Guiri
A foreign tourist in Spain — teasing, but rarely hostile.
Hear it in context
En agosto la playa está llena de guiris.
In August the beach is packed with foreign tourists.
Se me nota que soy guiri en cuanto pido sangría a la hora de comer.
You can tell I'm a guiri the second I order sangría at lunchtime.
Ese restaurante es una trampa para guiris: paella congelada a veinte euros.
That restaurant is a tourist trap: frozen paella for twenty euros.
Mis amigos españoles me llaman el guiri del grupo.
My Spanish friends call me the guiri of the group.
What It Actually Means
A guiri is a foreign visitor in Spain — stereotypically northern European or American, sunburnt, in socks and sandals, eating dinner at 6 p.m. The word is teasing, and mostly affectionate: Spaniards use it the way Brits say “tourists” while rolling their eyes, not as a genuine insult. If you’re an English speaker learning Spanish in Spain, you are, by definition, a guiri — and owning the label is endearing.
Register: How Teasing Is It?
It sits in the mild-mockery zone. Friends will call you “el guiri” or “la guiri” with real warmth, and self-deprecating use (“perdona, es que soy muy guiri”) always lands well. But it can carry an edge in complaints about mass tourism — “esto está lleno de guiris” from an annoyed local is not a compliment. It’s informal in any case: you won’t see it in a newspaper headline except in quotes or jokes.
Common Constructions
- Ir de guiri — to do the full tourist routine: “Hoy vamos de guiris: Sagrada Família y paella.”
- Precios de guiri / trampa para guiris — tourist prices, a tourist trap.
- Guiri as an adjective: “un bar muy guiri” — a bar full of foreigners.
Common Pitfall
Don’t use guiri for Latin American visitors or, generally, for immigrants — it targets the holiday-making foreigner, above all the pale northern kind. And avoid calling a stranger guiri to their face; among friends it’s banter, from a stranger it’s a jab.