Before you start

Residence in Spain and the padrón certificate
A valid foreign licence
NIE or TIE
A medical fitness certificate from an authorised centro de reconocimiento de conductores

Step-by-step

1
Check the DGT exchange list for your country
Spain maintains a specific list of countries whose licences exchange without testing. It reflects bilateral treaties rather than road-safety records, so it does not follow the pattern you would expect. The UK agreement has been in force since March 2023 and covers exchange without a practical test. Check before assuming — the answer determines whether this is a form or a year of lessons.
OnlineWho: YouBefore the six months expire
2
Act inside the six-month window
You may generally drive on a valid foreign licence for six months after becoming resident. After that it is not valid in Spain regardless of its printed expiry date, and driving on it is an offence that can leave you effectively uninsured after an accident. This is much shorter than the twelve months people assume.
OnlineWho: YouWithin 6 months of residency
3
Get the psychotechnical medical certificate
A short assessment at an authorised centro de reconocimiento de conductores covering vision, hearing and reaction testing. Quick, inexpensive, and required for both an exchange and a new licence. Alicante has several and no appointment problem.
In personWho: You
4
Submit at the Jefatura Provincial de Tráfico
Bring the medical certificate, padrón certificate, TIE, photographs, your foreign licence and the paid fee. Your foreign licence is surrendered as part of the exchange, so make copies of it first if you need the record.
In personWho: You
5
Work out whether your life is in the city or on the coast
Alicante city is compact and served by buses and the TRAM light rail, which runs from the centre along the beaches and all the way up the Marina Alta coast towards Dénia. South of the city towards Torrevieja and Orihuela Costa there is no equivalent — that belt is bus-and-car country, and the urbanizaciones are designed around driving.
OnlineWho: You
6
Budget for the ITV and the running costs, not just the car
Spanish vehicles need a periodic ITV roadworthiness inspection, and insurance, the municipal IVTM vehicle tax and parking in the centre are the recurring costs that make ownership more expensive than the purchase price suggests. A resident parking permit for your district is worth applying for early if you take a flat in the centre.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Foreign driving licence, with an official translation if not in Spanish
TIE or NIE
Padrón certificate
Medical fitness certificate from an authorised centre
Passport photographs and the paid DGT fee

Things most newcomers don’t know

Six months, not twelve — and the UK is now on the exchange list.

Two things trip people here. The grace period for driving on a foreign licence is six months from residency, not the year that UK and US arrivals assume. And the UK–Spain licence exchange agreement, absent for two years after Brexit and the source of a great deal of panic, has been in force since March 2023 — so British residents exchange without a practical test. Advice written during the gap year is still circulating and is now simply wrong.

Source: Dirección General de Tráfico

The TRAM goes much further than a tram normally does.

Alicante's light rail is not a city tramway — line 1 runs from the centre along the beaches through El Campello and Vila Joiosa to Benidorm, and connects onward up the Marina Alta towards Dénia. It makes a car genuinely unnecessary for anyone living along the northern coastal strip, which is the opposite of the assumption most arrivals bring about the Costa Blanca. Check where your address sits relative to the line before you buy a car.

Source: Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana

South of the city, the geography flips completely.

The Vega Baja belt around Torrevieja, Orihuela Costa, Guardamar and Pilar de la Horadada is low-density urbanización development with no rail link and limited buses. Daily life there — a supermarket, a health centre, a school run — assumes a car, and a household frequently needs two. That single difference between north and south of Alicante is worth more to a relocation decision than any comparison of the towns themselves.

Source: community-reported

A licence exchange needs the padrón, which is why the order matters.

The Jefatura Provincial requires proof of residence in the province, and the padrón certificate is what supplies it. People who postponed registering discover it at the DGT counter with two months of their six-month window left. Registering on the padrón in your first fortnight is what keeps the licence deadline comfortable rather than tight.

Source: Dirección General de Tráfico

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming a twelve-month grace period; the Spanish window is six months from residency.
Relying on Brexit-era advice that UK licences cannot be exchanged — the agreement has been in force since March 2023.
Buying a car for a north-coast address the TRAM already serves.
Choosing a Vega Baja urbanización without budgeting for a car, or two.
Reaching the DGT without a padrón certificate and losing weeks of the six-month window.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.