With over 95 million foreign tourists a year, Spain offers plenty of seasonal work, especially from April to October. It is a great way to gain experience, improve your Spanish and try living abroad.
Where
- Balearics: Ibiza, Majorca, Menorca and Formentera, where the season runs from May to October with high demand in hotels, restaurants, beach clubs and nightclubs.
- Canary Islands: tourism lasts all year, peaking in winter.
- Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca, Costa Brava and Costa Dorada: resorts such as Marbella, Torremolinos, Benidorm, Lloret de Mar and Salou, with theme parks like PortAventura.
- Pyrenees and Sierra Nevada: in winter, at ski resorts.
- Agriculture: fruit and olive picking from Catalonia to Andalusia and the grape harvest in La Rioja and Castile, though this work is often hard and poorly paid.
Most in-demand jobs
Waiters, bartenders, cooks and kitchen assistants, receptionists, housekeepers (camareras de piso), holiday entertainers, lifeguards, shop assistants, PR and staff for beach clubs and nightclubs, tour guides and water sports instructors. Languages, especially English, German and Spanish, make the difference.
When to look
Summer hiring happens between February and April. Many prefer to turn up in person with their CV in late April or May, when venues reopen, especially on the islands. Holiday villages and entertainment companies recruit even earlier, in winter.
Contract, pay and accommodation
Seasonal work must be properly contracted, often on a fijo discontinuo or fixed-term contract, with Social Security registration. Pay follows the provincial collective agreements for hospitality and is usually above the minimum wage (see working in Spain). The main problem, especially in Ibiza and the Balearics, is accommodation: summer rents are extremely high, so look for jobs with board and lodging or organise well in advance.
Where to apply
InfoJobs, Indeed, LinkedIn, EURES portals, the careers pages of the big Spanish hotel chains such as Meliá, Iberostar, Barceló, Riu and NH, entertainment agencies, and expat social media groups in each resort. Beware of ads asking you to pay for a job. See also young people and work in Spain.