Beach bar (chiringuito) for sale in Spain: buying one or winning a concession

A beach bar (chiringuito) in Spain sits on public coastal land, so it cannot be bought outright.

The right to trade comes from a town hall tender permit for up to 4 years, or from a concession.

Tender fees in 2026 run from €18,000 to €58,000 a year; beach venues with a concession are listed at about €1.5m.

Below: how a chiringuito differs from a bar in town under the Coastal Law, what is really being sold in a «se traspasa chiringuito» listing, what listings ask and what town halls charge in tenders, what you need to open, what a beach bar earns in a season and what to check before buying. The page includes a payback calculator with an illustrative example.

Why you cannot simply buy a chiringuito

The sand is public coastal land (dominio público marítimo-terrestre).

There are no private beaches in Spain; this land may only be occupied for activities that cannot be located elsewhere, and all installations on a beach, seasonal ones included, may together take up no more than half of its area (arts. 32.1, 33.1 and 33.4 Ley 22/1988 de Costas).

Nobody but the State can own a spot on the sand.

So every beach bar holds not a title of ownership but an administrative permit — and that permit decides what the business is worth.

There are two kinds.

• Seasonal permit (autorización). Permits for seasonal beach services with removable installations are granted by Costas to the town hall, for up to 4 years, and installations are dismantled after every season. If the town hall lets private operators run the services, it holds a tender; the operator’s term cannot exceed the town hall’s permit (art. 53 Ley de Costas, art. 113 Reglamento General de Costas). Most kiosks on Mediterranean beaches work this way.
• Concession (concesión). Required for a permanent venue or when the enclosed part exceeds 20 m². It runs for years or decades and can be transferred, but under State control (see below).

A permit is personal, cannot be transferred during the holder’s lifetime and is not entered in the Land Registry.

The authorities may revoke it at any time without compensation — if it damages the beach, gets in the way of a more important public use or becomes incompatible with new rules (arts. 52.3 and 55 Ley de Costas, arts. 111.3 and 112 Reglamento).

The key conclusion: when a listing sells a chiringuito that runs on a seasonal permit, the buyer gets the equipment, the brand and the customers, but not the right to the spot. That has to be won again at the town hall’s next tender.

Seasonal and permanent chiringuitos: what the law allows

Sizes and distances are set by the Coastal Regulation. In 2024 the Supreme Court annulled the 2022 amendments to it (RD 668/2022), so the 2014 wording applies.

On natural stretches of beach a venue may be up to 70 m², of which up to 20 m² enclosed, seasonal and fully removable only, at least 300 m from the next one.

On urban stretches a permanent venue may be up to 200 m², of which up to 150 m² enclosed, plus 70 m² of open removable area and a toilet of up to 30 m², at least 150 m from the next one; removable kiosks must be at least 100 m apart, and an enclosed part over 20 m² needs a concession (arts. 68 and 69 Reglamento).

For a buyer this means two things. A bar that is in fact bigger than permitted is at risk when Costas inspects it — and that risk passes to the new owner.

And you cannot grow beyond the permit after buying: a bigger terrace on the sand needs a new title.

A beach club on private land behind the beach is a different case.

It is an ordinary premises (owned or leased) with a municipal licence, with one twist: it sits in the coastal protection zone — 100 m from the shore, or 20 m on land that was already urban in 1988.

Homes are banned in this zone; a bar or restaurant serving beach use is allowed with a regional permit (arts. 23, 25 and transitional provision 3 Ley de Costas, art. 49 Reglamento).

The club’s sunbeds on the sand are public land again and need their own permit or concession.

Listings often call them «our concession» when in fact they may be a town hall tender lot for one to four seasons.

The State has handed the granting of seasonal permits to several regions — Andalusia (RD 62/2011), the Balearics (RD 994/2022), Galicia (RD 394/2025) and the Basque Country (RD 1310/2024); the State keeps the fee for occupying the coast.

Concessions: can they be transferred?

A concession is the only beach title that is sold together with the business. But the conditions are strict:

• A concession lasts no more than 75 years. It can be transferred, but the transfer is only valid if the authorities have first confirmed that the buyer meets the concession’s conditions; if the title has been breached, the transfer is refused. The State has a right of first refusal (tanteo y retracto). If a company holds the concession, a sale of 50% or more of its shares counts as a transfer of the concession (arts. 66.2 and 70.2 Ley de Costas, arts. 141 and 142 Reglamento).
• Concessions granted before 2013 can be extended on application (art. 2 Ley 2/2013). For restaurant use the extension is up to 30 years, and one fifth less on the shore itself (art. 174 Reglamento, 2014 wording).
• Many permanent chiringuitos in Andalusia are registered not to the operator but to the town hall. In the list of extended concessions for beach food and drink venues in Manilva and Matalascañas published in 2025, the concession holder is the Ayuntamiento itself (BOJA no. 121 of 26.06.2025). A private operator in such a chiringuito works under a contract with the town hall, and what they sell is the rest of that contract.

So the first thing to see, before any talk of price, is the document itself: the concession or permit decision, who holds it and when it expires.

What a beach bar costs: 2026 listings

We reviewed listings for beach bars, chiringuitos and beach clubs for sale on Milanuncios (October 2026). Idealista could not be accessed for the review.

These are asking prices, and they fall into two groups that cannot be compared.

Examples from the sample: a 290 m² chiringuito-restaurant in Torremolinos with 120 sunbeds — €1.5m, with 11 years left of a 15-year concession; the «concession» of a 300 m² chiringuito on the Marbella promenade — €1.7m; a beach club on Marbella’s Golden Mile — €1.6m with rent of almost €28,000 a month on a contract to 2036; a 181 m² bar-café on the Rincón de la Victoria promenade — €285,000; a bar with a terrace by the beach in Candelaria, Tenerife — €50,000 with rent of €850 a month.

The fifteen-fold gap between the groups is the price of the right to the spot.

A promenade bar sits in private premises, and its remaining lease is protected by tenancy law (as in our article Buying or opening a café or bar in Spain).

A venue on the sand is worth as many years as remain on its concession — and loses value every season unless it is extended.

What town halls charge: 2026 tenders

A new chiringuito on a seasonal beach comes not from a seller but from a tender. The price of the spot is the fee (canon) paid to the town hall, which bidders offer upwards.

In Cabrera de Mar the minimum fee is €30,000 a year per kiosk, bid upwards, the guarantee is 5% of the fee offered, and the term covers the 2026–2028 seasons (BOPB of 27.02.2026).

In Cambrils the January 2026 tender awarded 15 chiringuitos for 2026–2029: the starting fee was €18,000, winners pay from €19,000 to about €58,300 a year, trading is allowed from 1 March to 31 October; three spots drew no bids (press reports).

In Cádiz the bar-restaurant on the Victoria beach promenade is offered for 10 years with no extension at a fee from €40,656 a year; on top of that the operator pays a Costas fee of €14,455.54 a year, and trades without music from Palm Sunday to 30 September (press reports, September 2026).

In Orihuela the 2024–2027 lots cost from €37,466 to €239,663 a year, €641,858 in total (town hall news, November 2023).

A tender is about both price and project: the quality of the installation, the menu and accessibility are often scored alongside the fee.

The tender terms (pliego) are published in the regional gazette — check there whether the right to trade can be passed to someone else, and on what terms.

What you need to open

• A title to the spot. A won town hall tender or a concession. No other permits are issued without it.
• An installation project. Drawings of the kiosk and terrace that match the pliego and the Regulation: areas, distances, removability. The town hall shows the installation to Costas, which checks it against the permit.
• Water, power, drainage. All supply lines to a beach venue must run underground, connection to the sewer is compulsory and soakaway systems in the sand are banned; no title is granted without guaranteed wastewater disposal, and breaching this ends the title (art. 32.3 Ley de Costas, arts. 68 and 69 Reglamento).
• Season and dismantling. A seasonal kiosk is put up and taken down every year. Assembly and dismantling cost about €6,000–6,500 a season (press reports), plus winter storage of the module.
• Music and hours. These are set by the pliego and the region’s rules on public venues. In many tenders a chiringuito is a bar without music; night trading and DJs are a separate question to check before bidding.
• Hygiene and staff. As for any bar: the regional food register, a self-control plan, seasonal staff on fijo discontinuo contracts.

What a beach bar earns

The defining feature is the season. The till runs for 4–8 months (Cambrils allows March to October), while the fee and part of the costs run all year.

Cost ratios are those of a bar: food and drink 25–35% of revenue, staff 25–35%.

Staff.

Under the 2026 collective agreement for the province of Alicante a bar waiter earns €19,635 a year gross, and employer social security adds about 32% — about €2,160 a month per person including extra payments.

A seasonal worker costs money only in the months worked. Agreements in other provinces give different amounts, but the order of magnitude is the same.

Beach bar payback calculator

The calculator holds an illustrative seasonal chiringuito won in a tender: there is no purchase price, and the investment is €110,000 for the kiosk, equipment, project, connections and start-up cash (an assumption of the example).

The season is 6 months, revenue €40,000 a month excluding VAT (€240,000 a season), food and drink 30%, staff €10,800 per trading month (five people), the town hall fee €30,000 a year (entered as rent of €2,500 a month), other costs (power, water, insurance, accountant, assembly and dismantling) €1,500 a month.

Pre-tax profit is €55,200 a year, about €44,600 after tax, and the investment pays back in about 2.5 years.

Now compare that with the permit term. If it covers three seasons, the bar earns about €133,800 after tax over the whole term — only €23,800 more than was invested.

At €32,000 a month instead of €40,000, pre-tax profit falls to €21,600, payback stretches to 6.3 years, and the investment is not recovered within three seasons.

Break-even in the example is about €26,900 of revenue per trading month.

So for a beach bar the key question is not «how many years to pay back» but «does it pay back before the title expires». How to factor in time is covered in Payback period.

The second feature: cash arrives in summer, while the fee, the deposit and getting ready for the season need cash in spring. How not to run dry between seasons — in Cash gap.

Taxes

• VAT. Food and drink are taxed at the reduced 10% rate (art. 91.Uno.2.2º Ley 37/1992), while sunbed and parasol hire carries the standard 21% rate (art. 90). If sunbeds are a large share of revenue, keep them separate in the till.
• Profit tax. A bar run through an SL pays corporate tax: in 2026, with turnover under €1m, 19% on the first €50,000 of profit and 21% above; the calculator works the same way. An autónomo pays progressive IRPF; modules for bars are covered in Buying or opening a café or bar in Spain.
• The fee. The town hall fee and the Costas fee are business expenses, but they are due whether the season was good or not.

What to check before buying a beach bar

1. Title to the spot. Permit or concession, decision number, who holds it — the seller, their company or the town hall. If it is the town hall, the seller only has a contract with it.
2. Time left. How many seasons or years remain and whether an extension has been applied for. Compare the price with the profit up to the end of the title, not «over five years».
3. Can it be transferred. For a concession, the authorities must approve the buyer in advance and the State has a right of first refusal; for a tender right, see what the pliego allows. Buying shares in the concession-holding company also counts as a transfer.
4. Compliance with the Coastal Law. Area, enclosed part, distances, removability, drainage — does the bar on the sand match what was permitted? Are there open Costas or town hall cases, fines or demolition orders?
5. Revenue by season. Month by month for 2–3 seasons: bank statements, the till, VAT returns (modelo 303). Sunbeds and the bar separately. Bad weather and short seasons should show in the figures.
6. Debts and staff. The buyer of a trading business is liable for the seller’s tax debts (art. 42.1.c LGT) unless they obtain a tax-debt certificate before the deal (art. 175.2 LGT); for Social Security debts (art. 168.2 LGSS); employees transfer with all their rights (art. 44 ET).

How an existing business is checked before you pay a deposit is described on our traspaso audit page; if you are buying the company that holds the concession, you need full due diligence.

If you are moving to Spain for this business

A non-resident can buy or win a beach bar, but a non-EU citizen can live in Spain and run it personally only with a residence permit — usually a self-employment permit, for one year at first.

The golden visa has been abolished, and the startup visa does not suit a beach bar.

To be frank, a seasonal business makes this permit harder than usual: you live in Spain and renew the permit all year round, while a chiringuito’s till runs for a few months, so you need income outside the season too.

How the self-employment permit works is covered by Relotus in «Cuenta propia in Spain».

Frequently asked questions

Can I buy a chiringuito outright?

No. The beach is public land and a spot on the sand is not for sale. You buy the equipment, the brand and what is left of the right to trade — a seasonal permit through the town hall or a concession. A right under a seasonal permit cannot be transferred: it is won in a tender.

How much does a beach bar cost in Spain?

In October 2026 listings, beach venues with a concession and beach clubs ask around €1.5m on average, from €240,000 to €3.8m. A bar on the seafront promenade in private premises asks around €95,000, from €50,000 to €500,000. These are asking prices.

How much does the town hall charge for a chiringuito?

In 2026 tenders the starting fee is €18,000–30,000 a year per kiosk, and bidders offer up to €58,000 for the best spots. The fee is bid upwards and is due whatever the season turns out like.

For how long is a chiringuito granted?

A seasonal permit lasts up to 4 years, and the operator gets no more than the town hall: usually 2–4 seasons. A concession can by law run up to 75 years, with the term set in the decision itself; old concessions for restaurants are extended by no more than 30 years.

Can a beach bar concession be transferred?

Yes, but only if the authorities confirm in advance that the buyer meets the concession’s conditions. The State has a right of first refusal, and selling half of the concession-holding company’s shares counts as a transfer of the concession.

How is a beach club different from a chiringuito?

A beach club usually stands on private land behind the beach — in the coastal protection zone, with a regional permit and a municipal licence. A chiringuito stands on the sand, on public land. Any club’s sunbeds on the sand are public land with a separate permit.

What is the payback on a beach bar?

In the illustrative example with €240,000 of revenue a season, about 2.5 years. But compare it with the permit term: with three seasons the margin is almost zero, and at 20% lower revenue the investment is not recovered.

Key points about a beach bar in Spain

• A spot on the sand is not for sale: the bar runs on a seasonal permit of up to 4 years through a town hall tender, or on a concession.
• A seasonal permit is personal and non-transferable; a concession can be transferred only with the authorities’ prior approval.
• Tender fees in 2026 are about €18,000–58,000 a year; venues with a concession are listed at around €1.5m.
• Measure payback against the end of the title, not in years in general: a seasonal bar is very sensitive to revenue.
• Before buying — the title and its term, transferability, compliance with the Coastal Law, revenue by season, the seller’s debts.

Sources

• Ley 22/1988 de Costas — BOE; Reglamento General de Costas (RD 876/2014) — BOE; Ley 2/2013 — BOE; Supreme Court ruling annulling RD 668/2022 — poderjudicial.es.
• Extension of concessions in Andalusia — BOJA no. 121 of 26.06.2025.
• Cabrera de Mar tender — BOPB 27.02.2026; Orihuela — orihuela.es; Cambrils — Diari de Tarragona; Cádiz — Andalucía Información.
• LGT — BOE; Estatuto de los Trabajadores — BOE; Ley 37/1992 (VAT) — BOE.
• Collective agreement for the hospitality sector, province of Alicante, 2026 tables — BOPA.
• Beach bar listings — Milanuncios, October 2026.