khairul

Hello everyone,

I used this forum previously for a certain query - you rose to the challenge and were a great help! So here I am again asking you guys for help on the same subject.

I've received an order from Spain for a British SIM card on an order form designed for UK addresses. I am willing to post to Spain, but I just wanted to confirm whether the address is formatted correctly or not. Here it is:

PLAZA MERCAT 13 2. 1. 08018 Barcelona SPAIN N3 3DU

Obviously the end bit is simply a UK postcode, so can be ignored.
What's worrying me is the number sequence '13 2. 1.' Is it meant to be written like that?

I look forward to your responses.

fionamw

Well hopefully someone who lives in a city, preferably Barcelona, will come along and answer but I'd say yes leave it as is (apart from the Finchley Central bit!) because the first line would usually relate to building/house number 13, in Plaza Mercat, and the sim card's wanted at either apartment 2 on the 1st floor or apartment 1 on the 2nd floor but the name will (theoretically ) mean the postman knows which box to put it in. 08018 Barcelona is a standard way of putting the postcode/city.

lynnxa

as fiona said - the street number would be 13

the 2 would be floor 2 & the 1 would be the number of the apartment

so yes, it would be correct as written (without the N3 3DU) & would arrive

lovingthesun

After many years here I'm STILL uncertain about how I give my address to people

We are in the campo and get mail from Endesa, Movistar, the bank etc, and they are all addressed differently so I never know how to tell my friends my address. At the moment I've told them

Aldea Xxxxx 34,
Xxxxxxx 29845,
Málaga,
Spain

Now, looking at the above, should I actually be writing

Aldea Xxxxx 34,
Xxxxxxx,
29845 Málaga,
Spain

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megmet

I write mine the way you do, and just like you we get mail addressed to us in a myriad of ways, even government departments can't make up their minds what it should be!

Fortunately for us our local post lady knows everyone's name and where they live and with whom.

snikpoh

As far as I know, the second one is more correct.

We still have problems because, living in the campo, we don't get mail! We have to have a mail box in town. However, all the officials/utilities refer to our house in different ways so when it comes to proving where we live (for official purposes) we can't as no two are the same!

Our mail box address is written;

Avenida Daniel Gil xx
Box xxx
46870 Ontinyent
Valencia
Spain

Rosemary

As far as I know the way to complete an address here is:

Name of road, number of house
postcode of town followed by name of town
province
Spain

Rosemary

lovingthesun

That happens here and works fine until she goes on holiday - then everything goes 'pear-shaped'! We find that we get letters for anyone with a British sounding name stuffed in our buzon - and, I would guess, mail destined for us has gone to the buzons of other 'guiris'.

So basically, I think I just need to swap my postcode before, rather than after, the town name


Re our village post office - the system there is - all the mail for people in the campo, that don't get it delivered to their homes, goes into boxes behind the counter - you ask for example 'Box no 9' which contains mail for maybe 30 properties & you're free to rummage through and take your mail - no checks are made or ID asked for!

The post office has also recently changed its hours from 8.30-11am to 9-10.30am - VERY convenient for us campo-dwellers

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evamar

That's perfectly fine, some people put the postcode separately, it really is not that important. As long as it has all the info, it should arrive fine, don't worry too much. The only problem would be missing the street number, floor and door If you live in a flat.

Name of Road, number of house, floor, door (it might be just floor or just door, depending on number of doors per floor)
Town (Province) (or Town - Province)
Postcode
Spain

Let's say that you want to send something to somebody living in España Street, number 31, floor 1, door 2. Many ways of indicating this:

1.- C/ España, 31, 1º, 2ª -> I normally use this format, but you can also use any of the 2 below, especially if you don't have the º and ª key. It would mean Piso primero, puerta segunda.

2.- C/ España, 31, Piso 1, Pta 2

3.- C/ España 31, 1, 2

Hope this helps, but really, the main thing is to keep the street, number, floor and door in the same line to avoid confusion.

jay01

I have lived here in Spain for 2 years, live on a main through road and so far have been given 4 variations for the road and 3 different house numbers, it is not surprising that we have had 2 letters in 2 years. Had to call the emergency doctor out over xmas and even though we live on a main road, gave him detailed address all 4 to be exact and how far we were from a major location they still could not find us. Good job they never managed to get a man in space to land on the moon he would be about mars by now.

evamar

Address changes happen now and then, but I'm very surprised that you had 4 changes within 2 years! Where was that???

I know somebody who used to live in a street with quite a "political" name, and now and then there were consultations about changing it. It eventually changed, to a name more according to the ideas of the new party in the local ayuntamiento, only to be changed back when the old one got back to government, and eventually they all agreed on a politically neutral name that has much more chances to stay. Must have been a nightmare living in that street!

Mars... the Moon... what's the difference, they both are up there!

jay01

the names have not been changed over the last 2 years but decades, the padron says one name, the rental agreement another, the locals call it another, the road is also a carraterra and it is also known by a fusion of several. Also the numbers 30, 32, 36 but all seem to think that they are correct and the post office, well they were really useful when we asked them they just nodded and said "yes".

megmet

We are very lucky with that, though in the campo because we are on the roadside we get our mail delivered as they have to pass us on the way to the village.
We still get our mail even when the post lady is on holiday....
As the only Brits here in our hamlet everyone in the barriarda knows who we are and where we live.