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LIFE IN SPAIN

What’s open and what’s closed over Easter in Spain?

If you're going to spend Easter 2024 in Spain, this is what you need to know about the opening times of supermarkets, restaurants, pharmacies and other establishments in the region where you'll be.

Published: 20 March 2024 12:04 CET
Updated: 29 March 2024 08:27 CET
What's open and what's closed over Easter in Spain?
When will shops, supermarkets and restaurants be open during Holy Week in Spain? (Photo by CESAR MANSO / AFP)

As you might’ve noticed, Easter is a pretty big deal in Spain. As such, there are several public holidays coming up, as well as different regional holidays, and this will means some of your local shops and other establishments will be closed, or open with reduced hours.

Easter holidays in Spain in 2024

Technically speaking, Easter 2024 runs from Sunday March 24th (Domingo de Ramos, Palm Sunday) until April 1st (Lunes de Pascua, Easter Monday).

The only public holiday across all Spanish regions this Easter is Good Friday on March 29th.

Maundy Thursday (March 28th) is also a holiday in all regions except Catalonia and the Community of Valencia, which will instead have Easter Monday (April 1st) off as a regional holiday.

Some regions – the Balearic Islands, Cantabria, Navarra and the Basque Country – have regional holidays on both Thursday March 28th and April Monday 1st, giving them a five-day puente, as it’s called in Spanish (literally meaning ‘bridge’).

READ ALSO: Spain’s public and regional holidays in 2024 and how to maximise your leave

Supermarkets

As a general rule, if it’s a regional or national holiday, supermarkets in the region where you are in Spain will be closed.

It’s also worth keeping in mind that most supermarkets generally don’t open on Sundays either, meaning that Saturday March 30th is a good day to do your grocery shopping, or consider stocking up beforehand on Wednesday March 27th or earlier.

Mercadona

Mercadona will be closed on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, except in Catalonia and Valencia. Mercadona will be open across Spain on Saturday March 30th from 9 or 9.30 to 21.30, its usual opening hours. To check your local Mercadona branch, you can use the store finder tool here.

Carrefour

Carrefour doesn’t seem to have a clear-cut policy regarding opening and closing on public holidays. As such, some of its supermarkets will open on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, while others will be closed, depending on the region.

However, its smaller Carrefour Express stores are likely to be open on all days over Easter in Spain. You can check your local here.

Aldi

Aldi supermarkets close on regional and public holidays, so they will not open on Maundy Thursday (except for in Catalonia and the Valencia region) nor on Good Friday. Find your closest Aldi here. 

Ahorramás

The franchise, which has shops located in Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid, will open almost all its shops on Maundy Thursday until 15:00.

To check your nearest store, you can check this link.

Lidl

Again, Lidl will open some shops on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. You can check whether a particular shop is open and on which days via this link.

Consum

Consum supermarkets in the Valencia region will be open on Maundy Thursday but not on Good Friday.

Pharmacies

Whether your closest farmacia will be open over Semana Santa depends on where you live and their own policy. Most pharmacies may open with ‘holiday’ hours on Maundy Thursday (March 28th), which is usually 9am-2pm, though it will depend on the individual branch.

In bigger towns and cities there will likely be some open on Good Friday (March 29th) too.

Are bars and restaurants open over Easter?

Similarly, bars and restaurants decide themselves with regards to opening hours on public holidays.

Your local bar might be closed, but bigger restaurants will likely open. If there Easter processions taking place and plenty of tourists and other potential customers on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, you shouldn’t have trouble finding a restaurant to eat at, especially in big cities and touristy spots.

You can expect lots more of them to be open on Saturday March 30th, and on Sunday 31st it will again depend on the individual decision of the restaurant owners.

Fast food restaurants such as McDonalds and Burger King will likely be open on all days throughout Easter 2024 in Spain.

Are shops open over Easter in Spain?

Again, it’s hard to give an across-the-board answer. Your local ferretería (hardware shop) and other small local businesses will probably be closed on regional and public holidays, but bigger chains in cities will likely open for at least some of the day.

Fruterías (green grocers) and locally run corner shops in big cities tend to stay open on public holidays.

Estancos (tobacco stores) will almost certainly be closed, except for perhaps in larger city centres.

In Spain, a number of establishments are exempt from normal commercial opening hours legislation and can therefore decide for themselves whether or not to open on public holidays.

According to the law, they are: 

“Establishments mainly engaged in the sale of pastries and confectionery, bread, ready meals, newspapers, fuels and combustibles, florists and plants.

Convenience stores.

Commercial establishments located at border points, stations and means of land, sea and air transport.

Establishments located in areas of great tourist influx” – known as ZGATs in Spain.

That basically means that if you’re in a major city, the chances are that most shops will be open for at least some of the day.

READ ALSO: Spain’s Easter white hoods are a symbol of penance, not right-wing extremism

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PROPERTY

BBQs, nudity and plants: What are the balcony rules in Spain?

Though many people hang laundry, plants, and flags from their balcony, in Spain the rules on what you can and can't do on 'el balcón' are not well-known.

Published: 8 May 2024 17:13 CEST
Updated: 11 May 2024 08:31 CEST
BBQs, nudity and plants: What are the balcony rules in Spain?

Imagine the scene: you’ve just bought or signed the lease on your dream apartment. It’s bright and airy, with plenty of space, and even has a nice-sized balcony to get some fresh air on. You can do whatever you want there, right? 

Not exactly. In Spain the rules on what you can and can’t do on a balcony (even if it’s private) depend on a few factors, namely the regional and local rules, as well as getting the approval of the building’s homeowner’s association – known in Spain as la comunidad.

Some of them might just surprise you.

READ ALSO: ‘La comunidad’: What property owners in Spain need to know about homeowners’ associations

There are four main things or activities on balconies that could potentially put you on the wrong side of the local rules and even get you fined: barbecues, plants, laundry, and flags.

In all cases (even if you don’t think you’re breaking any rules) you’ll generally need to consider two things: firstly, does this affect or change the building’s façade? And secondly: will la comunidad allow it?

Barbecues

In Spain there is no national law prohibiting barbecues on private property, so in principle it is legal as long as the barbecue is lit in a private space such as your own balcony, garden or terrace, and not a shared space.

Often in Spain, the roof (usually referred to as la terrazza) is a shared space people use for storage and hanging their laundry, so be sure to check with the comunidad.

In terms of your own balcony, however, although there’s no law saying outright you can’t have a barbecue, you’ll need to take into account the rules and regulations in force in each locality or region. There may also be specific rules within the building that long-term homeowners have developed over the years.

As we will see, many of these low-level regulations are delegated to local governments and town halls in Spain, so the answer to these sorts of questions is usually: it depends where you are.

However, according to Article 7 of Spain’s Horizontal Property Law, “the owner and the occupant of the flat or premises are not allowed to carry out in it or in the rest of the property activities prohibited in bylaws, which are harmful to the property or which contravene the general provisions on annoying, unhealthy, harmful, dangerous or illegal activities.”

This basically gives your neighbours the right to complain about noise, smells, smoke and any possible fire risk in or around their building, which barbecues could plausibly fall under.

As with co-living anywhere in the world, regardless of the regional or local rules, employ some common sense: be reasonable, listen to neighbour’s concerns and take up any disputes with the President of la comunidad.

READ ALSO: What you need to know before having a barbecue in Spain

Plants

Again, with plants the responsibility falls on each local authority to set the rules. In Spain, most regions and town halls state that, as long as the architectural or structural elements of the building are not changed or weakened in any way, putting plants on your balcony is permitted.

However, note that many terraces and balconies do have maximum weight regulations that must be respected in order to guarantee their safety, which is 200kg per square metre. If this figure is exceeded (and it can be proved) you could theoretically be fined.

Laundry

Laundry lines criss-crossing the streets might be one of the more picturesque images of Spanish life, but the people doing it might actually be breaking the rules.

How do you know? You guessed it, it depends where you. You’ll need to check with your local authority on this one, though municipal regulations in Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia all regulate hanging laundry from your balcony, which is again outlined in the Horizontal Property Law.

This principally seems to be because it affects the façade of the building (a common theme when it comes to balcony rules in Spain).

In places with rules about hanging laundry from balconies, you could be fined up to 750 euros if you don’t comply with the rules.

However, according to Foto Casa, even if you live in an area where there are no bans or penalties against hanging laundry on the balcony, you’ll still likely need the permission of la comunidad.

READ MORE: Spain’s weirdest laws that foreigners should know about

What about flags?

Whether it be the Spanish flag, the Catalan, Valencian or Andalusian flags, or LGBT, trade union or football team flags, flags proudly hanging from balconies is another mainstay of Spanish life.

It’s also one of the more controversial ones too, especially within comunidad meetings. Hanging flags on the balcony, as well as allegedly altering the aesthetics and security of the building (the same concern as with laundry) often has ideological connotations that can cause conflict.

Again, as with laundry, hanging flags on the balcony will require the approval of all the owners within the community, something that must be agreed at a meeting, as per the Horizontal Property Law.

However, if the flag is placed inside the property, as it is a private property, fellow homeowners cannot oppose it, even if it is visible from the street, according to Foto Casa.

Nudity 

Article of 185 of Spain’s Penal Code only considers being naked at home to be obscene exhibitionism and sexual provocation if it affects minors, in which case it is punishable with a fine or up to a year in prison.

Therefore, you could technically sunbathe shirtless or naked on your balcony in most cases without getting into trouble, although it won’t necessarily go down well with your neighbours and/or flatmates and you be reprimanded for it.

READ ALSO: Can you go shirtless or wear a bikini in the street in Spain?

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