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‘Theme park for idiots’: Locals in Spain outraged by dancing city tours

With tour groups literally dancing through the streets of Valencia and tour guides flouting local regulations in Barcelona, locals in Spain are growing tired of yet another drawback of mass tourism in their cities.

Published: 3 September 2024 10:56 CEST
'Theme park for idiots': Locals in Spain outraged by dancing city tours
Tourists take pictures during a guided-tour in the old town of San Sebastian. Photo: ANDER GILLENEA/AFP.

Increasing numbers of guided city tours are outraging locals and dodging local regulation in Spanish cities.

This comes amid rising anti-tourism sentiment bubbling across Spain in recent months, with protests against ‘touristification’ and rising rents in major cities including Madrid, Málaga, Mallorca, the Canaries and Granada.

Now locals in Valencia and Barcelona are getting seriously fed up with tour groups, and some would say with good reason. Limits on tour group numbers were recently brought in by local councils in both cities but are seemingly being ignored.

Many Spaniards have for some years now complained that their cities are being transformed into ‘theme parks’ that cater for tourists rather than local people, but the recent launch of a so-called ‘silent disco tour’ in Valencia seems to have proven this point to a laughable (locals would say ridiculous) degree.

READ ALSO: Spain’s Valencia to limit tour group numbers

The Bailaloloco Silent Disco Tour, which offers paying participants the chance to walk (or dance) their way around Valencia’s historic old town while listening to music through headphones, has caused quite a stir in the Mediterranean city.

Although the organising company promotes the tour as an “immersive experience”, many Valencians do not share their enthusiasm and the company has caused outrage in the local press and social media.

One local took to Twitter/X to voice his frustrations: “They have turned cities into a theme park for idiots. Walking around Valencia and finding this bunch of assholes every day. And a company that makes money out of it. The locals, every day they are less and less important.”

In Barcelona tour guides are flouting local regulations brought in in 2022 to limit the size of tour groups and number of groups allowed in one place at a time. Guides are still bringing too many groups into tourist areas of the city, something that is causing overcrowding and congestion in the city centre.

For locals in many of Spain’s major cities, they increasingly feel like outsiders and that the city is no longer designed with them in mind.

City council rules state that groups should be limited to 15 people within Barcelona’s Ciutat Vella (old town), and in the city’s other neighbourhoods, where streets are slightly wider and it’s not so crowded, up to 30 people are allowed per group.

READ ALSO: Barcelona to hand out €3,000 fines to tour guides with groups of more than 15

Restrictions on the number of tour groups that can enter certain areas at one time were also introduced. A maximum of eight tour groups are allowed in the central Plaça Sant Jaume at any one time, where the town hall is located, for example, and five groups are permitted to enter the colonnaded Plaça Reial.

According to the regulations no more than two tour guide groups can gather in the Plaça de Sant Felip Neri, yet reporting from El Periódico has revealed that tour companies are breaking these rules. By the Santa Maria del Mar, somewhere where no more than three groups should be at any time, four accompanied groups were spotted, two of them on bikes.

Guided bike tours and huge groups of cruise ship passengers disembarking and piling into city centres are two issues that have been highlighted by Spain’s anti-tourism protests.

“In Sant Felip Neri it happens frequently,” says Anna Carrasco, President of the tourist guide association AGUICAT. She attributes the rule breaking to “groups from outside who come uninformed” about the new regulations. 

“There are infringements because there are groups that come with a guide and are not aware of the limitations. They come by coach with a guide and the agency has not done the work of informing them.”

The rules in the Catalan capital, which were first introduced in 2023 and will extend to 2028, state that tour guides who do not comply with the regulation will face fines of between €1,500 and €3,000.

Other rules which apply to tour groups across the whole city include banning the use of megaphones and making sure that at least 50 percent of the street is left free for others to use.

But if recent events in Valencia and Barcelona are anything to go by, tour guide groups are, whether knowingly or unknowingly, flouting these rules and further contributing to the ‘touristification’ of Spanish cities.

READ ALSO: ‘Out of our neighbourhood!’: Barcelona residents spray water on tourists

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PROPERTY

Where should I move to in Spain – Costa Blanca or Costa del Sol?

Spain’s Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol are two of the most popular areas of the country for foreigners to move to and buy a property in Spain, but trying to decide between the two can be a difficult choice. Here are a few things to consider to help you make a decision.

Published: 13 September 2024 16:41 CEST
Marbella and Calpe, Spain
Costa del Sol vs Costa Blanca Images Gavilla and Nacho Ruiz / Pixabay

The Costa Blanca is located on Spain’s eastern coast in the region of Valencia in the province of Alicante. It extends from the town of Dénia in the north to Pilar de la Horadada in the south.

Costa del Sol on the other hand is located on Spain’s southern coast in the region of Andalusia and lies mostly in the province of Málaga. It’s a narrow strip of coast stretching from Manilva in the west all the way until it meets the Costa Tropical in the province of Granada in the east.

Other foreign residents

While this isn’t the most important factor when choosing where to live in Spain, you’ll want to know that there are other foreigners in the same situation as you. This can affect everything from the types of jobs that are available to the schools in the area and the friends you might make.

According to the latest stats from Spain’s Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), there were 206,934 EU citizens living in Andalusia in 2022 and 92,180 British citizens. While in Valencia, there were 263,340 EU citizens and 87,699 British residents.

This makes the Valencia province and the Costa Blanca slightly more popular with other EU residents. But, Andalusia is slightly more popular with British residents.

READ ALSO: The towns in Spain where Brits outnumber locals

Weather

Weather is one of the major factors which cause people to want to move to Spain, so which costa fairs better when it comes to the climate?

According to the Andalusian Tourist Board, the Costa del Sol enjoys more than 325 days of sunshine per year, while the Costa Blanca Tourism Board claims to enjoy around 320 days of sunshine per year. This makes both costas pretty equal when it comes to hours of sunshine, but what about temperature and rainfall?

According to the latest climate figures, Marbella, one of the most popular cities in the Costa del Sol has an average yearly temperature of 18.3C and 65 days of rain.

Torrevieja, in the Costa Blanca on the other hand, has a similar yearly average temperature of 18.7C and a total of 31 days of rainfall.

While both regions have similar amounts of sunshine and average temperatures it seems that if you live on the Costa del Sol you might see a few more days of rain than if you choose the Costa Blanca. 

However, both regions have far less rain than Spain’s other costas in the north such Catalonia’s Costa Brava and Asturias’ Costa Verde.

The Costa Blanca generally has less rain than the Costa del Sol. Photo: Harry Fabel / Pixabay
 

Property

According to Spanish property giants Idealista, Málaga province is one of the most popular places for foreigners to buy property. Nerja, Estepona, Puerto Banús and Marbella stand out as some of the most popular. 

Other areas where foreigners want to buy include Fuengirola, Mijas, Alhaurin el Grande, Torremolinos and Benalmadena are the most popular foreigners buying average and budget properties.

But it’s Alicante province where demand from foreigners exceeds 50 percent of the total demand in the province. The most popular areas include Los Frutales in Torrevieja; the districts of Moraia de Moravit-Cap Blanc, Paichi and Pinar de Advocat-Cometa and Orihuela. More 70,000 British residents own property in the Alicante area.

READ ALSO: Spain’s Dénia to stop issuing licences for tourist apartments

According to the Colegio Registradores de la Propiedad in both Alicante and Málaga provinces foreigners represent one in four property transactions. 

The latest property stats show that the average price for a property in Málaga reached €3,377 per square metre in August 2024, while properties in the Alicante province reached €2,260 per square metre.

This means that property is generally cheaper on the Costa Blanca than it is on the Costa del Sol, however, the average price of properties in the Costa del Sol is pushed up by the high prices in Marbella and you can still find cheaper properties away from this area.

Houses on the Costa Blanca are generally cheaper than on the Costa del Sol. Photo: panoramicvillascosta / Pixabay
 
 

Cost of living 

Generally speaking overall, the Costa Blanca is slightly cheaper to live in than the Costa del Sol, but it does depend on which areas you live in.

According to cost of living website Numbeo, rent is 11.9 percent higher in than in Alicante. You would need around €3,348.5 in Alicante to maintain the same standard of life that you can have with € in Málaga.

Most of the time the cost of living will depend on which town you move to within each costa. Marbella for example has one of the most expensive costs of living out of the two costas. Rent prices in Marbella are a whopping 205 percent higher than in Alicante, but surprisingly restaurant prices are 7.6 percent lower than in Alicante. 

Groceries are cheaper in Malaga than in Alicante. Photo: Pedro Alvarez / Pixabay

Taxes

While national tax is the same throughout Spain, there are also regional taxes that differ.

For example in the Valencia region, where the Costa Blanca is located, according to the General Council of Economists you pay more for inheritance, donation and Heritage taxes. Valencia is also the region that taxes high earners a lot, but has a progressive system. 

Andalusia the other hand, where the Costa del Sol is located, has some of the lowest inheritance and donation taxes in Spain. Despite this, Andalusia does have relatively high personal income tax rates in Spain. 

IBI tax known Impuesto sobre Bienes Inmuebles or property tax in each region completely depends on where you live within the Costa del Sol or the Costa Blanca. If you live in a small village or more rural location, you will generally pay less than if you live in the big cities or popular resorts. 

Therefore, if you’re a very high earner, you may save more in tax by moving to the Costa del Sol rather than the Costa Blanca, and if you’re a low earner, then it may pay to move to the Costa Blanca, rather than the Costa del Sol. Make sure to discuss your individual circumstances with a gestor or a lawyer first who can advise you on which region you would pay the least amount of tax in. 

Andalusia has some of the lowest inheritance and donation taxes in Spain. Photo: Steve Buissinne / Pixabay
 

International schools

If you plan on moving to Spain with your family, then you’ll want to know which region offers the best education options for your kids. Public education is generally considered to be good in Spain, but if you want your kids to get an education in English and to get internationally recognised qualifications, such as the International Baccalaureate or IB, then you’ll want to choose a good international school. 

According to the International Schools Database, there are 25 international schools on the Costa Blanca and 37 on the Costa del Sol. 

In 2024, three out of the top five international schools on the Costa del Sol were named the best of their kind in the country in a ranking from Spanish national newspaper El Mundo. These included Aloha College, British School Málaga and Laude San Pedro International College. This means that the Costa del Sol currently offers the best international education in Spain. 

International schools in Spain

International schools are better on the Costa del Sol. Photo: klimkin / Pixabay
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