A British expat has issued a warning to tourists travelling to Spain this year to be wary of the country’s public holidays.
While most of the UK’s public holidays – with the exception of Christmas and Good Friday – are on Mondays, in Spain they can be on different days of the week and only impact certain regions.
This difference was highlighted by YouTube content creator and recent expat to Spain, Stephanie Saint Remy, who revealed that she had been caught out by the difference on a couple of occasions.
Ms Remy said her experience of being caught out by the various public holidays in the country had led her to want to share her knowledge so others don’t make the same mistake.
Furthermore, as well as bank holidays not all happening on Mondays, they can also only impact a few communities meaning not everyone will share the same public holiday at the same time.
What makes the experience more difficult explained Ms Remy is that it can be quite hard to find out information about public holidays in your region on the internet. She said: “[The] amount of times I’ve gone into a supermarket on a Wednesday only to find that it was closed, is incredible.”
However, she said she had found a solution. She explained: “If I go into my local supermarket they’ll have their monthly opening hours printed.” Ms Remy said these monthly opening hours indicate which days are bank holidays.
Ms Remy also recommended that those intending to travel to Spain for a short or a long time create a timetable of events happening in the region they’re visiting to maximise their time there.
Examples of public holidays which only happen in certain regions of Spain include Our Lady of Africa on August 5 which occurs in Ceuta. Furthermore, July 25 is the National Day of Galicia and St James’ Day which is celebrated by Navarre, Galicia, Basque Country, Madrid and Cantabria.
Ms Remy’s warning comes as parts of Spain begin to push back against the impacts of overtourism and British tourists. Earlier this week, the city of Barcelona announced its intention to ban some holiday homes.
Speaking earlier this week, Mayor Jaume Collboni said: “We want the tourist flats as we know it today to disappear as of 2029. More supply of housing is needed, and the measures we’re presenting today are to provide more supply so that the working middle class does not have to leave the city because they can’t afford housing.”
At the moment, some tourists cannot rent in Barcelona unless they have a special type of tourist rental licence issued by the city’s government, under these new measures, no more new licences will be renewed or granted.