Reminder: Clocks go back on October 31st
Just before November starts, there’s good news for your Saturday night: you’ll get an extra hour when the clocks go back at 3am in the early hours of Halloween – October 31st. It will mark the official start of winter time.
The clocks will go forward again in March 2022.
November starts with a public holiday
Monday November 1st marks El Día de Todos los Santos, All Saints Day in Spain.
It’s a public holiday across the country, one of eight national festivos that cannot be replaced or omitted from the calendar by the regions.
November 1st is a day of remembrance in Spain. Most Spaniards visit their loved ones at the local cemetery, leaving flowers at their tombstones and then spend the day with their families.
Unfortunately, a cold front with plenty of rain is expected to affect most of the Spanish territory this long weekend.
People in Madrid will also have a regional holiday to look forward to on November 9th, when the capital takes a day off to celebrate its patron saint La Virgen de la Almudena.
READ ALSO: How do Spain’s public holidays compare to what other European countries get?
Covid-19 booster and flu vaccines
Both vaccination campaigns - which in most regions have seen those eligible get a shot in each arm (so far over-70s and immunocompromised people) - will move up a gear in November.
People in their 60s are expected to be called up for the booster shot in November and from the 15th of the month those who had a single-dose Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccine can get a booster of the Pfizer or Moderna Messenger RNA vaccines.
Regions which have not yet started their flu vaccination campaigns, such as in the case of the Balearic Islands, will also kickstart their rollout in November.
- Getting a Covid-19 booster shot in Spain: What you need to know
- Getting the flu vaccine in Spain in 2021: What you need to know
Travel to the US from Spain will be possible again
In mid-October, the United States confirmed it would lift Covid travel restrictions on passengers from Spain from November 8th as long as they’re fully vaccinated and meet other conditions.
The easing of travel restrictions, imposed 18 months ago by Donald Trump as the Covid-19 pandemic first erupted, means people other than US nationals, US residents and close relatives can fly from Spain to the US.
Here are the requirements and everything else you need to know before booking.
As a side note, Cuba will allow fully vaccinated tourists from Spain and elsewhere to visit the Caribbean country from November 7th.
Will Spain’s restrictions on non-essential non-EU travel end?
In late September, the Spanish government again extended temporary restrictions for non-essential travel from most third countries until October 31st 2021, meaning that the majority of unvaccinated tourists from outside of the EU can still not visit Spain.
Spanish health authorities have fully vaccinated around 80 percent of the population and the infection rate remains low although rising slightly.
And yet it seems unlikely that Spain’s Foreign Ministry will change its stance with regards to unvaccinated non-EU/EEA arrivals, except for travellers from a handful of third countries which are allowed to visit Spain for leisure and don’t need to present a PCR test or a proof of vaccination.
This list currently includes Saudi Arabia, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Chile, China, South Korea, UAE, Jordan, Kuwait, New Zealand, Qatar, Rwanda, Singapore, Ukraine and Uruguay.
The rules are usually updated at the end of every month, so stay tuned to The Local Spain for the latest developments.
Plusvalía property tax scrapped
Spain’s Constitutional Court on October 26th declared that the country’s plusvalía tax is unconstitutional.
This is a municipal tax charged by town halls in Spain when homes are sold, with the aim of taxing the increase in value of the land on which the property lies from when it changed hands previously.
The Constitutional Court’s decision means that property owners who sell their homes in November will not have to pay the plusvalía tax (it doesn’t apply retroactively unfortunately).
However, Spain’s Hacienda tax agency is reportedly rushing to introduce another means of taxing this land value rise, as town halls are concerned about how much money they're set to lose from their public coffers.
Spain’s social shield won’t end in November
The Spanish government has extended until February 28th 2022 the measures aimed at protecting the country’s most vulnerable from the negative economic impact of the pandemic, including the moratorium on home evictions and the ban on energy companies from cutting off power supplies for non-payment.
This ‘social shield’ as it’s been dubbed was due to end in November 2021.
Spanish pensioners get an extra payment
People who receive a Spanish pension will get an extra payment this month on November 25th. Spain’s pension scheme consists of 14 payments a year, one for each month of the year and two extra payments in June and November.
Plenty of events
Spain’s improving epidemiological situation has meant that many events and festivals that couldn’t take place in 2020 are back.
There’s Gijón’s International Film Festival from November 19th to 27th, the Barcelona Marathon on November 7th, the World Press Photo exhibition in Valencia until November 7th, Madrid Horse Week at the end of the month, the European Film Festival in Seville from November 5th to 13th, the World of Music, Arts and Dance festival (WOMAD) in Gran Canaria and plenty more.
If you want to find out if there’s an event happening near you in November, Spain’s tourism website has a very useful search engine.
Back Friday at the end of the month
Friday November 26th marks Black Friday in Spain, the American-imported marketing campaign that sees shops and brands drop prices to encourage people to shop till they drop.
H&M, Media Markt, La Casa del Libro, Asos and of course Amazon have all announced they will have a Black Friday sale.
Spain’s flagship department store group El Corte Inglés will also take part and also have a big Cyber Monday electronics sale on November 29th.
Ski season starts on some Spanish slopes
If the weather conditions allow for it, Baqueira Beret (Pyrenees) will open on November 26th, San Isidro and Valle de Laciana-Leitariegos (Castilla y León) on Saturday November 27th and Sierra Nevada (Andalusia) also on November 27th.
Spanish authorities are yet to announce the Covid-19 rules for the 2021-2022 ski season.
Given the considerably lower prevalence of the virus and high vaccination rate in Spain, they’re likely to be less strict than for the 2020-2021 season.
Face masks are no longer required in outdoor spaces when a safety distance of 1.5 metres can be kept between people.
There is also no need to have a Covid health pass to gain access to restaurants, cafés or other indoor spaces as is the case in other countries.
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