Brits travelling to Benidorm have complained of ‘total chaos’ after flights were diverted hundreds of kilometres away and cash machines stopped working due to a ‘historic’ blackout.
More than 60million people were left without power from 12.33pm on Monday following a mystery power outage that also affected Portugal and parts of France.
In many parts of Spain, the power did not return until 8am on Tuesday morning.
Video footage shared on X by radio DJ Frankie Beats showed the usually packed-out resort resembling a ghost town on Monday night.
Frankie wrote: ‘Traffic lights down, fire services all day rescuing people in lifts, no phone networks, not 1 radio station on the entire FM band. Shops closed but some bars remain open with an “exact payment only” policy.’
The chaos caused travel and communications networks to totally collapse, with trains and flights delayed, cancelled or diverted.
When some lights returned to Benidorm at around midnight, a clip recorded from a high-rise balcony showed how the streets began to cheer in unison – but the disruption to services continued.
Brit tourist Molly Stagg wrote on Facebook in the early hours of Tuesday: ‘Just landed in Barcelona instead of Alicante!
‘Do not travel to Benidorm there is a power cut… me and my family are stranded in Barcelona airport with no transfers anywhere.’
Meanwhile, David Crossley said: ‘What a disaster of a day, Benidorm has been completely out of power. No cash machines or card machines working and did I have any euros? Not a penny as I booked it last minute!
‘No signal or internet for me to try to source money, it’s been an absolute nightmare!
‘Sorry to anyone trying to get hold of me… the internet is very poor at the moment and we still have no power.
‘We are in the one club that’s powered by its own generators sharing a pint so we don’t run out of the little cash we have.’
Fellow British traveller Nigel Brown last night shared ‘very strange’ footage from Benidorm’s main square, which was almost pitch black due to the majority of bars being closed.
He wrote: ‘Well this is bloody strange! Only a few bars open and the Benidorm Square in darkness apart from Cafe Benidorm. Come on Spain, get the electrics sorted!’
British bar owner Derek Bown said he would be keeping his establishment closed on Tuesday following the chaos.
He wrote: ‘The Soul Bar was closed yesterday all day due to the electricity issues… the bar is also closed today Tuesday.’
Meanwhile, one Brit claimed she was forced to fork out over €1,000 in taxis after her flight to Alicante was diverted to Barcelona.
Sharon Vincent said: ‘Finally got here at 8am after a £900 euro taxi bill!
‘Unfortunately Ryanair couldn’t put on any coaches so the taxi firms were very busy… Not going to let this ruin our 3 day holiday!
‘Thought we were coming to Benidorm for the first time, we’ve ended up in Barcelona airport, great start to our 3 day break!’
