Reopening of the 4.5 km beaches in Barcelona

Explore what Barcelona’s 4.5 km of beaches have to offer!

On Monday 8th of June, Barcelona opened beaches again for its citizens sub-monitoring. On the weekend, the weather encouraged people to enjoy beaches. As a result, municipal workers had to redistribute bathers to other beaches (Nova Icària and Bogatell beaches) as social- distancing could not be respected. According to El Paìs, Nova Icària and Bogatell beaches exceeded 80% capacity.

Moreover, Spain opening borders for EU countries on the 21st of June and Sant Joan’s day lead to a massive arrival of individuals who want to spend time on Barcelona’s beaches. Because of this, some beaches had to be closed to prevent risk of any COVID-19 contagion.

However, Ciutat Vella’s beaches avoided restrictions because they were less crowded. This means that the opening of beaches in the city remains on the capacity of people to respect social-distancing. The city’s beaches can only contain between 25,000 and 38,000 people to guarantee social-distancing according to Barcelona City Hall.

The question we now face is whether this will be a recurring issue. With borders open and less restrictions, it is allowing more movement. Especially for Brits who are desperate for a bit of sun before winter hits. But at what cost? As we can see, beaches have already had to be shut down, hopefully this issue won’t happen again.

A beach in Barcelona on the 14th of June