Spanish Phrases for Travel: Greetings, Food and Directions

Quick answer: the Spanish phrases for travel that matter most are hola (hello), por favor (please), gracias (thank you), perdón (excuse me), ¿habla inglés? (do you speak English?), ¿cuánto cuesta? (how much is it?), ¿dónde está…? (where is…?) and la cuenta, por favor (the bill, please). Spanish is spelled almost exactly as it sounds, so once you know a few rules you can read any phrase aloud. Learn these, then keep an offline translator for everything a phrase list cannot cover.

Spanish is spoken in more than 20 countries, from Spain to Mexico, Colombia and Argentina. The core phrases below work everywhere. Where Spain and Latin America differ, the notes say so.

What are the basic Spanish greetings for travel?

A greeting opens every exchange in a shop, bar or hotel. In smaller towns people greet the room when they walk into a café or a waiting room, and say goodbye when they leave.

The h in hola is silent. Buenos días lasts until lunch, which in Spain can mean 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Buenas tardes then runs until dark. In Spain, hasta luego is the everyday goodbye, even to people you will never see again.

How do you say please, thank you and excuse me in Spanish?

These words do most of the work of being polite. Spanish has two ways to say excuse me, depending on what you need.

Disculpe is how you call over a waiter or stop someone in the street. Con permiso is what you say squeezing past people on a bus. Lo siento is a real apology, for bad news or a mistake.

What do you say when you don’t understand Spanish?

People talk fast, especially in Spain and the Caribbean. These phrases slow the conversation down without ending it.

1. ¿Habla inglés? (AH-blah een-GLEHS): Do you speak English?
2. No entiendo. (noh en-TYEN-doh): I don’t understand.
3. Hablo un poco de español. (AH-bloh oon POH-koh deh es-pah-NYOHL): I speak a little Spanish.
4. Más despacio, por favor. (mahs des-PAH-syoh por fah-VOR): Slower, please.
5. ¿Puede repetir? (PWEH-deh reh-peh-TEER): Can you repeat that?
6. ¿Cómo se dice…? (KOH-moh seh DEE-seh): How do you say…?

Spanish questions open with an upside-down question mark. You do not need to write it, but it helps you spot a question on a sign or menu.

Common Spanish phrases for restaurants and bars

Ordering is where you will use Spanish most. Dinner in Spain starts late, often after 9 pm, and many places offer a fixed-price lunch called the menú del día. Waiters will not bring the bill until you ask.

Quisiera (kee-SYEH-rah) is the polite “I would like”. In Latin America, ask for agua de la llave instead of agua del grifo for tap water. Our Spanish menu guide explains the dishes and cooking words you will see on the list itself.

How do you ask for directions in Spanish?

¿Dónde está…? (DOHN-deh es-TAH) means “where is…?”. Add the place after it. For plurals, such as toilets, it becomes ¿dónde están…?

In Latin America a ticket is usually un boleto rather than un billete. In the metro, look for salida (exit) and correspondencia or transbordo (transfer). Our guide to signs in Spanish covers the street and road signs that confuse visitors, such as ceda el paso and prohibido estacionar.

What Spanish phrases do I need in an emergency?

Save these in a note on your phone. The number 112 works across Spain and the rest of the EU. In Mexico and many other Latin American countries the emergency number is 911.

1. ¡Ayuda! (ah-YOO-dah): Help.
2. Necesito un médico. (neh-seh-SEE-toh oon MEH-dee-koh): I need a doctor.
3. ¿Dónde está la farmacia? (DOHN-deh es-TAH lah far-MAH-syah): Where is the pharmacy?
4. Llame a la policía. (YAH-meh ah lah poh-lee-SEE-ah): Call the police.
5. He perdido mi pasaporte. (eh pehr-DEE-doh mee pah-sah-POR-teh): I lost my passport.

How do you pronounce Spanish words correctly?

Spanish spelling is regular, so a few rules cover almost everything. Vowels are short and clear: a as in “father”, e as in “bed”, i as in “see”, o as in “more”, u as in “food”.

Stress falls on the second-to-last syllable when a word ends in a vowel, n or s, and on the last syllable otherwise. An accent mark overrides the rule, as in estación or médico.

How can I translate Spanish on my phone while travelling?

A phrase list handles the predictable moments. A translator app handles the rest, such as a pharmacist’s instructions or a notice taped to a ticket machine. Here is how it works in AI Translate:

1. Before you leave, download the Spanish pack (about 30 MB) so it works without signal.
2. To say something, open the Translate tab, type or speak your sentence in English and tap the speaker button. The phone reads the Spanish aloud with its installed text-to-speech voice.
3. To read a sign or menu, open the Text tab and point the camera at it. The English is drawn over the Spanish, block by block. Tap Freeze to hold the frame.
4. For a photo you already took, tap the gallery button on the camera screen. The translation appears in a sheet you can copy.
5. To learn the word for an object, open the Scan tab and point it at the thing. For Spanish words it shows a phonetic respelling along with the audio.

Typed text, the camera, photo import and the object scanner all work offline once the pack is downloaded. Voice input uses your phone’s own speech recognition, so it works offline only where your phone supports offline dictation for Spanish. If you need to understand someone speaking, our post on how to translate Spanish to English audio covers what works and what does not. There is no account, no ad trackers, and photos are never uploaded. The offline translator page explains how the language packs work without a connection.

Start with ten phrases

Hola, adiós, por favor, gracias, perdón, disculpe, ¿habla inglés?, ¿cuánto cuesta?, ¿dónde está…? and la cuenta, por favor will get you through most days in Madrid, Mexico City or a beach town on the coast. For signs, menus and anything longer, see the Spanish translator page for how to translate Spanish with your camera, offline, wherever you travel.