Address requirements for Hispapost / Correos (Spain)

Once letters to Spain have been printed, they are forwarded to either Hispapost or Correos for delivery. From this point onwards, responsibility lies with Hispapost or Correos. To ensure that your letters can be processed smoothly by Hispapost or Correos at the agreed rates, it is important that the recipient addresses meet specific requirements. You can check here which service provider will deliver your item

We have summarised the most important address requirements of Hispapost / Correos for you in this article.

To provide our customers with the best possible support in meeting these requirements, Pingen has been checking the recipient address for additional requirements on letters to Spain since 1 July 2026. About Pingen’s address verification

Should any issues arise during the processing of the recipient address, Hispapost / Correos may reject the letter or only deliver it for an additional charge. In such cases, no refund will be given, as the sender is responsible for correct addressing and the costs cover the additional processing effort. To ensure that the address meets postal addressing requirements, we recommend sending a test letter via Pingen and checking that it is successfully delivered. This allows any potential issues to be identified and resolved at an early stage, ensuring smooth delivery.

Address requirements for Hispapost oder Correos

Address format

To ensure that the recipient’s address can be processed by Hispapost / Correos, the following order must be followed:

• Recipient’s name or company name
• Recipient details (optional)
• Enter the street and house number (+ additional details such as floor/door) or PO box and PO box number on a single line in this order. Additional details such as building, floor, entrance and other information are common in Spain and recommended.
• 5-digit postcode and destination on a single line in this order, without a comma separating the postcode and destination. Additional details regarding the recipient’s country (country code or ISO code) must not be included under any circumstances.
• Province (optional but recommended)

Usually accepted by Hispapost / Correos:

Usually not accepted by Hispapost / Correos:

Fonts

Hispapost / Correos specifies the following requirements for font formatting:

Font size (cap height)

• Minimum: 9 pt
• Maximum: 17 pt
• Recommended font size: 10 pt to 12 pt in the ‘regular’ (normal) font style

Character spacin

Distance from the end of one character to the start of the next:

• Minimum: 0.35 mm
• Maximum: 2.0 mm

Word spacing

The space between blocks of text and words:

• Maximum: 5.0 mm
• Usually one space

Font & colour

To ensure the recipient’s address is clearly legible, a clear font with a legible font size is essential.

• Recommended fonts: Arial, Helvetica or Verdana
• Consistent font
• Font colour: Black
• No italics or decorative fonts
• No serif fonts
• No negative or bold fonts
• No fonts with connected letters
• No 3D or shaded fonts

Usually not accepted by Hispapost / Correos:

Further details on the design:

Hispapost / Correos further requirements for address design:

• A minimum of three and a maximum of seven lines
• The address must be left-aligned within the address block
• The address must be written consistently in the same language
• Do not use special characters such as quotation marks, brackets, exclamation marks, question marks or symbols (‘#’, ‘&’, ‘§’, etc.)
• No punctuation at the end of a line: avoid commas, full stops or hyphens
• No lines, underlining or borders in the address
• No blank lines between address lines
• Do not underline or block-letter the postcode or town
• Use only Latin characters and Arabic numerals

Usually not accepted by Hispapost / Correos:

Address verification with Pingen (from 1 July 2026)

To help you meet the requirements of Hispapost / Correos, from 1 July 2026 Pingen will also check the recipient address for letters to Spain to ensure compliance with additional requirements.

If Pingen detects that a document does not comply with the address requirements, it will receive the status "Action required" after upload. The "cover page feature" enables you to correct the recipient's address directly via Pingen. This feature automatically adds a new page in front of the document. This allows the address to be re-entered in compliance with the address requirements and placed on the cover page accordingly.

The following requirements will be checked in Pingen from 1 July 2026:

Insufficient number of address lines

Hispapost / Correos require that an address consist of at least 3 address lines. For this reason, Pingen checks whether the address consists of a sufficient number of address lines.

Please ensure that the various address lines are correctly separated and that the address (excluding any country name) consists of at least 3 address lines.

Invalid content in the postcode line

In the address line with the postcode and town, the postcode must always come before the town. Furthermore, there must be no characters (such as a comma or hyphen) between the postcode and the town. The two pieces of information must be separated by a space. Pingen checks that the order is correct and that there is a space after the postcode.

Furthermore, country codes before the postcode, such as ES- or E-, should be avoided, as these are no longer accepted by Hispapost / Correos.

Please ensure that the line containing the postcode contains only the postcode and that it is separated by a space. For example: 28013 Madrid (and not "28013, Madrid" or "ES-28013 Madrid" or "Madrid 28013").

Postcode does not have 5 digits

In Spain, postcodes that are not 5-digit are considered invalid. If a recipient address has a postcode with fewer or more than 5 digits respectively no valid country designation, it will be rejected by Pingen. Pingen checks whether the last or second-last address line contains a 5-digit postcode.

Please make sure that the postcode is a continuous 5-digit number respectively for letters abroad that a supported country name is stated on the last address line. So e.g. 03503 Benidorm (and not "03 503 Benidorm" or "3503 Benidorm" or "03'503 Benidorm" or "FR" or any other information").

Unsupported ISO country code

The spelling ES-28013 Madrid (i.e. ISO2 country code before the postcode) had not been supported by Hispapost / Correos for several years. For this reason, Pingen checks whether there is an ISO2 country code (such as “ES-“) on the line with the postcode.

Please ensure that the country name is stated on the last address line and that the address line with the postcode does not have a country designation. For example, 28013 Madrid (and not "ES-28013 Madrid").

City/town missing after postcode

Hispaost / Correos requires that the city or town name appears immediately after the postal code. For this reason, Pingen checks whether the address line with the postal code also includes a city/town name (such as Benidorm" or "Madrid") etc.).

Please ensure that on the address line with the postal code also a city or town name is present. For example, 03503 Benidorm (and not "03503").

Country designation on the postcode line

Hispaost / Correos requires that the country name is the only content on the final address line. For this reason, Pingen checks whether there is a country designation (such as "Spain," "España," "Spanien") on the line with the postal code.

Please ensure that the country name is on the last address line and that the address line with the postcode does not have a country name. For example, 28013 Madrid (and not "28013 Madrid, Spanien)" or "28013 Madrid España" or "28013 Madrid (Spain)").

Country designation on the last address line

Hispaost / Correos specifies that for local letters to Spain, the country should not be stated in the address. Pingen checks, whether Spain is stated as the destination country for local letters.

For Organisations with the default recipient country Spain, please ensure that there is no country name (such as "Spain," "España," "Spanien") on the last address line.

Invalid address structure

When sending letters to Spain, no empty lines (or lines without content) are allowed between the different address lines. Furthermore no address line may exist between the address line with the postcode/city and the address line with the country name. Pingen checks, wether any unsupported address line follows after the address line with the postcode/city.

Please ensure the address does not contain any empty lines, the address line with the postcode/city is only followed by the (optional) country name and the order of the address lines is correct. For example no information is between the (optional) country name and the address line with the postcode/city.

Distracting elements in the address area

Hispaost / Correos specifies that only the postal address may be included in the address area. Pingen checks whether there is any additional information in the address area below the address.

Please ensure that no further details follow below the postal address and that there is no additional content in the address area.

Important:

For technical reasons, Pingen cannot carry out a complete verification of the requirements by Hispapost / Correos. The address check by Pingen serves solely to help identify various problems before sending the letter. However, it is the sender's responsibility to ensure that letters sent to Spain via Pingen comply with Hispapost / Correos regulations. Any additional expenses due to incorrect addressing will be charged by Pingen.

Note: The illustrations in this article are not to scale.