Lost your wallet or passport in Spain? Do this, in this order

First hour

• Block your cards in the bank app or by phone. Most banks let you freeze and unfreeze, so do it even if you think the wallet will turn up.
• Phone gone: lock it remotely (Find My on iPhone, Find My Device on Android) and change the passwords of email and banking from another device.
• In danger or just robbed with violence: 112, English-speaking operators.
• Retrace the last hour. Wallets dropped in a bar or a taxi are very often handed in.

The police report (denuncia)

Go to the nearest Policía Nacional station (in Catalonia, Mossos d'Esquadra; in the Basque Country, Ertzaintza). Bring any ID you still have and a list of what was taken. Big tourist cities have stations with interpreters for exactly this; in Madrid the one at Calle Leganitos next to Plaza de España, in Barcelona on Las Ramblas. You leave with a stamped copy. That copy is what your insurer, your embassy and your phone company will ask for, so photograph it immediately.

Replacing a passport

• Contact your embassy or consulate. Most EU countries, the UK, the US, Canada and Australia have consulates in Madrid and Barcelona; check their official website for emergency hours.
• Bring the denuncia, passport photos, proof of travel (flight booking) and any photo or copy of the old passport. A photo of your passport on your phone or in your email saves hours here.
• You usually get an emergency travel document within one or two working days, valid for the trip home.
• EU citizens can often travel home with a national ID card and do not need the emergency passport.

Something left behind, not stolen

• Airport (Madrid-Barajas, Barcelona-El Prat and the rest): the airports are run by Aena, and each has a Lost and Found office. Contact it through the official Aena website with your flight details; if you have already left the country they can usually arrange shipping at your cost or accept a pick-up by someone you authorise in writing with a copy of your ID.
• Train: Renfe has a Lost and Found service through its website and customer service; give the train number, date and seat.
• Taxi: city taxi associations and the municipal Lost and Found (Objetos Perdidos) offices receive items from drivers. If you paid by card or app, the app shows the driver and you can contact them.
• Metro and buses: each city's transport operator has its own office. In Madrid, items end up at the city's Objetos Perdidos office after a few days.
• Do not pay a stranger online to retrieve something for you; use the operator's own procedure or a registered courier that does authorised pick-ups.

While you wait

Without cards, the fastest cash is a transfer from someone at home through Western Union or MoneyGram, both with many agents in Spanish cities and collectable with a passport or the denuncia plus another ID. If your phone survived, a digital card in Apple Pay or Google Pay keeps working after you freeze the physical one, and many banks issue a new virtual card in the app within minutes. Hotels will usually let you settle at the end. Ask your travel insurance about emergency cash; many policies include it and nobody reads that clause until now.