ARCHIVED - Inter-regional travel still banned in almost all of Spain for Bank Holiday weekend

Confinement to municipalities remains in force in Murcia until 9th December

The last few days have provided grounds for optimism at last regarding the coronavirus pandemic in Spain, with incidence rates falling and confidence growing that the first vaccines will be administered in this country in January, but as a long holiday weekend begins the national and regional governments are stressing that the numbers of Covid cases and deaths are still high and that if a “third wave” is to be avoided restrictions on movement must be adhered to over the next four days.

There is a sense that people are treating the ban on travel between regions with less and less respect, but for the long holiday weekend almost all regions are maintaining their bans on travelling to and from other regions in an effort to prevent a spike in case numbers before Christmas. The only exceptions are the Balearic and Canary Islands and Extremadura in the west of the country, and in Galicia the restriction has been introduced for the first time to prevent people from bringing the virus from other parts of the country.

At the same time, of course, the lack of a prohibition in Extremadura is rendered irrelevant by the fact that bans are in force in all neighbouring regions (Andalucía, Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León) and on the border with Portugal.

This means that crossing the border (which is invisible as there are no check points normally between regions within Spain) into a region other than the one in which you currently reside, is prohibited. In most cases it is possible to drive across without being detected and many people are doing so, but police are stopping drivers in some places and asking them to justify their journey; large fines can be issued should the journey be deemed non-essential if the officers wish to issue a fine , so be warned. Some regions are more sensitive about the number of cases they have and are more vigilant, but in all instances it must be remembered that the measures are in place to protect the residents of that region from the spread of the virus and the governments do NOT want travellers to cross into their regions without justification, so bear that in mind.

In Madrid, where until now the ban on inter-regional travel has been in force only at weekends, it will now be in operation for 10 days until 14th December, but the regional government has warned the national administration in Madrid that it is impossible to ensure that it is respected due to a lack of policing. In Catalunya, meanwhile, residents are confined to their municipalities until 8th December, while in the Region of Murcia the same measure is in force until the following day.

The Murcian regional government has announced that it will be making a decision on Monday about whether to continue with the ban prohibiting movement between municipalities, which is largely being ignored, but is expected to maintain the perimeter ban until after Christmas. Be aware, the restrictions are still in place until Tuesday, so if you are caught crossing local municipal borders in Murcia without justification, you will be fined.

The Spanish Government has this week issued travel guidelines for the festive season and although travel to visit family will be permitted nationally during the festive period, it is NOT permitted to travel for holiday purposes.

Individual regions must decide if they wish to maintain external border closures past the 9th December; in most cases the regional governments have already indicated that they will.
Monday and Tuesday are both Bank Holidays in the Murcia Region next week.