🇪🇸 Learning Spanish in Spain

Madrid's regional EOI network teaches and certifies twenty-one languages including español como lengua extranjera, from A2 through C2, in person or blended. Courses are open to over-16s and cost a public tuition fee well below any private academy. You can also sit the certification exam as a free candidate without attending a course — registration is usually in April for June exams. Use the region's Dónde estudiar section to see which specific school offers Spanish.

The CEPA network is Madrid's public adult education system for over-18s, and its centres are where free or near-free Spanish classes for immigrants are actually taught, often in the evenings and in neighbourhoods where newcomers live. It is less prestigious than an EOI certificate but far easier to get into and genuinely free. Find your nearest centro de educación de personas adultas through this page and enrol directly there; September is the main intake but many centres take students throughout the year.

Drassanes is the largest EOI in Catalonia and runs a dedicated Spanish department at public-school prices. Preinscription is compulsory and the window is narrow: September for the September–January intensive and September–May extensive courses, January for the January–May intensive. Miss it and you cannot enrol that term. The department itself points learners who want free public Spanish towards a CFA adult-education centre instead, which is the cheaper fallback.

SAIER is the city council's single point of contact for migrants, emigrants and refugees, combining legal advice, paperwork help and referral into free Spanish and Catalan courses. It is an orientation service rather than a school, which is exactly what you want if you have just arrived and do not know which of the city's many free classes you qualify for. Free and open to anyone in Barcelona; go through the site to book, or attend in person.

Part of the International House network, with a long track record in central Madrid and a reputation built on teacher training as much as on teaching. Offers general Spanish courses plus dedicated DELE and SIELE preparation, in person and online. A solid, unglamorous choice if you want reliable classroom teaching in Madrid without booking a full immersion package. Contact them for current rates.

Madrid's largest public university runs its Spanish-for-foreigners courses through this centre on the Ciudad Universitaria campus, including July intensives. It also administers DELE, SIELE and CertACLES on site, so you can study and certify in one place. Paid, but with the academic seriousness and campus access that private academies cannot match. Enquire by email or phone to enrol — rates are not published on the landing page.

EIM is the University of Barcelona's modern languages school and, unlike many university centres, it is genuinely open to outsiders rather than only to enrolled students. It teaches Spanish for foreigners alongside a wide catalogue of other languages, on the university calendar. A good middle option between a cheap public CFA and an expensive private academy. Check the current course catalogue for levels and fees before committing.

Salamanca has taught Spanish to foreigners longer than anywhere else in the country, and the university's Cursos Internacionales remains the reference programme, with year-round courses at every level. It is also a centre for DELE, SIELE and CCSE, the last being the citizenship-knowledge test. Worth the move to a small city if you want full immersion — Salamanca has few English-speaking escape routes, which is the point. Paid, with accommodation packages available.