The old town by car

Santiago's historic centre is the city's Low Emission Zone, and it works the opposite way round from what that name leads you to expect: the emissions sticker will not get you in. In most Spanish LEZs the DGT label is the key; here it opens nothing. A car with a C, ECO or CERO sticker does not pass the gate for being cleaner. What you need is a municipal permit, granted on specific grounds, with no visitor category at all, and the zone is closed off with electronic bollards and watched by cameras that read number plates. If you are wondering which sticker lets you drive in, the answer is that the sticker is not part of the equation.

An LEZ, but not the kind you expect

It is worth understanding why, because it explains almost everything else. Access is governed by Annex II of the traffic ordinance, «Réxime de mobilidade na Cidade Histórica», passed by the full council on 26 September 2024: a restricted-access regime grounded in safety and heritage protection, not emissions. Nowhere in its published text do the words «baixas emisións», «ZBE» or «etiqueta ambiental» appear.

The name came later. On 10 November 2025 the Xunta de Goberno Local approved an amendment to that same Annex II which expressly recognises the old town as a Low Emission Zone, under article 14 of Spain's 2021 climate law and in line with the city's Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan. What changed was the legal name and the grounds — air quality and greenhouse gases now sit alongside safety and heritage — not who may enter. Hence the oddity: this is an LEZ whose gate is opened by paperwork, not by a sticker.

The eleven bollard gates

The ordinance numbers them one by one, and each authorisation states which of them its holder may use: you don't get to pick. Several are one-way only, which matters more than it sounds if somebody has given you directions from memory.

On top of those eleven there are five accesses controlled by plate-reading cameras, with no physical barrier: Costa Vella, Porta da Mámoa, Rúa do Castro, Rúa da Oliveira and Rúa de Entremuros. The absence of a bollard does not mean you may drive through; it means your plate is on record.

Twenty minutes, and the clock is running

The pass-and-stop authorisation — the one held by people who are not residents — gives you the right to enter, not to stay: time inside may not exceed twenty minutes. There are only three exceptions, and none of them is yours: emergency vehicles while attending one, public or essential-service vehicles for as long as the job lasts, and professional goods delivery within its hours. The ordinance also reserves the right to police the stay with stickers, tickets or any other system.

Inside, the traffic rules are those of a street that belongs to people before cars: 10 km/h maximum, pedestrian priority, pedestrians free to use the whole carriageway, no driving through without stopping, and no heavy vehicles without a special permit. Bicycles may ride at the same 10 km/h except where a sign forbids it. Parking, only in the marked bays.

Who can apply

Everything goes through the same form, model MO025, filed at the Registro Xeral or through the council's electronic office. There are two broad families.

Residents.You must be registered on the municipal roll at an address inside the Cidade Histórica and own the vehicle, with its circulation tax paid in Santiago and no final traffic penalties outstanding. A leased car and a company car assigned for private use also qualify, with the lease or the employer's letter. The authorisation is valid for two years, and one is granted per person and vehicle, with a second and up to a third per household.

Pass and stop, the twenty minutes. Four cases, each with its own ceiling: owners or tenants of a property in the old town, whether or not they are on the municipal roll (up to three per dwelling); holders of a business open to the public (up to two vehicles); relatives and carers of a dependent resident (one per dependent person, three per dwelling at most); and stallholders at the Praza de Abastos market (up to two vehicles). Taxis are a separate case: they may use the control system when on duty with the fare light on, and only then.

One door is left open for whatever fits no box — a wedding, a funeral, a house move, an illness, a cultural event: you notify it in writing or by email to dptotrafico@santiagodecompostela.gal far enough ahead that it can be processed in office hours, giving the plate, the destination and documentary proof of the reason. On arrival you call from the intercom at the gate and the local police open it. Without that paperwork beforehand, it stays shut.

Delivery windows, which is what many people are actually looking for

If what you have on your hands is a delivery rather than a visit, the ordinance is quite precise. The least known and most useful line is the second one in the table: companies carrying backpacks and suitcases have their own midday window, which is exactly what a walker who has sent the pack ahead needs to know.

For packs, the practical move is to make sure your luggage transfer company knows your accommodation is inside the old town, because delivery there has an hour and elsewhere in the city it does not.

Reduced mobility

The ordinance grants the reduced-mobility parking card to people who live inside the areaand have had their reduced mobility recognised by the Xunta de Galicia's services. For a visitor holding a card from another region or another country, Annex II says nothing explicit, and we are not going to infer it: ask the Concellaría de Mobilidade before you travel. Everything else worth knowing about slopes, cobbles and step-free routes is in the accessible Santiago guide.

Source for the gates, the cameras, the time limits, the delivery windows and the permit regime: Annex II of Santiago de Compostela's Ordenanza de circulación e uso da vía pública, passed by the city council on 26 September 2024 and published in the BOP da Coruña no. 192 of 4 October 2024. The Low Emission Zone designation, the pollution protocol and the zero-emission delivery provision come from the amendment approved by the Xunta de Goberno Local on 10 November 2025, which was published on the municipal website rather than the bulletin: we have not been able to read its text because the council's site does not respond, so those three points rest on two agreeing secondary sources, the report of the decision quoting the council spokesperson and the LEZ entry on ecomovilidad.es. Times and procedures are indicative: ordinances get amended, and the version in force is the one that counts.