Theme 2.4: Travel and tourism - Vocabulary
The vocabulary for Theme 2.4, travel and tourism, covers booking and planning a trip, describing a holiday, and talking about destinations and travel problems. Examiners test whether you know the set collocations of travel (hacer las maletas, alojarse en un hotel, hacer turismo) rather than word-for-word translations from English, and whether you can narrate a past trip using the preterite alongside this vocabulary. The theme also contains an important false friend: largo means long, not large - 'a large hotel' is un hotel grande, while 'a long journey' is un viaje largo - a mix-up that changes the meaning of a sentence about distance or duration into one about size.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Learn the core preparation and booking collocations: hacer las maletas (to pack), reservar una habitación/un vuelo (to book a room/flight), un billete de ida y vuelta (a return ticket) - these are set phrases, not literal translations.
- Learn the false friend largo (long): un viaje largo (a long journey), una espera larga (a long wait); keep it apart from grande (large/big), since confusing them changes distance/duration into size.
- Learn accommodation and destination vocabulary: alojarse en un hotel/albergue/camping, el destino turístico, extranjero/extranjera (foreign/abroad) - and note that en el extranjero means 'abroad', a very common exam phrase.
- Learn holiday-activity collocations: hacer turismo, tomar el sol, visitar monumentos, hacer una excursión, disfrutar del paisaje - these give range beyond the single verb ir.
- Learn travel-problem vocabulary for higher-tier tasks: perder el vuelo (to miss the flight), la aduana (customs), retrasarse (to be delayed) - problem-and-solution content is specifically rewarded in writing and speaking mark schemes.
- For a past holiday, combine this vocabulary with the preterite for completed actions (reservé, viajé, disfruté) and the imperfect for descriptions (hacía sol, el hotel era cómodo), since mixing the two tenses correctly is what separates a Grade 4 answer from a Grade 7 one.
- For reading and listening, listen for time and place markers attached to this vocabulary (el año pasado, durante dos semanas, en la costa) since comprehension questions on travel texts usually target exactly when and where something happened.
Worked example
Using these bullet points, write two full Spanish sentences about a past holiday: (1) where you stayed and what you did; (2) a problem that happened, using the word largo correctly.
- For bullet 1, choose accommodation and activity collocations and put them in the preterite: 'Me alojé en un hotel cerca de la playa e hice turismo por el casco antiguo.'
- For bullet 2, decide the problem is about duration, so largo (not grande) is the correct choice: a delayed flight is about time, not size.
- Build the sentence: 'Desgraciadamente, perdimos el vuelo de vuelta y tuvimos que esperar un tiempo muy largo en el aeropuerto.'
- Add a describing detail in the imperfect to contrast with the preterite actions: 'El aeropuerto estaba lleno de gente y hacía mucho calor.'
- Check largo has been used for time/distance and that grande has not been substituted by mistake, and that preterite and imperfect forms are correctly distinguished.
Practice questions
Type your answer and press Check to be marked straight away, or reveal the answer and mark yourself.
Q1Translate into English: 'Fue un viaje muy largo.'Show answer
Answer: It was a very long journey.
Q2Which Spanish word means 'large/big': largo or grande?Show answer
Answer: Grande - largo is a false friend meaning long, not large.
Q3Give the Spanish for 'a return ticket'.Show answer
Answer: Un billete de ida y vuelta.
Q4Translate into Spanish: 'We stayed in a small hotel near the beach.'Show answer
Answer: Nos alojamos en un hotel pequeño cerca de la playa.
Q5Give one Spanish phrase meaning 'to go sightseeing'.Show answer
Answer: Hacer turismo.
Q6Complete: El año pasado fuimos de vacaciones al _____ (abroad).Show answer
Answer: Extranjero.
Q7Give one Spanish phrase meaning 'to miss the flight'.Show answer
Answer: Perder el vuelo.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE Spanish exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Translate this passage into English: 'El verano pasado hicimos las maletas y viajamos a Portugal durante dos semanas. Nos alojamos en un hotel muy cómodo y todos los días hacía sol, así que tomábamos el sol en la playa por la mañana. Sin embargo, el último día perdimos el vuelo y tuvimos que esperar un tiempo muy largo en el aeropuerto antes de poder volver a casa.'
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Read this text and answer the questions in English. 'Cada verano, la familia Ramírez viaja al extranjero. El año pasado eligieron México como destino y disfrutaron de un viaje inolvidable: visitaron ruinas mayas, probaron platos típicos y se alojaron en un hotel con vistas al mar. Lo único negativo fue el vuelo de vuelta, que fue muy largo y con retraso, así que no llegaron a casa hasta la madrugada.' (a) Where does the Ramírez family travel every summer? (1 mark) (b) What did they do in Mexico? Give two details. (2 marks) (c) What was the one negative part of the trip? (2 marks) (d) What was the final result of the delay? (1 mark)
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Write approximately 90 words in Spanish about travel and tourism. You must include: where you went on holiday last year and who with; what you did there; a problem that happened during the trip; an opinion about travelling abroad, justified.
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See real GCSE Spanish past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
Want more practice on paper? Download the theme 2.4: travel and tourism - vocabulary worksheet pack - 6 pages of exam-style questions with a full mark scheme. One email opens every download in this browser for 14 days - no account, no card. Print it for personal and classroom use.
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