Spain is bordered by Portugal in the west, by France and Andorra in the northeast. It shares borders with Morocco at the Spanish coastal exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, the two permanently inhabited Spanish autonomous cities in Northern Africa. Spain also shares maritime borders with Algeria and Italy.

Spain is "very close" to several countries due to its unique geography on the Iberian Peninsula. Its closest neighbor is Portugal, with which it shares the longest continuous border in the European Union (1,214 km). To the north, Spain shares a significant border with France, separated by the Pyrenees mountain range, and the tiny "microstate" of Andorra is nestled directly between them. To the south, Spain is incredibly close to Gibraltar (a British Overseas Territory) and Morocco. In fact, at the narrowest point of the Strait of Gibraltar, Spain and Morocco are separated by only 14 kilometers (9 miles) of water, making it possible to see the African coastline clearly from the Spanish town of Tarifa. Additionally, Spain has two autonomous cities, Ceuta and Melilla, which are located directly on the North African mainland and share land borders with Morocco. This proximity to both Europe and Africa makes Spain a vital cultural and geopolitical bridge between the two continents, with easy ferry and road connections to all its neighbors.