A month in Santiago de Compostela

Galicia's Decreto 12/2017 treats a tourist-use flat as a whole home let for short stays, and defines them as stays of less than 30 consecutive days; stays beyond that fall outside the decree. A booking of four weeks in a registered flat is therefore a tourist stay, while a stay of 30 days or more is not.

Outside the decree, a furnished let for a season is a lease for a use other than housing under article 3.2 of Spain's urban leases law, with a legal deposit of two months' rent under article 36.1.

Santiago's tourist tax caps at five nights per stay. A four-week booking in a tourist-use flat pays at most EUR 10 per adult, and minors pay nothing. Whether the tax applies to a stay of 30 days or more in a home outside the decree could not be verified.

Supply in the old town is limited by the city's own rules on tourist flats in and around the historic city, reported in the press in 2024; their current text is unverified as of September 2026.

The Ensanche suits a month best: shops, restaurants and the railway station at hand, and the cathedral under a kilometre away. San Pedro suits a quieter month close to the old town. The Cidade Histórica is busy with visitors by day and suits a shorter stay. This ranking is editorial.

With a car, the old town is closed by bollards, and street parking is capped at 2 hours in the general ORA zone and 4 in long-stay streets. The Xoán XXIII car park by the cathedral sells monthly passes, day or night, and tourist cards for 7 and 15 days; their prices were not published on the page read. The Santa Marta area is free from 07:00 to 19:00, which does not cover the night. Long-stay ORA streets, among them the parking areas of the Avenida de Ferrol and Pontepedriña, allow 4 hours for EUR 1.05 on weekdays. Ask the host about a space.

Deposit: two months' rent for a seasonal lease under article 36.1 of the lease law. A booking of a registered tourist flat is not a lease; the platform's or the operator's terms apply.

If the month is booked as a tourist stay, ask for the flat's REAT entry before paying. The flat must display a notice that complaint forms are available and a copy of its declaration with the registry entry, and it must comply with the rules on guest registers. Every lodging records guest identity data under Real Decreto 933/2021.

EU citizens staying longer than three months must register in person at the provincial foreigners' office or a police station within three months of entry.

Visitors from outside the EU are limited to 90 days in any 180-day period across the Schengen area; longer stays follow national visa procedures. The EU Entry/Exit System, which registers non-EU nationals on short stays in 29 European countries, has been fully operational since 10 April 2026.

Vrbo's monthly-stays page, as archived in June 2026, describes stays of 28 nights or more and says select homes offer a discount for them. Agoda lets partners create long-stay promotions for bookings of more than 28 days and permits stays of up to 90 days. How Expedia filters long stays could not be verified.

In Galicia a platform's monthly label does not settle the contract: 28 or 29 nights in a registered flat is a tourist stay, 30 nights or more falls outside the tourist-flat decree.

A tourist flat that cannot show its REAT entry or the notice on complaint forms that the decree requires.

A deposit above two months' rent on a seasonal lease.

Planning on the free Santa Marta area overnight: it opens from 07:00 to 19:00.

Booking a month over the turn of 2027 without checking dates: the Holy Year opens on 31 December 2026.

Miscounting Schengen days, and assuming bills are included; no reliable source on typical practice was found, so ask.