Spain on a UK Licence — The Side Switch, IDP & a 0.05 Limit

For a British driver, Spain is a popular and easy place to take a car — but the one thing that genuinely catches people out is not paperwork or speed. It is the side of the road.

Spain drives on the right; the UK drives on the left. That reversal is the real adjustment, and the danger window is your first hour: pulling out of a petrol station onto the correct lane, taking roundabouts the opposite way round, and the reflex glance in the wrong direction at a junction. Pick the car up somewhere quiet rather than central Madrid, give yourself a slow first drive, and stay deliberate at every turn until right-hand traffic stops feeling backwards. The wider, gentler Spanish roads make the transition kinder than most.

On documents, an IDP is recommended since Brexit. Your UK photocard is generally accepted, but the permit forestalls any argument at the rental desk or a roadside check — pick one up at a Post Office before you fly. Carry it with your passport and the rental agreement. If you want certainty for your licence, the driving permit checker confirms the position.

Alcohol tightens noticeably. The UK sits at 0.08; Spain enforces 0.05 for experienced drivers, with frequent roadside breath tests, heaviest on the coast in summer. Treat it as zero. Speed runs to 120 km/h on motorways, 90 rural, 50 in town, and Spain’s camera network is dense — fixed gantries plus average-speed tramo cameras. A typical overspeed costs about EUR 100, rising to roughly EUR 300 past 20 km/h over; the speeding fine calculator estimates it.

The car needs a reflective vest within reach and warning triangles or a V16 beacon, fuel runs about $1.70/litre, and the emergency number is 112. For the complete rules, see the Spain driving guide.