When to go
For a
beach holiday in Spain, the Northern Atlantic coast has a cool and fairly rainy summer. Moreover, the ocean temperature is quite cool even in this period, so the Mediterranean coast is preferable, and the best months are July and August.
For those wishing to
visit cities and go on excursions, summer is a great season on the Atlantic side (north and north-west), where you can find cool or mild weather, very different from the rest of Spain. The same can be said with regard to the mountainous areas, which are sunny but not too hot.
The rest of Spain, during summer, is hot, especially in July and August, and the heat can be difficult to bear, at least for those who don't like it. This applies especially to the Southern inland areas (see Seville, Córdoba), which are literally on fire, almost an outpost of Africa in Europe.
In general, the best seasons to visit the southern and central parts of Spain are
spring and autumn. In Madrid and Barcelona, for example, May, June and September are the best months (though in September, especially in Barcelona, the first autumn rains occur); in Seville, which is characterized by a particularly long and hot summer, the best months are May, October and April, when the maximum temperature can already exceed 25 °C (77 °F) with some ease.
In
winter, the weather in the southern coasts of Spain (
Costa de la Luz,
Costa del Sol,
Costa Blanca) is usually mild and sunny, so a stay in these areas can be pleasant even in this season (at least when compared to other parts of Europe).
For a
ski holiday, snow is more likely in the Pyrenees than in the mountainous areas of the center and south. As mentioned on the climate page, you can also ski north of Madrid, in the Sierra de Guadarrama, and further south in the Sierra Nevada. However, even though ski runs in the Sierra Nevada are located at very high altitudes, above 3,000 meters (10,000 ft), they are not always covered with snow, as we saw some years ago, when the World Ski Championships were postponed to the next year because of lack of snow.
What to pack
In
winter, for Madrid and the plateau, pack warm clothes such as a sweater, a down jacket, and a raincoat or umbrella. For the Northern Atlantic coast and Barcelona, bring warm clothes like a sweater, a jacket, a raincoat or umbrella. For the south coast: spring/autumn clothes are appropriate, including a sweater, a jacket, a raincoat or umbrella. For the high mountains: mountain clothing.
In
summer, for the Northern Atlantic coast, bring light clothing such T-shirts, but also a jacket, a sweatshirt or sweater and a raincoat or umbrella. For Madrid and the plateau, you will also need light clothing as well as a sun hat, a sweatshirt for cool evenings and possibly an umbrella. For Barcelona, the Balearic Islands and the South it is wise to pack light clothes, a sun hat, and a sweatshirt for the evening in June and September (but also in July and August in the Costa de la Luz and in Tarifa).
For the mountains, bring a sweatshirt, a jacket, hiking shoes, sunscreen and sunglasses.
Back to the climate of
Spain