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Camping and the outdoors

Camping in Spain is cheap, organised and heavily regulated, and the vocabulary doubles as everything you need for a night outdoors anywhere.

Quick answer

¿Hay sitio para una tienda pequeña?

Is there room for a small tent? La tienda means both a shop and a tent, so context does the work.

The words

SpanishEnglish
el campingthe campsite
la tienda de campañathe tent
el saco de dormirthe sleeping bag
la mochilathe rucksack
la linternathe torch
la hoguerathe campfire
la parcelathe pitch
la caravanathe caravan
la duchathe shower
la mantathe blanket
el mosquitothe mosquito
la navajathe pocket knife
la cantimplorathe water bottle
montarto pitch
acamparto camp

The phrases you will actually say

¿Hay sitio para una tienda pequeña?Is there room for a small tent?
Vamos a montar la tienda antes de que anochezca.Let us pitch the tent before it gets dark.
¿Está incluida la ducha en el precio?Is the shower included in the price?
Aquí no se puede hacer fuego.You cannot light a fire here.
Se me ha olvidado la linterna en el coche.I have left the torch in the car.

Worth knowing

Wild camping is not a grey area in Spain: la acampada libre is banned across most of the country and enforced hard in national parks and along the coast, with real fines, so the practical option is one of the thousands of graded campings where you book una parcela. Open fires are prohibited almost everywhere from June to October, which is why you will see prohibido hacer fuego signs on every forest track; the risk of incendios shapes local rules more than anything else. Vocabulary care: la tienda alone means shop, so say la tienda de campaña to be clear, and the verb is montar la tienda, never a literal translation of "put up". Latin America says la carpa for tent and la fogata for campfire, where Spain uses la hoguera. The related word el albergue is a hostel, useful on the Camino de Santiago.

Practice

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