Halloween in Spain

As you might guess, Halloween is not a traditional Spanish holiday and has only started to be celebrated in the past few years. It differs wildly from Halloween in the United States. For starters, there are not gargantuan bags of candies being sold in stores as trick-or-treating is not part of the holiday in Spain. The focus is on costumes, making noise, partying and being with other people – the basic recipe for most festivities in Spain. Many clubs and bars will feature special Halloween events, people have private parties and some stores will offer special treats for customers. Street strolling and goggling is the most common activity.

Plazas can be packed with people, so if you are crowd phobic, Halloween may not be the best night for late night wandering – and late it is as people start to go home between 2:00 and 5:00 am. The traffic photo here was taken at 2:30am on Halloween “night” – imagine sound effects as well with shouting, honking and music. This is the busiest this particular street sees at any time of day.

Needless to the say, the day after makes for some pretty smelly and dirty streets as all sorts of bodily fluids are “shared” with the pavement, as well as discarded party remnants, as you will see in the photos.

If you love to dress-up and party, then Halloween in Spain is for you. If not, make sure you have ear-plugs in your suitcase.