Spain · Etiquette & customs · 2026
What’s normal in Ibiza
Spain runs warm and informal. Strangers chat at the bar, kids stay up late at restaurants, and personal space is closer than northern-European norms. The biggest tourist tells are eating at the wrong time and rushing.
Greetings
Two cheek-kisses (right cheek first) between women, and between men and women. Men shake hands with men in formal contexts, hug otherwise.
Default greeting: 'Buenos días' until ~14:00, 'buenas tardes' until ~21:00, 'buenas noches' after. 'Hola' works at any hour.
First-name basis is the norm even with strangers. The formal 'usted' has nearly disappeared in restaurants and shops; it survives in courts and addressing the elderly.
Eating times
Breakfast 8-10am (light — coffee + tostada). Lunch 14:00-16:00 (the main meal). Dinner 21:00-23:30 (lighter, often tapas).
Restaurants serving dinner before 20:00 are tourist-priced. Locals book for 21:30+.
The siesta isn't a national nap — it's the gap between lunch and dinner where small shops close 14:00-17:00. Bars and big stores stay open.
At the table
Bread is shared and eaten with cured meats, sauces, anything saucy. Hands-on is fine.
Tapas are usually shared. If you order paella in a tapas bar, you've ordered the wrong thing — it's a long, formal lunch dish, not a quick bite.
The bill won't arrive until you ask: 'la cuenta, por favor'. Wait staff aren't pushing turnover.
Splitting evenly is normal among friends; itemising is unusual unless one person had radically more.
Beach + pool
Topless sunbathing is legal and common on most Mediterranean beaches. Nude (naturist) is restricted to specific signposted beaches.
Swimwear is for the beach and pool only. Walking through town in bikini / trunks is heavily fined in some municipalities (Barcelona, Palma).
Beach blankets / fold-out chairs / umbrellas are fine; staking out a 6-person zone with rope is frowned upon and (in Barcelona) increasingly enforced against.
Smoking + drinking
Smoking indoors in restaurants and bars has been banned since 2011. Many terraces and squares are still hazy.
Public drinking ('botellón' — drinking on the street) is illegal in most cities. Beach drinking is enforced inconsistently — small open beers walking home rarely trigger anything.
Drink-driving limit is 0.5g/L blood alcohol; new drivers and pros are 0.3g/L. Roadside checks are routine.
Do not — the short list
Most “etiquette” rules are flexible. These aren’t.
Don't show up for dinner at 19:00 expecting to be the only diner; arrive 20:30-21:30 if you want a normal restaurant experience.
Don't snap fingers or wave aggressively at wait staff — they'll come when they come. Eye contact + a small lift of the hand works.
Don't wear swimwear away from the beach in any city centre — it's actively fined in Barcelona and the Balearics.
Don't expect change for a €50 note in a bar before noon — small bars carry a thin float.
Last reviewed . Norms shift slowly; the “don’t” list shifts even slower.
See also: visa & entry · currency & payments · airport & transit.