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 — 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 here regardless of its expiry date, and driving on it is an offence with insurance consequences. This is much shorter than the UK's twelve months and it catches people.
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. It is 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 in Zaragoza 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
Get a Tarjeta Ciudadana and try the tram first
Zaragoza's single tram line runs the length of the city and carries a very large share of central journeys, with buses filling in around it. The Tarjeta Ciudadana covers the network and the municipal bike scheme. For a flat city of this size, a month on the tram is a fair test of whether you need a car at all for the working week.
In personWho: YouWeek 1
6
Then decide about weekends honestly
The Pyrenees are around two hours away, the Somontano and Cariñena wine country under an hour, and the Monegros desert and Ordesa national park within a half-day. Rail covers Madrid and Barcelona brilliantly and covers Aragón itself poorly. This is the Spanish city where the case for a car is strongest, and where renting one twice a month is often still the cheaper answer.
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 coming from the UK or the US often carry over an assumption that they have a year to sort out a licence. In Spain a foreign licence generally stops being valid six months after you become resident. Driving after that is an offence and, more seriously, can leave you effectively uninsured in an accident. Start the process in month one, not month five.

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 on the DGT site and it determines whether the next step is a form or a year of autoescuela lessons.

Source: DGT — canje de permisos de conducción

Zaragoza inverts the usual Spanish advice about cars.

In Valencia, Bilbao or Barcelona the honest guidance is that you almost certainly do not need one. Here, the city itself is easily managed on the tram, but Aragón is enormous, thinly populated and served by very sparse regional rail — the Pyrenees, Ordesa, the Monegros and the wine regions are effectively car-only. Parking is also cheap and available in a way it is not on the coast. Weigh ownership on the weekends, not the commute.

Source: community-reported

The cierzo is a driving hazard, not just a weather complaint.

Sustained north-westerlies down the Ebro valley regularly produce crosswind warnings on the A-2 and the AP-68, and they are hardest on high-sided vehicles, caravans, motorbikes and roof boxes. Local drivers plan around it. If you are moving a household by van in winter, check the wind forecast the way you would check for snow elsewhere.

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.
Driving on an invalid foreign licence and discovering the insurance consequences after an accident.
Applying coastal-city advice and going car-free, then finding half of Aragón unreachable.
Underestimating cierzo crosswinds on the motorways out of the city.

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