May Day Costa del Sol – what’s closed? What’s open?

Remember that the opening hours will be affected by Thursday, May 1. This is a public holiday in Spain, as well as in many other countries.

The individual shops in La Cañada shopping centre in Marbella, including AlCampo, will remain closed all day, while the food courts upstairs will stay open, although evening closing times may vary. Good news! From June, Sundays will remain open for all stores until September.

Miramar shopping centre in Fuengirola will operate the same as La Cañada, so make sure you get that last-minute shopping done beforehand. Public transport will be operating a ‘Festivos’ service which tends to be the same timetable as Sundays, and all other services such as post offices and banks will keep their doors shut until Friday. Mercadona, Lidl, and Aldi will all be closed, since this holiday is not often missed by employees across the country.

It’s a ‘puente’ weekend, which translates as ‘bridge’, so many around Spain will be taking off Friday too and making a long weekend of it. Traffic jams and a large influx of tourists are expected to begin the evening of Wednesday April 30. You should book ahead for restaurants on Thursday, 1 May, especially lunch.