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Widespread power outage in Spain, Portugal, Andorra, and parts of France near the border

Today’s outage affecting much of Spain and Portugal is a good reason for having a little cash with you. With payment systems down, old fashioned cash is king for the day.

Barajas airport is closed, traffic lights in Madrid are out, the metro isn’t running. In Portugal, the metro is shut down in both Lisbon and Porto and traffic lights are out.

From El País: The Adif railway network experienced voltage losses, leading to the suspension of train traffic across the country. Renfe announced through its social media accounts that there has been no train movement or departures from stations since 12:30. Various airlines reported disruptions at airports such as Madrid-Barajas and Barcelona-El Prat as power supply is being restored. Air traffic controllers have reported traffic regulations or reductions at the two major hubs on the peninsula: Madrid-Barajas and Lisbon. Confusion reigns among airlines and travelers.

Posted by
1153 posts

Reading news reports it could take a week to get it up and running...

Wow, if I had a trip planned for Spain this week, I would cancel it...

Posted by
5762 posts

But if I was stuck there, I could think of much worse places to be stuck...hope everyone packed ample patience!

Posted by
4229 posts

While extremely disruptive, flights, trains, driving all impacted across the country (many places only taking cash payments now), current estimates are 6-10 hours to get the things back up and running, I would not cancel just yet if you are still a week out. Substations in several areas of the north, south, and west of Spain are already coming back on line.

Here is the local Spanish news about the situation - https://elpais.com/economia/2025-04-28/ultima-hora-del-apagon-en-espana.html

While a cyber attack was initially suspected it appears the more probable cause is a rare "atmospheric event", what ever that means lol.

Posted by
8513 posts

So far we are still on to leave later today, arriving mid-morning in Madrid on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see the situation on the ground.

Posted by
9272 posts

Ummm, this kind of situation is why I like to have some cash in hand.

Posted by
12429 posts

But if I was stuck there, I could think of much worse places to be stuck...hope everyone packed ample patience!

...And several extra days worth of whatever prescription meds one needs.

Posted by
15449 posts

Jaime et al, thank you for the information. I have moved to doing everything via Apple Pay and you are exactly correct that I need to make sure I have some cash on hand - either Euro or GBP depending on the country.

Looks like a complete and utter mess.

Posted by
430 posts

Our ever increasing dependence on these systems really shows up when they glitch.

Posted by
8513 posts

Slight wrinkle to my plans, Madrid flight cancelled, but they put us on an Amsterdam, getting to Madrid a few hours late (hopefully)

All else fails, at least we are in Europe, and Amsterdam is way better than Atlanta in a hotel

Posted by
4229 posts

50% of power restored in Spain. Total restoration in Portugal in next few hrs.

Posted by
8322 posts

If we have travelers in those areas, it would be helpful to find out hints that lessened a little of the impact on them. For instance, I always pay for my hotels at least a week before my trip through Booking.com, and I am “old school” and bring my reservation printed with the receipt printed on the back side. So at least they would know I have already paid and could hopefully get my room key. I also bring a tiny flashlight, but that’s mainly because I don’t want to drop my phone while trying to pull up a light in a dark hallway or to clearly see a keyhole.

Other things that helped?

Posted by
4229 posts

100% of the power is back online in Spain, airports are all running normally so is most public transportation and other services. The cause of the Great Blackout (as it's being referred to now) is still under investigation.

Posted by
8513 posts

Yeah, we arrived in Madrid just before noon, having to go through Amsterdam, as opposed to a direct flight, and one really would not know there ever was an issue, everything back to normal, no one has really even mentioned the outage.

Posted by
15384 posts

Good time to be carrying a good amount of cash.