Benidorm and several other coastal municipalities in Spain have made it a finable offense to build sandcastles on their beaches without obtaining a municipal permit first.

A closer look

Benidorm and several other coastal municipalities in Spain have made it a finable offense to build sandcastles on their beaches without obtaining a municipal permit first. Authorities claim this bizarre regulation is necessary to ensure the beaches can be properly cleaned by heavy machinery overnight without running into some child's painstakingly crafted medieval fortress. Fines for illicit architectural endeavors in the sand can reach up to one hundred and fifty euros, which is a steep price to pay for playing with wet dirt. It perfectly highlights how local bureaucrats will invent literally any excuse to monetize joy, turning a harmless beach vacation into a potential sting operation against an unsupervised six-year-old