Vacation in Spain: What to Bring
Spain is quite a big country with a variety of landscapes and climate zones – you will have the opportunity to engage in a lot of different activities. You can practice water sports, go hiking in the Pyrenees, visit churches and other cultural sites and of course, you can bake in the sun at the beach. So, what you want to bring for your vacation in Spain depends very much on what you plan to do.
First of all: Spain is a developed country in the middle of Europe, so you will be able to buy about everything over here. You might not find the selection you are used to, but from camping gear to equipment for water sports everything is available.
What to Bring on a Sightseeing-Trip in Spain
The most important: bring comfortable shoes! Nothing can ruin your vacation like sore feet, so if you plan to do sightseeing you will most likely walk A LOT! In my experience the most practical footwear for trotting asphalt all day are sneakers, my favourite (= most comfortable) brand being New Balance. But any shoes you are comfortable in walking all day are fine.
You should adapt yourself to a certain degree to the Spanish dress code. A tank top and flip flops are not an appropriate outfit for visiting a church or a museum. Actually in the eyes of a Spaniard this kind of clothes is fit for only one place: the beach. Even simpler restaurants will require you to wear a shirt (t-shirts and decent shorts are fine for a simple place); if you go out for dinner you should dress up a little. The same applies if you want to visit a classical concert, the opera or a theater: the Spanish like to dress up and in general pay a lot of attention to their appearance.
In summer it can get very hot, so bring light clothes, or buy them in Spain – there are a lot of shops to explore! In spring and autumn there might be rain, the northwest of Spain gets a lot of precipitacion from the Atlantic – they say that the rain is an art in Santiago de Compostela… Winters can get very cold in Central-Spain, be prepared for snow if you plan to visit a place above 800 metres (2400 feet) of altitude. At the coast winters can get quite windy with wind speeds up to 120 km/h. Even if the temperature normally is well above freezing point, you will get cold very fast, so bring warm clothes.
What to bring for hiking trips
There is plenty of opportunity to go hiking in Spain, one of the most famous tours being the Camino de Santiago, a increasingly popular pilgrimage that leads 800 kilometres (?? miles) from the french border to the Galician city of Santiago de Compostela. Shirley MacLane has done part of the way and wrote a book about it:The Camino : A Journey of the Spirit
There are plenty of National Parks and Natural Monuments that are perfect for hiking as well, at National Park “Picos de Europa” in Northwestern Spain there are peaks of more than 2000 metres (6500 feet) of altitude at less then 30 kilometres of the coast.
If you want to do serious hiking you will need good equipment. In the Picos de Europa for example, weather conditions can change from one minute to another and you might get into a snow storm or heavy fog even in summer. Solid hiking boots that cover the ankles and a light but warm jacket are a must. If you plan to camp (only allowed in designated camping sites) you want to bring a wind prove tent and a fairly warm sleeping bag.
Don´t forget good quality sunglasses (you might even need them in winter) and a hat to prevent insulation. A water bottle is also useful, as you always have to bring water. When planning a walk through an arid landscape bring closed shoes ( no sandals), not so much because of snakes (you might encounter them, but usually they try to get away from you) but because of the vegetation that very often consists in thorny bushes and spiky grasses. There might be the occasional scorpion here and there as well.
What to bring for a beach vacation
A towel, a bikini, lots of sunscreen and a good book!
