December 2025.
- Eurostat, Tourist accommodation reference metadata, on collection by national authorities under Regulation (EU) 692/2011, the definition of a night spent, country of residence, and the ten-bed-place threshold. Read it. Checked 17 September 2026.
- Source: Eurostat, Net occupancy rate of bed-places and bedrooms in hotels and similar accommodation – monthly data, doi:10.2908/TOUR_OCC_MNOR, accessed 22 September 2026. Extract: bedrooms, percentage, January–December 2025.
- Source: Eurostat, Arrivals at tourist accommodation establishments – monthly data, doi:10.2908/TOUR_OCC_ARM, with the nights data (tour_occ_nim), accessed 25 September 2026. Extract: number of arrivals and nights, NACE codes I55.1–I55.3, all guests, January–December 2025. Average stay is our calculation: nights divided by arrivals.
- Source: Eurostat, HICP – annual data (average index and rate of change), doi:10.2908/PRC_HICP_AIND, accessed 22 September 2026. Extract: accommodation services (COICOP CP112), annual average rate of change, 2025.
- Public holidays: Resolución de 17 de octubre de 2025, de la Dirección General de Trabajo, por la que se publica la relación de fiestas laborales para el año 2026 (BOE-A-2025-21667). Basado en datos de la Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. Read it. Accessed 23 September 2026. This page is not an official publication.
- European Commission, Public holidays 2026, Official Journal of the European Union C/2025/6771, ELI. Used only as a cross-check. Accessed 23 September 2026.
- Weather: WMO Member Nations (2023). WMO Climatological Standard Normals for 1991-2020 (NCEI Accession 0253808), station MADRIDRETIRO (station ID 00008222), mean daily maximum and minimum temperature, precipitation and number of days with at least 1 mm of precipitation, normals computed from at least 24 years. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. doi:10.25921/800j-vn07. Accessed 22 September 2026. Released by NOAA under CC0.
- Daylight: our calculation of the time from sunrise to sunset on the 15th of each month of 2026 at the weather station's location, by the method of the NOAA Solar Calculator (NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, “Solar Calculation Details”, based on Jean Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms, allowing 0.833° for refraction and the size of the sun). Read it. Checked 22 September 2026. NOAA notes that calculated times can differ from what is observed.
Modified data. The monthly shares, residence shares, rankings and comparisons are our own calculations from Eurostat's counts. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place, so they may not add exactly. Eurostat bears no responsibility for these calculations or for how the figures are presented here. Rainfall is rounded to the nearest millimetre; temperatures are shown as published.