Spanish resorts languish while Madrid hosts Europe's parties

MADRID (AP) — In Madrid, the real party starts at 11 p.m. after the bars close — and curfew kicks in.

That's when young, polyglot groups of revelers from Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and, most noticeably, France, join their Spanish contemporaries in Old Madrid's narrow streets to seek illicit fun. Most are in their early 20s, eager to party in the Spanish capital like they haven't been able to do for months at home under strict lockdowns.

With its policy of open bars and restaurants — indoors and outdoors — and by keeping museums and theaters running even when outbreaks have strained hospitals, Madrid has built a reputation as an oasis of fun in Europe’s desert of restrictions.

Other Spanish regions have a stricter approach to entertainment. Even sunny coastal resorts offer a limited range of options for the few visitors that started to arrive, coinciding with Easter week, amid a set of contradictory European travel rules.

“It’s a real privilege for me to go into bars because in France you can’t. Here I can go to restaurants, share time with friends outside of home, discover the city,” Romy Karel said. The 20-year-old Berliner flew to Madrid last Thursday from Bordeaux, the southern French city where she's studying social sciences.

"I can’t remember when was the last time I did this,” she said.

The visitors are bringing some vital business to locals and giving politicians much to debate about before a polarized regional election. Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the regional president of Madrid who is running for reelection, is trying to attract votes beyond her conservative supporters by campaigning under the slogan of “freedom."

Outside the capital, efforts to jumpstart tourism are drawing mixed results. In part, that's due to a patchwork of rules at...