whimsical airplane with dotted line trail behind

Cheap flights to
Spain

Save hundreds on your next flight with deals on highly rated airlines.

Flights to Spain overview

Going searches for the best fares and sends members deals bookable 1-12 months in advance. Going members save approximately 33% compared to normal flight prices to Spain.

Cheapest Going deal

$207

Average price roundtrip

$824.34

Average Going deal price roundtrip

$552.93

Best month to fly

Going found the most deals with travel dates in January.

January

Worst month to fly

Going found the least deals with travel dates in July.

July

Top tips for finding a cheap flight to Spain

Buy your plane tickets in the Goldilocks Window

Great deals on airfare can drop at any time, but it’s much less likely to happen at the last minute. Instead, there’s a period of time before a flight when ticket prices, for the most part, tend to be at their cheapest. It’s 1-3 months before a domestic flight and 2-8 months before an international one, and we call this the Goldilocks Window.

This timeframe is a good target for booking most flights, but there are circumstances that mean you should pad those numbers a bit. If you’re flying during peak season, for instance, or over a big holiday, plan to add a few months. Likewise, if your travel dates are set in stone. And note that airlines typically raise prices as a departure date looms, especially 21, 14, and 7 days before a flight, so book before those points if possible.

Give the Greek Islands Trick a try

Spain has a number of international airports with direct service from the US, but that doesn’t mean that the best deals on direct flights will be to the city you really want to visit. Rather than resigning yourself to paying more for a ticket, we recommend seeing if the Greek Islands Trick can save you some money.

The gist of the “trick” is to find the cheapest long-haul flight that gets you close to where you want to be and then book a separate short flight (or a train trip or boat ride) to make up the difference. And don’t be fooled by the name—it works for destinations all over the place. In Spain, for instance, maybe the city you really want to visit is Granada, but the only fares you’re seeing are just under $800 roundtrip. By flying into Málaga, on the other hand, less than two hours away from Granada by train, you could find fares that are under $400 roundtrip. Yes, this kind of itinerary does mean you’ll have to pay closer attention to the planning details, but if it means paying half the price for airfare, we think it’s absolutely worth considering.

Depart from a different airport

Just as the Greek Islands Trick suggests flying into a different airport in your destination, this money-saving tip suggests looking at different departure airports. Travelers who live in cities with multiple big airports nearby already do this frequently, but there are occasions when even flying to another part of the US in order to catch a flight to where you want to be can save you some money.

Let’s say you’re planning a Barcelona trip, and you live in Chicago. Nonstop fares from O’Hare might be $1,400 or more roundtrip—but if you look at flights from New York’s JFK Airport, you could find a direct flight that’s just over $800 roundtrip. Even if you add a roughly $200 flight from Chicago to JFK, you’re still saving around $400, which adds up to an awful lot of pintxos.

Keep travel plans flexible if you can

Instead of choosing your vacation dates first and booking flights second, switching that order may be a way to save money when you travel. It’s all about staying flexible: Keep an eye out for when flights are cheapest, and pick your travel dates based on that. Generally speaking, flights are cheaper outside the high season for tourism, which is roughly June to August in Spain.

But this kind of flexibility isn’t always an option, thanks to things like work and school schedules. If your vacation window is more set in stone, there are still a few things you can try to save money on airfare. Summer flights are often expensive, but the first two weeks in June and the last two weeks in August are sometimes a bit cheaper. You might also consider a trip around Thanksgiving, as it’s something of an unexpectedly cheap time to fly internationally. And it’s always a good idea to schedule your flights on the days that are usually cheapest to fly (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays) and avoid the most expensive days (Fridays and Sundays).

Set alerts for specific flights

Staying on top of the roller coaster ride that is the cost of plane tickets can be a full-time job (and we should know). Most people don’t have the time or inclination to monitor airfare, but you can still find great fares by automating part of the process. Once you have an itinerary in mind, you can sign up for a fare alert. When the fare drops into the range you specify, you’ll get an email telling you it’s time to buy. If you have a few itinerary options, you’ll need to set up an alert for each one. Or, for an even easier solution, you can join Going and we’ll do all the search work for you.

Spain’s main international gateways are in Madrid (MAD) and Barcelona (BCN), and those two make up the majority of the deals we find on flights to Spain. We do, however, regularly find deals on airfare into dozens of Spanish airports all over the country, including Málaga, Alicante, Palma De Mallorca, and Valencia. Some of the deals we find are on connecting flights, but cheap tickets don’t always mean excessively long layovers—we find thousands of deals to Spain every month, many of which are nonstop flights.

Frequently asked questions about flying to Spain

When is high season in Spain?

As is the case with much of the rest of Western Europe, the main high season for tourism in Spain is the summer (June through August), especially in any city near the beaches. The southern and central parts of the country may be a little less crowded in July and August, but that’s partly due to the fact that it can get extremely hot—so keep that in mind if you’re planning a trip with lots of outdoor activities.

There are a few summer events in Spain that draw big crowds, including the city-wide food fight known as “La Tomatina” in August (Buñol) and the Running of the Bulls in July (Pamplona).

Spain is predominantly Catholic, so major Catholic holidays can also mean celebrations (as well as some businesses being closed). In the summer, Assumption Day is on August 15 every year. Other big religious holidays that create mini-high seasons outside the summer months are Christmas, Carnival (just before Lent), Semana Santa (Holy Week), and Easter.

When is the best time to visit Spain?

Spain’s shoulder seasons (spring and fall) are arguably the best times to visit since you’ll most likely still have pleasant weather, crowds won’t be as big, and prices will be lower than in the summer high season. Spring in Spain, roughly March-May, does contain the moving targets that are Lent, Holy Week, and Easter, so there may be a little spike of high season around those holidays. In the fall, roughly September-October, you may still find summer temperatures (particularly in southern Spain), but most of the crowds will have died down.

How many airports are there in Spain?

Spain has more than 40 passenger airports, six of which serve more than five million passengers annually. The biggest airport in terms of passenger traffic is in Madrid (MAD), followed by Barcelona (BCN), Palma De Mallorca (PMI), Málaga (AGP), Gran Canaria (LPA), and Alicante (ALC).

There are some airports in Spain that fall below the five million passenger mark for which we regularly find cheap fares, however, including Valencia (VLC) and Sevilla (SVQ), so it never hurts to check out fares to smaller airports around the country if your vacation plans don’t include the cities with the biggest and busiest airports. Just note that some of those fare deals will be on connecting flights rather than nonstop.

Which city in Spain is the easiest to get to?

From the United States, the easiest cities to get to are Madrid and Barcelona, simply because they’re the busiest international gateways to Spain. There are dozens more airports around the country that can be easily reached from the US, and several of those are airports for which we routinely find good deals on airfare—although most itineraries will require a layover along the way.

  • Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas (MAD) is the busiest airport in Spain, as well as one of the biggest in Europe by sheer size. It’s a hub for Iberia, Air Europa, Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas, Wamos Air, and World2Fly, as well as a focus city for Ryanair and Iberojet. In total, there are 77 airlines serving Madrid-Barajas and 12 US airports with nonstop flights into the Spanish capital.
  • Barcelona-El Prat Josep Tarradellas (BCN) is Spain’s second-busiest airport and a hub for Iberia, Vueling (which operates the majority of the flights in and out of Barcelona), Level, and Air Nostrum. It’s a focus city for easyJet and Ryanair, with 69 other airlines also serving Barcelona-El Prat. There are 11 US airports with direct flights to Barcelona.
  • Málaga-Costa Del Sol (AGP) is a focus city for easyJet, Ryanair, Vueling, and Norwegian Air Shuttle, with an additional 43 airlines serving the city. Ryanair has the lion’s share of flights. There is only one US airport with nonstop flights to Málaga, and these are only seasonal (May-September): Newark Liberty (EWR).
  • Palma De Mallorca (PMI) on the island of Mallorca is a focus city for several European low-cost carriers: easyJet Europe, Ryanair, Vueling, Jet2.com, Air Europa, and Eurowings Europe. In addition, there are 40 other airlines serving the island. Like Málaga, the only direct flights from the US depart from Newark (EWR) and are only available from May to September.

What are the rules for traveling with pets to Spain?

Spain’s rules for bringing a pet into the country vary based on the kind of animal it is. Dogs, cats, and ferrets coming from the United States, for example, must be microchipped and up to date on their rabies vaccinations. You must also get a “non-commercial” health certificate (translated into Spanish if necessary) from an accredited veterinarian and get that certificate endorsed by a USDA Endorsement Office. There’s also a specific list of airports in Spain where you can arrive in order to have your pet’s paperwork processed.

You can get more information about bringing a pet into Spain on the USDA website or the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture’s website—and be sure to check with your airline, too, because they’ll have their own rules about flying with pets.

How long is the flight to Spain?

Spain certainly isn’t as big as the United States, but flight times from the US to Spain can be very different depending not just on where you’re flying from but also on where you’re flying to. Madrid is almost in the center of the country (not to mention the biggest and busiest Spanish airport), so we’ll use that as the destination. Nonstop flights from the East Coast range from 7-9 hours. From the midwest and south, it’s about 8-10 hours. And from the West Coast, it’s about 11-12 hours.

Going helps you find flight deals to Spain and save big. Try Going Premium today.

Number of deals

Total to Spain in the last month

768

Total Mistake Fares

Airline slip-ups we've caught to Spain

37
Going

Never overpay on flights again.

ticket being cut

40-90% off flights.

Most members save an average of $550 on international economy flights and $200 on domestic.

plane flying around Earth

Destinations across the globe.

We send flight alerts to over 180 airports in the US for over 900 destinations around the world.

plane on runway

Deals for highly rated airlines.

We prioritize the best itineraries on the best airlines. If it's not an amazing deal, we won't send it.

* Prices are per person and include all taxes & fees in USD. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing, however, prices are not guaranteed, as airline pricing can change by the minute. Average Going fares are based on average prices of deals found by Going.

Explore Cheap Flights