10 UNSPOKEN RULES Tourists Keep Breaking in Spain

Learn these rules, and you'll have a much better experience in Spain!

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Thumbnail designer – Lucas Kieffer

==== WHO ARE WE? ====
Hola, Spain lovers! We're James and Yoly. James is a New Zealander, and Yoly is from Spain. We both live in Madrid. Our channel gives you a local insight into life in Spain and helps you experience this country like a local when you come to live (or visit!).

If that sounds like your kind of thing, bienvenid@!I

[aritz]

Regla 11: No saltes del balcón a la piscina

[iker]

As a spaniard, this info is gold and worth soaking in. This dude definitely is inmersed in our culture

[pedrosmith]

I am from Spain (50 y/o). I always say please and thank you. When asking for something, I always say "cuando puedas" (when you can). For example, "me pones una caña cuando puedas". I ALWAYS use the indicator, please do it.

[vNymeria]

I'm a Spaniard, here's a small hack for the public toilet problem: Big malls, some train/bus stations and also supermarkets like mercadona or carrefour have clean toilets and you don't need to pay to enter or use them!! They are easy to find, I always use them. If you're a bit more daring, you might consider looking for crowded hotel halls or restaurants and sneak into the bathroom...

[DietermiGamzD]

Don't know why YouTube recommended this to me, since I'm from Spain. But great video honestly, didn't expect such great advice for foreigners.

[miguelangelgarcia]

great video. Just one thing as spaniard: don't ask to charge the tip to your credit card. It goes to the boss. Give it separately to the waiter that served you!

[perro]

NEVER add the tip to the credit card bill. Not just in Spain. It goes through the ledger. Give it in cash separately.

[chronic]

The "being assertive" thing is apparently true even in Italy, from my experience in Rome recently. I actually find the constant "Is everything ok?" and "Can I get you anything else?" in the US annoying. Leave me alone and let me eat. 😂

[Tanychuma]

Soy camarera y la manera en la que al incio del video explicas como dirigirte a nosotros me ha sorprendido, con mucha educación! Es algo muy fácil pero casi nadie entiende el volumen de trabajo que tenemos en este país. ❤

[TEESP]

As a Spaniard, this is the most accurate video I've ever seen about Spanish culture from a foreigner experience. You have done a really good cultural immersion.

[hsavietto]

This video is proof that everything is a matter of perspective. Spain is the third country I've lived in and in my experience it has the most civilized traffic of them. People here signal more than in any other country I've driven.

By the way, when you get the flashing yellow/orange light in a pedestrian crossing, this mean they have it green for them. Of course the semaphore turns red to them a few seconds before turning green for us (and after flashing for them too) for safety.

So James, the general rule is: if it's blinking yellow/orange for you, stop if there's any pedestrian crossing or about to cross, otherwise feel free to go.

[kokorospirit]

The spanish stare is mostly a curious stare and not a defiant one.

[PHYSIOWODS]

I'm from Madrid, and these are so true. The escalator one is the most important, please respect it!

[YoMismoConMiMecanismo]

As a Spanish I can explain the orange light rule.

When exiting a roundabout your light might be flashing orange to indicate the possibility of pedestrians. At this point craning over to see their light is unnecessary since it will be green for them without fail.

What you should be on the lookout for is any pedestrian approaching with intent of crossing.

You might ask why we don’t have alternate red and green light for cars and pedestrians. If you ask me, its done this way to clear crossings and roundabouts faster, since cars don’t have to wait for a set time but can go through as soon as the pedestrians are across.

[steen]

Living abroad, now I really apreciate the self-confident and highly efficient tempo of spanish waiters. They are (normally) not rude, just working really hard. And we do not say por favor and gracias that often, but we express kindness in many different ways: "cuando puedas", "perdona", "ahora mismo os atiendo" "aquí tenéis". We would not say "un café, por favor" but rather "'¿me pones un cafecito cuando puedas?" The tone and the "-ito" are not casual, but ways to express politeness. It's just much more about popular culture and neighbourhood. Of course in a restaurant things can get much more formal.

[matthewsingh]

I had never been to Spain in my life, so I was nervous when I found out my entire first year of college would be in Madrid. This channel, not to exaggerate, has SAVED me and made my experience so much less stressful. Thank you both so much. Sadly, I leave in a couple weeks and will not need this channel any longer. Again, I just wanted to say thank you for this channel. You both have meant so much to me🙌

[simonpike]

"weird" roundabout rule: on a two lane roundabout you can only exit the roundabout from the outiside right-hand lane... so, if you try to exit from the left-hand (inside) lane, and there is a car in the outside continuing on to the next exit and about to "cut you up", *they* have priority. regardless of indicators.

[javiersuarez]

Agree with the roundabouts, but people do indicate :p. For me the worst rule tourists break is to walk around the city shirtless, for us Spaniards is quite shocking, you only go shirtless in the beach or a pool or something like that, not walking around the city :p. However I live in Ireland and people do the same here, I find it so weird :p

[ns]

As a bartender for years, all I can say is that I like to attend tourists tables because they usually give tip. The prices in Spain are increasing because inflation and our economy is based on tourism and Spanish clients have less economy power to give tip. There is another problem; the new buildings are very expensive to buy and a spaniard can't afford that cost so each more news appartament are bought by investment funds to rent. Sorry for my english but i have learned on the bar

[claudiasoler]

Hi!!! I'm Spanish!! This is actually really really good advice!!! Just one quick thing: about * p a e l l a *

Paella is a specific dish typical from Valencia (a region on the east coast). You can have paella pretty much everywhere in Spain although it is very... "touristy" and not real. A typical paella has: chicken, rabbit, green beans, garrofon beans (and maybe snails and artichoke depending on tastes or season). If it has anything else other than that it is not traditional paella. No chorizo. No peas. No fish and meat all together. If you are served that. You are getting scammed.

If you are ever in Valencia and you want to try some good rice you can order:

- Paella Valenciana (the one I described above)
- Arroz a banda (seafood paella)
- Arroz del senyoret (seafood paella but all seafood is pealed)
- Arroz negro (black rice, made with fish and squid ink to give it it's colour)
- Arroz al horno (rice made in the oven with pork ribs, blood sausage, potato, tomato and chickpeas)
- Arroz meloso (can be made with a variety of ingredients maybe rabbit and mushrooms or maybe lobster. "Meloso" refers to the amount of broth. It resembles more italian risotto rather than the above dishes which are more "dry")

In a nutshell, here in Valencia rice is one of our specialities and it pains us to see tourits eating just anything and call it a day. I have seen real attocities being called "paella". Please don't fall for that.

AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WEAR SUN SCREEN. PLEASE. I'M BEGGING Y'ALL. SKIN CANCER IS NOT FUNNY.