My Thoughts About Winter in Barcelona

Winter in Spain isn't your typical snow storm but it also isn't beach days in bikinis. The winter in Barcelona is a lot shorter than in most countries and this makes me happy and is definitely one of the reasons I love living in Barcelona. I've been living here for over 3 years now and thought I'd share with you some of the things I love and things I find challenging about the winter in Barcelona.

What I love about the Barcelona Winter

It's still sunny even though it's cold

Even though it's cold and the sun sets a lot earlier during the winter, there are a lot of sunny days during the winter. This tends to brighten things up a bit and makes it feel a lot warmer if you're standing in direct sunlight during the day. For this reason, you'll often find people chilling at the beach on a sunny day, to catchup with friends or have a picnic.

It doesn't get freezing

Don't get me wrong, it gets cold alright. The humidity in Barcelona also means that it usually feels colder than it should, but it doesn't get freezing cold like the Latvian winters did. In Barcelona, the temperature occasionally goes down to about 3 degrees in the mornings and is around 8 at night, but it's more about the windiness which means you should always have a scarf with you.

You can visit the snow if you'd like

The beauty about living in Barcelona is that you have access to the beach and to the mountains. I'm a beach babe, so during the summer you'll find me at one beach or another snorkelling and tanning pretty much every weekend. In the Autumn/ Winter on the other hand, I love to visit the mountains. And if you have a car, it's pretty easy to drive off to Andorra for a few days and visit the snow. We're actually going there to celebrate the New Year, and I'm really excited as I'll finally be attempting to ski.

You can jet off to a more tropical part of Spain

The temperature in the different parts of Spain vary slightly, so if you feel like the Barcelona winter is too much, you can always jump on the internet and book a flight to the Gran Canarias at an acceptable cost. My friends visited about a week ago and after finding out how amazing the weather is, I almost got tickets to go meet them, but then realized I have lots of adulting to do. Although now I feel slightly jealous after seeing her tan. 

Things I'm not too fond of about the Barcelona Winter 

Not all apartments have heating

I'm guessing that modern apartments are better wired and equipped with central heating, but these apartments are also more expensive to rent. My current apartment is one of those which doesn't have the luxury of heating, therefore some winter days are exceptionally cold. 

Mini dresses and motorcycles don't mix

Getting around Barcelona is a lot easier by motorcycle and it is my chosen means of transportation when going to meet up with friends in the city center. The only drawback is that mini dresses do not mix with motorcycles in the winter. Unfortunately, I had to find that out the hard way and was stuck with a flu for a while. So now, I'll be styling up my jeans with knee high boots when going to meet up with friends.

Photoshoots are a lot more complicated

As a photographer, I thrive on having natural light for my shoots. Winter in Barcelona means it's already dark by the time I'm done with work, leaving only the weekends when I can shoot in daylight.  This really limits the number of shoots I can do and I honestly can't wait for spring when it starts getting lighter again.

What are the things you love and find challenging about the city you live in?