Fires in Spain and beyond: risky holidays and insurance

The summer of 2025 is torrid and the fires in Spain are the consequences of an arid land that cannot protect itself. The great fire in Catalonia started precisely in a parched forest area. The fire has not only destroyed green spaces, crops and reached inhabited areas, but from it another heavy and gray cloud has risen.

Now Italian and foreign tourists leaving for Spain must decide whether to leave or ask for a refund for accommodation, flights and activities already booked. The risk, in fact, is to see their plans cancelled at the last minute, not being able to recover their holidays in time. The Catalonia area is not the only one at risk, in Spain and in Europe. For this reason, the use of travel insurance is becoming increasingly common.

Fires in Spain: The most affected areas in Europe

Extreme heat has been occupying Europe for over two weeks now, with peaks of over 40° perceived or real. The red alert has led to several inconveniences for travelers, such as in France, where the heat in the city has forced the closure of the Eiffel Tower and over 1,300 public schools.

In Spain and Portugal, where temperatures have risen above 46°, fires have broken out that are putting things and people at risk and have unfortunately already caused victims.

Looking further afield, fires in Turkey have also forced the evacuation of large areas, and Greece has had to activate an emergency plan to contain them.

Even cooler Northern Europe is feeling the heat, with the Netherlands forced to bring forward school dismissal times and workers in Germany are asking for special time off work due to the high temperatures.

Holidays at risk

For the traveler who has booked a vacation, it is good to know that the fires, blackouts and other extreme weather events that are hitting Europe are indeed putting reservations at risk.

In France it is the lack of electricity, in Spain and Türkiye it is the fires. Especially for those traveling in the area of ​​Catalonia, where 6,500 hectares of land have already burned.

The heat also makes it difficult to consider the trip as a relaxing holiday: just think that in Barcelona the Civil Protection is forced to distribute free water and hats to protect residents and tourists from the high temperatures . Even during the night these do not fall below 25 °, suffocating the city. In Spain, for example, flights may not land

Travel Insurance: What It Covers

The climate emergency is turning into a business for some companies. Just as there is a requirement for insurance against extreme weather events for new buildings, it is becoming increasingly important to include insurance in the travel budget .

It is not just a delayed flight, but cancellations that are difficult to resolve in a few hours or days. The case of Spain, for example, puts us in front of a vast fire and a cloud of 14 km in diameter , which could darken the skies in time, preventing flights from landing safely.

How much does insurance cost?

There are many different types of travel insurance depending on the services you want to cover. Let's take the example of travel insurance for Spain: the amount will be calculated based on the days , in our example from July 3 to July 10.

Warning : it must be taken into account that for some insurances there is an age limit for the applicant. For example, Unipol does not allow insuring a traveler over 80 years old.

As travel protection, insurance offers services such as:

• coverage in case of flight cancellation or interruption;
• hospital, surgical, medical or pharmaceutical expenses;
• personal effects insurance;
• ticket refund;
• refund of airline fees and several others.

Prices, therefore, vary greatly: they range from 21 euros for the minimum up to 50 or 80 euros. For complete coverage, you can spend up to 100 euros and more, if the trip includes more than one passenger per family unit.

Given the conditions in many European countries, the “force majeure” clause can be applied to travel insurance. With an extra, in most cases, you can cover the costs of purchasing alternative tourist services in the event that a catastrophic weather event or a socio-political event prevents the regular performance of the booked tourist services. An example could be a hurricane that makes it necessary to change the booked services or a fire as in Spain. In addition, this type of insurance allows you to cover the costs incurred in the event of an early return due to force majeure.

Delays of more than eight hours and injuries during the flight can also be insured, also covering cases of permanent disability or presumed death.

Practical advice for travellers

Considering whether or not to travel to a place where an extreme phenomenon is occurring is not a given. By the time you leave, the alarm may have been called off or the risk may have increased. This is why purchasing travel insurance is often the best advice you can follow. Travel insurance can be purchased up to a few hours before departure and provides a certain level of security in the event of unforeseeable situations.

But there are other tips for a traveler, expert or novice, in such delicate situations. One of these is to subscribe to alert services , both meteorological and otherwise. For example, there are applications that allow you to check flight delays or cancellations in real time.

You can keep the emergency numbers and contact details of your insurer and the embassy of your country of origin at hand in the location you have chosen for your holiday.

Other, less direct, advice is to consider multiple destinations. In the case of very affected areas, activities can be diverted to the safest regions. In the case of Spain, not to the Catalonia area, but to the northern areas.

Finally, for greater security, you can book properties that have free cancellation up to a few hours before your stay or that require payment at the property without penalties in the event of a delay or cancellation of your flight or other means of transport to reach them.