November 2026 is set to be a pivotal month in Spain, with everything from a snap election and a general strike taking place, as well new legislation such as the bottle deposit law and a key vote on housing laws for tenants.
Snap general election
Of course, this November the big date comes at the end of the month.
The date of Spain’s elecciones anticipadas (early election) is Sunday November 29th, roughly nine months ahead of the scheduled date in August 2027.
Ahead of the vote, expect the entire month of November to be taken up by the campaign.
READ ALSO: Why has Spain’s PM called a snap election?
Public and regional holidays
November will also see several public holidays, depending on where in Spain you live.
Monday 2nd will be a public holiday in: Andalusia, Aragón, Asturias, the Canary Islands, Castile-La Mancha, Castile and León, Extremadura, the Community of Madrid and Navarre.
Madrid will enjoy a particularly nice November 2026 with two days off on two consecutive public holidays on Mondays.
November 2nd will be a public holiday throughout the Madrid region due to the rescheduling of All Saints’ Day.
A week later, on Monday 9th November, the city will celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Almudena.
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General strike
This November Spain is preparing not only for a general election but now a general strike too.
The walkout will take place on Wednesday 11th November — just two days before the official start of the election campaign.
Read our explainer via the link below.
READ ALSO: What you should know about Spain’s general strike in November
Vote on Spain’s new housing laws
Following Parliament’s dissolution after the PM called a snap election for November, the Spanish government has brought back two rejigged housing bills after their initial rejection by MPs, including extra restrictions on vulture funds and more financing for buyers.
READ ALSO: What’s different about Spain’s new housing laws compared to the rejected ones?
These measures are currently in force but the Standing Committee – the body that stands in for Parliament when it’s dissolved – will vote on the approval these decrees aimed at helping tenants on November 12th.
Even though the ruling Socialists have a greater chance of their decrees passing in the Standing Committee than they did in Parliament, there may be a U-turn once again if the right-wing bloc made up of the PP and Vox come to power.
New TV channel launches and some TVs to require retuning
Thousands of people in Spain with older TV sets have a key date marked in their diaries: November 5th.
This will be so-called ‘Retuning Day’ – Día de la Resintonización – will allow access to a new channel, La Séptima, and update several others with ultra high-definition (UHD), including: La 2 UHD, as well as RNE Accesible which will allow viewers to see the work carried out at Radio Nacional de España.
Telecinco will also make the leap to UHD to offer the best picture quality, as will the Catalan regional channel TV3.
In practice, people who don’t have their TV connected to the internet and get their TV signal from aerials will have to go into their television’s settings menu and choose “find new TV channels automatically” or similar in order to get all the new benefits.
Festivals in November
Autumn festivals will be taking place throughout November.
La Castañada or Castanyada in Catalan is held across Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Aragón and coincides with All Saints’ Day and Halloween, even though it’s a separate celebration. Essentially, it’s a chestnut festival and you’ll find chestnut sellers on street corners roasting shiny brown chestnuts and big pumpkin-coloured sweet potatoes. In some places though they may even combine it with Halloween celebrations.
The Basque Country and Navarre have their own versions which are known as Gaztañerre Eguna or the ‘día de las castañas asadas’, the day of the roast chestnuts. It is typically celebrated on November 2nd.
Fuel discounts to remain in Spain throughout November
At a time of volitive fuel pieces, prices in Spain will be somewhat offset in November.
Spain’s 20c per litre discount on diesel and petrol will continue in November after the government announced that it’s maintaining the discount as the 15 per cent price rise threshold has been exceeded.
New Wizz Air flight routes to and from Spain in November
Budget airline Wizz Air is launching a number of new routes to and from Spain in November.
Wizz Air is due to open a new base at Valencia Airport on November 2nd of this year, meaning many more flights from there to the rest of the country, as well as other routes across Spain and to other European cities.
Wizz Air aims to challenge low-cost giant Ryanair and will compete with it on 87 routes across Spain.
Some of the new routes in November include Bilbao – Santiago de Compostela, Madrid – Pisa and Valencia – Brasov (Romania).
Find the full breakdown via the link below.
READ ALSO: LISTED – The 18 new Wizz Air flight routes to and from Spain this autumn
Spain’s new bottle deposit law to come into force
Spain’s new refund and return system for drink containers is meant to come into force in November 2026, given that the government has already delayed the implementation of this EU law by two years.
This model will require customers to return containers such as plastic bottles, cans or cartons to stores, in exchange for recovering a small ‘deposit’ that is paid when buying them.
Basically, drinks containers of up to three litres will cost at least 10 cents more each, but this money will be refunded to customers who return them to the store or to designated machines.
