To call the UK from Spain, dial 00 (Spain's international prefix), then 44 (the UK country code), then the UK number without its first 0. On a mobile you can type +44 instead of 00 44, and that works whether your SIM is Spanish or British.

So a London landline written as 020 7946 0018 becomes 00 44 20 7946 0018 from a Spanish landline or hotel phone, and +44 20 7946 0018 from any mobile. A UK mobile such as 07700 900123 becomes +44 7700 900123.

The dialling sequence, one number type at a time

You are calling	How it is written in the UK	What you dial from Spain
London landline	020 7946 0018	00 44 20 7946 0018
Other UK landline (Manchester)	0161 496 0000	00 44 161 496 0000
UK mobile	07700 900123	00 44 7700 900123
03 number (GP surgeries, councils, many NHS lines)	0300 123 4567	00 44 300 123 4567
0800 freephone	0800 123 4567	Often fails from abroad; look for a +44 number instead

The rule is the same every time: remove the leading 0, then put 00 44 or +44 in front. If you save your UK contacts in +44 format before you leave, every call from Spain will work without retyping.

What it costs to call home on your UK SIM

Since Brexit, free EU roaming is no longer guaranteed for UK SIMs. Each network sets its own rules, and the price depends on when you joined or last upgraded. On networks that charge, you pay a daily fee and then calls to UK numbers come out of your normal UK allowance.

O2 still includes roaming in its Europe Zone, which covers Spain, at no extra cost, with a 25GB data cap, as of October 2026 (O2 EU roaming).
Three charges £2.75 per 24 hours for customers who joined or upgraded on or after 18 December 2025 (from 1 April 2026), and £2 a day for those who joined between 1 October 2021 and 17 December 2025, as of October 2026. Three says calls to standard UK landlines and mobiles then use your UK allowance (Three Go Roam). Three's Complete and Value plans include either roaming or daily passes, so check My3 before you pay.
EE, Vodafone and others charge a daily fee or sell multi-day passes on most newer plans. The amount depends on your plan, so check your network's app before you fly rather than relying on an old figure.

Two things catch people out. First, your daily fee is usually triggered by the first call, text or bit of data that day, so one quick call at breakfast costs the full day. Second, calls to Spanish numbers from a UK SIM may be billed differently from calls home, so read your plan's Europe terms if you are booking restaurants or calling a Spanish landlord.

Living on the Costas? What Spanish operators charge to ring the UK

If you live in Spain for part or all of the year, a Spanish SIM with an international bono (add-on) is often the cheapest way to call UK numbers from your phone's normal dialler. Without a bono, the UK is charged at the operator's standard international rate, which is much higher.

Spanish operator	International add-on that covers the UK	Price, as of October 2026
Orange	200 minutes a month to landlines and mobiles in 59 destinations, UK included	€5 a month on the mainland and Balearics, €4.42 in the Canaries (Orange)
Movistar	International calling has to be switched on in the Mi Movistar app (free). The UK is billed at Movistar's EU and UK rate, and bonos change often	Check Mi Movistar for the current UK price and bonos
Vodafone Spain	Europe minute bonos that list the UK, for contract and prepaid lines	Check the Vodafone app or store for the current bono

The Orange bono only applies while the line is in Spain, which matters if you take your Spanish SIM back to the UK for a visit. There, it is roaming, and roaming rates apply. The Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla pay their own local taxes instead of Spanish VAT, so Orange charges €4.42 for the same bono in the Canaries, €4.55 in Ceuta and €4.46 in Melilla. A friend in Tenerife will quote a lower price than you see in Málaga.

Buying a Spanish SIM as a visitor

Spanish law requires operators to register the owner of every line, prepaid included. Bring your passport. Movistar, for example, asks you to show an identity document to your camera and take a selfie when you activate a prepaid SIM online. Shops in tourist areas can do this at the counter in a few minutes.

A data-only travel eSIM skips the paperwork, but it gives you no Spanish number and no normal phone calls. Calls then have to go through an app or a browser.

The Canary Islands are on UK time

This is the time-zone fact that trips up visitors. Mainland Spain is one hour ahead of the UK, but the Canary Islands use the same clock as London. Spain and the UK change their clocks on the same weekends (the last Sunday of March and of October), so these gaps hold all year.

Where you are in Spain	Time compared with the UK	When a UK office opening at 9am picks up
Mainland Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca)	1 hour ahead	10am your time
Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza)	1 hour ahead	10am your time
Canary Islands (Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura)	Same time	9am your time
Ceuta and Melilla	1 hour ahead	10am your time

On the mainland, a UK office that closes at 5pm stops answering at 6pm your time. If you are ringing a busy line such as a GP surgery's 8am appointment queue, that means dialling at 9am in Alicante, but at 8am in Lanzarote.

Calling your UK bank, GP surgery or HMRC from Spain

Many British residents in Spain still have UK banks, UK pensions and a UK GP. Most of these organisations publish separate numbers for calling from abroad, because freephone and short numbers do not work outside the UK.

Banks. Look for a "calling from abroad" or "overseas" number on the bank's contact page or the back of your card. Lloyds Bank, for example, lists +44 1733 347 007 for personal banking queries from abroad (Lloyds contact page). If your card has been blocked, our guide to calling your bank from abroad covers what to have ready.
GP surgeries. Ring the surgery's own 01, 02 or 03 number with +44 in front. 03 numbers cost the same as ordinary landline numbers inside the UK, and our guide to what 03 numbers cost explains how they are billed from abroad. Three-digit UK numbers such as 111 will not reach the NHS from a Spanish line.
HMRC and the DWP. Both have overseas lines, and the queues are long, so a long call on a pricey roaming rate adds up. See our guide to calling HMRC from abroad.
Emergencies in Spain. Dial 112, the European emergency number, which is free from any phone. Do not call a UK number in an emergency.

Hotel phones, WiFi and calling from a laptop

Hotel room phones in Spain can dial the UK with 00 44, often after pressing 0 or 9 for an outside line, but the hotel sets the price and many do not show it. Ask at reception first, or use them only in an emergency.

WiFi is easy to find. Hotels, apartments, cafés and beach bars on the Costas usually offer it free, and it is normally good enough for a voice call. Two tips: move closer to the router for a long call, and switch to mobile data if the hotel network slows down in the evening.

Over WiFi you have three ways to call UK numbers without roaming charges:

WhatsApp, FaceTime or similar apps, free if the other person uses the same app.
WiFi calling on your UK SIM, where your network supports it abroad. Check your network's help pages, as rules differ.
A browser calling service for landlines, banks and anyone not on WhatsApp.

BoraPhone is that third option. It lets you call UK landlines and mobiles from Chrome, Safari, Edge or Firefox on a laptop or phone, with no app and no SIM. At the time of writing (October 2026), calls to UK landlines start from $0.04 a minute and UK mobiles from $0.07, and the UK rates page shows the live price. Credit is pay-as-you-go in US dollars from a $5 top-up, billing is per minute rounded up to the next full minute, failed calls are refunded, and your first call is free.

What 10 minutes to a UK number costs from Spain

Prices were checked on each company's own website in October 2026 and are shown in the currency each one charges.

How you call	10 minutes to a UK mobile	Good for
O2 SIM, roaming in Spain	Included in your UK allowance	O2 customers on holiday
Three SIM, roaming in Spain	£2.75 or £2 day charge, then from your allowance	A day when you also need data
Orange Spain SIM with the 200-minute bono	Part of €5 a month	Residents who call the UK every week
BoraPhone in a browser over WiFi	$0.70 (or $0.40 to a UK landline)	Banks, GP surgeries, landlines, no UK SIM
WhatsApp or FaceTime	Free over WiFi	Family who use the app
Hotel room phone	Set by the hotel	Emergencies

For one or two calls on holiday, your UK SIM is usually fine if you were going to pay the day charge anyway. For residents, a bono or browser calling usually costs less than paying a daily roaming fee to make one call. You can compare other countries on the full rates list.

Mistakes that stop calls to the UK from Spain

Keeping the 0. 00 44 0 20... will fail. The 0 goes once you add 44.
Dialling 0044 then 44 again. People who copy numbers already written as +44 sometimes add the code twice.
Calling 0800 or 0845 numbers. Many do not accept calls from abroad. Look for the organisation's +44 overseas number.
Treating Gibraltar as the UK. Gibraltar has its own country code, +350, so a Gibraltar number is not a +44 call.
Forgetting the hour. A UK office that shuts at 5pm is closed by 6pm on the mainland.

Our wider guide to calling the UK from abroad covers other countries and exit codes.

Frequently asked questions

How can I call the UK from abroad?

Dial the exit code for the country you are in, then 44, then the UK number without its first 0. In Spain and most of Europe the exit code is 00. On a mobile, +44 works from almost anywhere, because the + replaces the local exit code.

What is the dialling code for Spain from a UK mobile phone?

Spain's country code is 34. From a UK mobile, dial +34 or 00 34, then the 9-digit Spanish number. Spanish numbers have no leading 0 to remove, so a Madrid number such as 912 345 678 becomes +34 912 345 678.

Do I get charged if someone calls me when I am abroad?

It depends on your network. On plans where Europe roaming is included, or once you have paid the day charge, incoming calls in Spain usually come out of your allowance. On older pay-as-you-go deals or outside the network's Europe zone, receiving calls can cost money, so check your plan before you travel.

How do I call the UK from Spain for free?

Use an app such as WhatsApp or FaceTime over WiFi if the person you are calling has it. O2 customers can also use their UK minutes in Spain at no extra cost. Calls to UK landlines and businesses that do not use these apps will normally cost something, even if only a few cents a minute.

How to Call the UK from Spain: Codes, Costs and Canary Time