A Week in Spain for Under £500: A Worked Budget

Yes, you can spend a week in Spain for under £500, flights included, but only if you pick the right region, travel outside the school holidays and accept a hostel dorm or a very basic room. The route I would do on that money is Andalusia: fly into Málaga, take the bus to Granada, carry on to Seville and fly home from there. That route has cheap flights from most UK airports, no regional tourist tax as of autumn 2026, good long-distance buses and the best free-tapas culture in the country. Below is the budget line by line, the itinerary, and where the savings really are.

A note on the numbers: flights and beds are priced dynamically, so the figures below are planning allowances checked against 2026 sources, not quotes. I have converted euros at roughly €1.17 to the pound, which is about where sterling sat in summer 2026. Check the live rate before you go.

The £500 budget at a glance

This assumes one person, seven nights, travelling in a shoulder month such as late October, November, February or early March. For why those months work, see our month-by-month guide to the best time to visit Spain.

Thirteen pounds is not much of a cushion. The two lines that can sink the plan are flights and beds, so book those first and only commit to the rest once they come in under budget.

Flights: where most of the money goes

The single biggest saving is booking two one-way flights, into Málaga and out of Seville, rather than a return. That spares you a three-hour bus back to Málaga, and both airports have budget routes from London and several regional UK airports.

Travel with the free bag only

On Ryanair, everyone gets one free small bag (40 × 30 × 20 cm) that must fit under the seat. Adding Priority to bring a 10kg cabin bag is reported at roughly €12 to €36 each way in 2026, depending on route and date, and much more if you add it after booking. Over two flights that could cost as much as two nights' accommodation. A week in Andalusia outside summer fits in an under-seat bag if you are strict: two changes of clothes, wash things in the hostel sink and wear the bulky items on the plane.

Also check in online. Airport check-in on Ryanair is reported at around €55, which would wipe out your contingency on its own.

Skip the school holidays and Easter

Half-term weeks and Semana Santa push both fares and Seville bed prices up sharply. If your dates are fixed to those weeks, £500 is not realistic for this route.

The itinerary: seven nights, three cities

Málaga (two nights)

From the airport, the C1 local train runs to Málaga Centro-Alameda in about 12 minutes, and 2026 guides give the single fare as €1.80. Do not get a taxi. Make sure you board towards Centro-Alameda, not Fuengirola.

Plan your Málaga days to include a Sunday. The Alcazaba and Gibralfaro castle are reported to be free from 2pm on Sundays, and the Museo Picasso has a free slot late on Sunday afternoon. Sources disagree on the Picasso times, so check the museum's own site the week you go. The climb up to Gibralfaro is free at any time and gives the best view over the port and bullring. The beach is a fifteen-minute walk from the centre.

What to skip: the restaurants on Calle Larios and around the cathedral. Walk five minutes in any direction and prices drop.

Granada (two nights)

ALSA buses run from Málaga to Granada roughly hourly. The trip takes about one and a half to one and three-quarter hours, with fares from around €10 to €28 depending on how early you book. Book on alsa.com a week or two ahead and you should land near the bottom of that range.

The Alhambra is the one sight on this trip I would not cut. The general ticket is €21, or €22.27 online with the booking fee, and daily numbers are capped, so book as soon as your flights are confirmed. Our guide to Alhambra tickets and timing covers which Nasrid Palaces slot to choose and how to avoid resale sites charging double. Check the official Patronato site shortly before you travel for any temporary closures inside the complex.

Granada is also where your food budget recovers. Many bars here still serve a small free tapa with each drink, so two or three drinks in the Realejo or around Calle Navas can make dinner. Spend the second afternoon walking up through the Albaicín to the Mirador de San Nicolás, then further up to the quieter Mirador de San Miguel Alto. It costs nothing and is the best view in the city.

Seville (three nights)

The Granada to Seville bus takes about three hours. Fares in 2026 range from roughly €17 booked early to around €30 on the day. This is the leg where booking ahead saves the most.

Seville is the most expensive city on the route for beds, so a third night here is the one to cut if your flight came in high. For a full plan of the city, see our weekend in Seville guide. The budget points are these:

• Real Alcázar: general admission is about €15.50. In winter there is a free last-hour slot on Mondays, bookable online for a €1 fee. It fills days ahead, so if you can be in Seville on a Monday, book it early and save the full ticket.
• Cathedral and Giralda: €13 online in 2026 (with a €1 booking fee, so in practice the same as the €14 door price). The ticket also covers the Church of El Salvador.
• Free: Plaza de España, María Luisa Park, the walk across the Triana bridge and the riverside at sunset. Plaza de España alone is worth an hour.

If you have a spare day, Córdoba is an easy day trip by high-speed train, though the fare will eat your contingency. Our Córdoba in a day guide is there if you decide to stretch the budget.

Beds: how to stay around €25 a night

Dorm beds in Seville and Granada hostels listed in 2026 mostly start at roughly €19 to €28 a night for well-reviewed places. Prices rise at weekends and during festivals. Some booking sites advertise €4 "from" prices, but treat those as a teaser, not a figure to plan on.

• Pick hostels with a kitchen. Making breakfast and the odd dinner is worth more than any discount code.
• Check that the price includes tax and fees. Several aggregators show pre-fee prices.
• A note on tourist tax: Andalusia had no regional tourist tax in force as of autumn 2026. Málaga and Seville have both pushed for one, so check before booking. This is one reason the route beats Barcelona on a tight budget: since April 2026 the city surcharge there alone is €5 per person per night, on top of the Catalan regional rate.

If a dorm is a deal-breaker, budget about double for beds and expect to cut either Seville to two nights or the trip to five.

Food: eat your main meal at lunch

The menú del día is the most useful budget tool in Spain: a weekday lunch of a starter, main course, dessert or coffee, and usually bread and a drink. Hostelería de España put the national average at about €14 in 2024, with regional averages around €14 to €16 in 2025. Expect to pay more in tourist centres and at weekends. Eat one as your big meal of the day and dinner can be light.

A day on €25 looks something like this:

• Breakfast: coffee and a tostada con tomate at a local bar, or supermarket food eaten at the hostel.
• Lunch: a menú del día, around €14 to €16.
• Dinner: two drinks with free tapas in Granada, or a couple of tapas in Seville's Triana rather than the cathedral area.

Supermarkets such as Mercadona, Dia and Lidl are everywhere. Fruit, bread, cheese and a bottle of local wine for a picnic in María Luisa Park cost less than one tourist-strip main course.

The same habits work across the region. Our Cádiz on a budget guide has more on eating cheaply in Andalusia if you want to swap a city.

Where the savings are, and what to skip

Things I would skip on this budget: hop-on hop-off buses (all three cities are walkable), flamenco shows aimed at tour groups (a bar in Triana or Sacromonte with live music costs the price of a drink), and the "skip the line" Alhambra tours sold on resale sites.

Would I change the route?

If your flight prices from your nearest airport are poor into Málaga, swap the order: fly into Seville and out of Málaga. If you would rather go by car, our comparison of getting around Spain by train or car sets out when hiring makes sense. For one person on £500, it rarely does, as hire, fuel and city-centre parking cost more than the buses.

The honest summary: a week in Andalusia for under £500 works if you book flights and the Alhambra early, sleep in dorms and eat your main meal at lunch. Drop any one of those habits and the realistic figure is nearer £650.