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

Step-by-step

1
Establish whether your country has an exchange agreement
Spain maintains a list of countries whose licences can be exchanged without testing. It is specific and does not track how developed a country's driving standards are. Check the DGT list before assuming anything.
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 here regardless of its expiry date, and driving on it is an offence with insurance consequences.
OnlineWho: YouWithin 6 months of residency
3
Get the psychotechnical medical certificate
Spain requires a fitness assessment at an authorised centro de reconocimiento de conductores — a short medical including vision and reaction testing. Quick, inexpensive and required for both exchange and a new licence.
In personWho: You
4
Book the DGT appointment and submit
Exchange applications go through the Jefatura Provincial de Tráfico with the medical certificate, the padrón certificate, your TIE, photographs and the fee. Your foreign licence is surrendered as part of the process.
In personWho: You
5
Decide honestly whether you are living in the city or on the coast
Málaga city is compact, has a metro and dense buses, and is comfortably car-free. The Costa del Sol — Torremolinos, Benalmádena, Fuengirola, Marbella — is a linear corridor where the coastal train serves some towns and not others. If your life will be on the coast rather than in the city, a car stops being optional.
OnlineWho: You
6
Understand the coastal train's limits before relying on it
The C-1 line runs from the city and the airport along the western coast to Fuengirola and it is frequent and useful. It does not continue to Marbella or Estepona, which is the single biggest gap in the region's transport and the reason so many residents further west drive everywhere.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Foreign driving licence and 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 — the Spanish window is shorter than most people assume.

Residents arriving from the UK or the US often assume a year. In Spain a foreign licence generally stops being valid six months after you become resident. Driving after that is an offence and can leave you effectively uninsured in an accident. Start in month one.

Source: Dirección General de Tráfico

The bilateral agreement list is arbitrary from a driver's point of view.

Whether you exchange or retest depends on a treaty between Spain and your country, not on your experience or your country's road safety record. Some countries people expect to be on the list are not. Checking takes five minutes and determines whether the next step is a form or a year of lessons.

Source: DGT — canje de permisos de conducción

The train stops at Fuengirola, and that fact organises the whole western coast.

The C-1 coastal line is frequent, cheap and connects the airport, the city and the towns as far as Fuengirola. West of that — Marbella, San Pedro, Estepona — there is no rail at all, only a congested coastal road. Anyone choosing where to live along the Costa del Sol should treat the end of the line as a hard boundary between car-optional and car-required, because it determines what daily life costs and how long it takes.

Source: Renfe Cercanías Málaga

In the city itself, a car is a liability rather than an asset.

Central Málaga is compact and pedestrianised through much of the old core, parking is scarce and expensive, and the metro plus the bus network covers ordinary life. Residents who keep a car for weekend trips into the mountains or along the coast often garage it and walk — and increasingly conclude that renting for those trips is cheaper than owning.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming a twelve-month grace period; the Spanish window is six months from residency.
Assuming your country has an exchange agreement without checking the DGT list.
Choosing a home west of Fuengirola on the assumption the train goes there.
Buying a car for city life before testing whether the metro and buses already cover it.
Driving on an invalid foreign licence and discovering the insurance consequences after an accident.

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