Signage at Bus/Train Stations?

[Jerriah]

Are the signs at the Airport/Train/Bus station only in Spanish? Or do they have some in English? Is navigating these places easy not knowing any spanish?

 

[whariwharangi]

Are the signs at the Airport/Train/Bus station only in Spanish? Or do they have some in English? Is navigating these places easy not knowing any spanish?

You mean like 'this way to the egress'?

Terminals and train platforms are designated by letters and numbers. IE Terminal 1 = T1.

Signs from the terminal to the metro are marked with a directional arrow and a metro symbol.

Washrooms are marked with symbols designating Men and Women.

Terminal boards are marked with port number or platform number beside the destination.

I guess whatever can't be marked by some sort of universal symbol would be in Spanish ... stuff like 'no smoking by royal decree #1234' is in Spanish only. Don't let the pile of butts under the sign throw you.

If you are worried about navigating do a map recce before you go. Wikipedia is a good resource if you can't find what you want on station or service provider websites.

Here are AENA and adif websites. AENA manages all airports in Spain. adif manages the train infrastructure including stations.

AENA
http://www.aena.es/csee/Satellite/HomeAena/en/Home.html

adif
http://www.adif.es/es_ES/index.shtml

Oh yeah, the ATMs allow several language options. The problem is the directions to getting to the English instructions might be in Spanish.

 

[Jerriah]

You mean like 'this way to the egress'?

Terminals and train platforms are designated by letters and numbers. IE Terminal 1 = T1.

Signs from the terminal to the metro are marked with a directional arrow and a metro symbol.

Washrooms are marked with symbols designating Men and Women.

Terminal boards are marked with port number or platform number beside the destination.

I guess whatever can't be marked by some sort of universal symbol would be in Spanish ... stuff like 'no smoking by royal decree #1234' is in Spanish only. Don't let the pile of butts under the sign throw you.

If you are worried about navigating do a map recce before you go. Wikipedia is a good resource if you can't find what you want on station or service provider websites.

Here are AENA and adif websites. AENA manages all airports in Spain. adif manages the train infrastructure including stations.

AENA
http://www.aena.es/csee/Satellite/HomeAena/en/Home.html

adif
http://www.adif.es/es_ES/index.shtml

Oh yeah, the ATMs allow several language options. The problem is the directions to getting to the English instructions might be in Spanish.

Very nice! this is most helpful as it will be my first time out of the country. Thanks so much again for your help!

 

[grayland]

Actually....you should take the time and effort to learn basic Spanish travel signage.
Examples might be:
Exit
Open
Closed
Bus (train) station
Departure/arrival.
Others can add more common signs encountered.
I did not include the Spanish so you can reinforce the retention by actually looking them up.

You may encounter some English but remember that most visitors are not native English speakers and very likely speak a different language than English. We do enjoy the benefit that many Europeans are fluent in English as a second language.

 

[NicoZ]

Are the signs at the Airport/Train/Bus station only in Spanish? Or do they have some in English? Is navigating these places easy not knowing any spanish?

Airports will always have some English. OTOH even if they didn't all you're really looking for is city name,flight number and airline on the boards.

The main thing if in doubt ask . Ask multiple people if needed.

 

[naplesdon]

The real fun about signage is when you are in Pays Basque and all the signage is in Spanish and Basque. Don't confuse Irun for Iruna, Iruna is the Basque name for Pamplona.

 

[whariwharangi]

The real fun about signage is when you are in Pays Basque and all the signage is in Spanish and Basque. Don't confuse Irun for Iruna, Iruna is the Basque name for Pamplona.

PESA, one of the bus companies does this. So if you want to go from Bilbao airport to San Sebastian, for instance, you need to know that PESA calls those places Aeropuerta Loiu and Donostia. (It had me blind sided for a long time; I thought PESA was providing bus service to San Sebastian Airport.)

 

[Castilian]

Are the signs at the Airport/Train/Bus station only in Spanish? Or do they have some in English?

The specific train/bus station(s) is(are) someway relevant. For example, in the main train stations in Madrid (Puerta de Atocha and Chamartín) announcements of (some?) trains' entries/exits are made in both Spanish and English but if you needed to take a train back to Madrid from let's say, Sahagún, it's very likely announcements would be just in Spanish...

BTW, regarding bus stations, it would be a good idea, by default, to know beforehand what's the final destination of the bus you plan to take. That's because many times in panels and on the buses themselves just the final destination of the bus is quoted so you might have problems to know what's the right one for you if you are traveling not to the final destination of the bus route but to an intermediate stop along its route.

Don't confuse Irun for Iruna, Iruna is the Basque name for Pamplona.

Iruña is the official Basque name for Pamplona but the Euskaltzaindia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euskaltzaindia) promotes the use of Iruñea. Iruñea isn't a co-official name of the city yet (although it doesn't mean it isn't called that way by some Basque speakers) but it might/could be it on the future.

 

[naplesdon]

Iruña is the official Basque name for Pamplona but the Euskaltzaindia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euskaltzaindia) promotes the use of Iruñea. Iruñea isn't a co-official name of the city yet (although it doesn't mean it isn't called that way by some Basque speakers) but it might/could be it on the future.[/QUOTE]
In Biarritz is know as Pampelune.

 

[Castilian]

In Biarritz is know as Pampelune.

I knew Pampelune is the French name for Pamplona (and Pampeluna the Polish one, BTW). I would be more interested in knowing what's the name of the city in the local variant of Basque and/or in Gascon (is it Pampalona like in Occitan?), if you happened to know it.

 

[naplesdon]

There are many examples in Basque France like St. Jean de Luz=Donibane Lohizune but the farther north one goes towards Bordeaux the name confusion changes to the subtle differences between Gascogne France and century old Gascony English settlement.

 

[Lydia Gillen]

Not exactly an answer to the original question but an useful bit of information for those with little Spanish.

Bus drivers are not required to give you lots of change. For example they are not required to give you change of €20 or €50.00 for a €3.50 or €4.00 fare.
A customer should not give a note for more than 50% more than the actual fare.

I have seen both drivers and customers getting very frustrated when neither can understand the other.!!!
So do make sure you have some notes of small denominations.

 

[Jerriah]

Not exactly an answer to the original question but an useful bit of information for those with little Spanish.

Bus drivers are not required to give you lots of change. For example they are not required to give you change of €20 or €50.00 for a €3.50 or €4.00 fare.
A customer should not give a note for more than 50% more than the actual fare.

I have seen both drivers and customers getting very frustrated when neither can understand the other.!!!
So do make sure you have some notes of small denominations.

Great info. Thank you!