Flying to Alicante in COVID Times
At the moment there aren’t many tourists to be found in Spain, Alicante. That’s logical. Flying is either impossible or made nearly impossible for travelers. And yet sometimes it’s necessary to visit Alicante. I’ve described the steps you need below. That may make traveling in this strange time just a little less unpleasant. Note: I wrote this blog based on my own experiences and on stories I hear and read from friends and acquaintances. So always check the latest requirements before departure — for example via this up-to-date Dutch government website.
This can save you a lot of money and time!
Face masks
In Spain everyone aged 6 and older is required to wear a face mask in public — also on the street. That includes walking through a restaurant to your table and briefly chatting with someone outdoors. Fines start at €600 per person, so in Spain people stick to the rules. Face masks are available everywhere — from Aldi to Mercadona and at the pharmacy. For children you’ll find comfortable disposable masks at Aldi and Mercadona: inexpensive and not too tight. Medical masks are available at the farmacia — there’s one on almost every corner.
Booking a ticket
This sounds simple. Airlines such as Transavia and Ryanair bombard you with offers at the moment. For €10 it almost looks like you’re booking a trip to Alicante. But then the small print… When booking with Ryanair, for example, it seems like you can change your trip up to the last moment. But beware: this applies only up to a week beforehand. In that period you can rebook free of charge — meaning you don’t pay change fees — but you **do** pay any fare difference. And that new date is almost always more expensive than your original one.
You also can’t transfer purchased baggage. If you already added suitcases and you change your flight, you simply lose them and need to add them again on the new booking.
Conclusion: don’t book a ticket right now (January 2021) just because everything looks so cheap. Better to wait and book when it’s **certain** that you’re actually going to fly.
Recently I spent hours on Ryanair chat again. You can never reach them by phone and emails go unanswered. The chat connects you to an English-speaking agent who’s handling five chats at once. After I requested a change to the tickets, I was told my musical instruments had been added. Huh? I don’t need those at all… The Ryanair employee then apologized — that message was meant for someone else. But changing the ticket turned out not to be possible.
Prepare your flight:
PCR test in the Netherlands
Before you fly to Alicante a PCR test is required. You can get tested in many places, but for use at an airport different rules apply. You don’t need to have symptoms, but you do need a QR code that can be scanned at the airport and that states you tested negative and may board the flight. To enter Spain this is required for children aged 6 and older.
Health declaration
You’ll receive this when booking with, for example, Ryanair. You can then download an app and fill in all the details: whether you have a sore throat, whether you’ve been in contact with someone who has COVID, but also where you sat on the plane and your passport number, etc. If the data is already in the app, it saves you a lot of time upon arrival at the airport. You may also print the form and fill it in by hand. These are collected and scanned on arrival in the arrivals hall before you walk to baggage claim. Your temperature is measured there as well. This isn’t done manually but automatically when you pass through a large metal gate. People with an elevated temperature are automatically flagged.
Note if someone is picking you up at Alicante Airport: people are no longer allowed to wait in the arrivals hall. They must wait outside for their guests.
PCR test in Alicante
It’s possible to get a PCR test in many hospitals here. But the test **must** be in English and preferably include a QR code — which most tests here do not provide. Those are intended only for locals who want to get tested because of symptoms.
A hospital specialized in this is, among others, **IMED** — for example in Elche and Benidorm (Levante). No appointment is needed and within 24 hours you’ll receive a valid PCR certificate by email with which you’ll be fine at the airport. Cost for this test is €120 per person. I received the document below by email from the **IMED** hospital in Spanish; it lists all test options. A PCR test for a flight back to the Netherlands is required for children aged 13 and older.
From January 23 it is mandatory, in addition to the PCR test, to also show a negative rapid test when traveling to the Netherlands. This must be taken…
Another recommended hospital is **Quirón** in Alicante center. You can get a PCR test here for €90. In my experience, making a phone appointment is almost impossible — you can’t get through the phone system. Here, too, you don’t need an appointment: just join the line at the special entrance (at the front) and within 24 hours you’ll receive the result by email, in multiple languages. Staff aren’t focused on international patients, so you should manage somewhat in Spanish.
More information
For more information about flying to Alicante during COVID, always check the Dutch government website for the most up-to-date information. Alicante Like a Local is not liable for this written text.