Date Published: 09/12/2020
ARCHIVED - Boundary confusion abounds; Murcian external border restrictions remain in place
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
The restrictions have only been removed on internal boundaries
Social media is undoubtedly a popular way for non-Spanish speakers to find information, but those who only ever read the headline and fail to click onto the articles will always live in a “land of confusion” as is the case with the latest news about coronavirus restrictions in the Murcia region.
So to make it clear:
External regional borders.
The external borders of the Murcia Region remain closed for all but essential travel until after Christmas, New Year and Epiphany on 6th January. This means that you cannot cross over into Alicante province, the border with the Almeria Province which is in Andalucía or into Albacete and Castilla La Mancha for example, other than for essential travel such as dropping someone at the airport. It is also permitted to drive for example, up to Santander to catch the ferry if returning to your habitual place of residence.
This INCLUDES holidays, so if you were planning to fly to Murcia (or most of Spain at the moment) over the Christmas period, be aware that the external regional borders are closed for anything other than essential travel.
However, and it’s a big however, regional borders are being opened between December 23rd and January 6th across Spain to permit family visits but NOT for leisure trips or holidays.
Regions such as Madrid and Barcelona have already expressed their disquiet with this situation and quite rightly highlighted that it is impossible to stop every vehicle containing a family and suitcases and verify whether they are visiting a relative somewhere or going to a holiday home.
There have been many reports on social media of international travellers successfully reaching their holiday homes without being stopped by police or asked to justify how essential their journey is, so it’s up to individual travellers entirely whether they wish to take the risk of flying to Spain to travel to a holiday property this winter, now that the UK Govt. has removed the ban on travelling. Obviously it’s not a very clever idea to be contemplating holiday travel while the world is immersed in a pandemic, and the regional government does not want people entering the region from outside, and that includes from other countries, but there are some people desperate to get to their properties who consider the risk of a minimum 601 euro fine worth taking , even after paying for PCR tests.
Internal municipal borders.
The Region of Murcia is divided into 45 local municipalities and the ban on travelling between municipalities has been lifted everywhere EXCEPT LOS ALCÁZARES AND TORRE PACHECO.
Residents in these two municipalities must remain inside the borders of the municipality until next Monday when the situation will be reviewed.