Hi, I'm thinking about moving to Madrid but I'm quite worried about the HEAT because I can't stand it a lot so I would like to know how it is possible to live there despite the heat. How long is it really difficult? I've heard that it was 3 months of "hell" ;-)
I live in Paris and I know Madrid has nothing to do with here ;-)
Thanks in advance for your answers, advices and for sharing your experiences!

Hi webbie, well, the fact is, that if you're not used to the heat, if would definitely be sheer hell, and at least 3 months, if not longer, June, July and August will be for sure the hottest months.

It does get really very hot at times in Madrid, and all the surrounding towns & villages, and is nothing like paris or London.

I had a very nice day trip to Toledo just two weeks ago, and really enjoyed my day there, but my god was it bloody hot that day.

It must have reached about 37 degrees Celsius by midday, and stayed like that right up to about 5 or 6 in the afternoon, and I got back to Madrid by about 8.00 pm, flaked-out on the train and almost ended up at Chamartin station instead of Atocha until somebody poked me in the arm to ask if I was okay, and got of the train and was really quite dizzy from all that heat, and it was pretty much the same in Aranquez that week, and Alcala de Henares was also scorching hot on one of the days that I was there, San Lorenzo, El Escorial, Valle de Los Caidos, as well, quite hot up in the high 30's I think most of the two & a half weeks that I was going around, the average temp was about 35 Celsius, and the power of the sunshine (Sol) was extremely intense.

So my advice to you if as you say you don't like it too much, and are not used to it, is take note of the fact that there are some years over the last several, that I have been in Madrid, where the temp has been recorded as being between 42 and 47 degrees Celsius, and I have had that experience and have seen that showing on the temp gauges all around town many times, and I hated it, it was just too much, and makes it very dificult to get out and do very much, which is one of the big reasons why many people in Spain shut the shop at 1.00pm and disapppear for 4 to 5 hours...(La Siesta).

To be honest, I don't know how some people cope with life in the really hot parts of the country, in old times I think they mostly did nothing during the day unless it was absolutely unavoidable, and they mostly came out in the early hours of the morning to work, and then again in the late evening, finishing around 9 or 10, before going home to eat their dinner, but during Siesta, the towns were like ghost towns, quite empty, except for a few mad dogs & englishmen of course.

The winters can be bitterly cold in the north too, including all around Madrid and La Mancha, surprisingly so in fact, it gets a lot of Ice cold air blowing down from the Guadarama mountains, and so the wind chill factor in Madrid can be bittingly cold between December & February.

But as for the heat, hmmm well, I dunno, you might get used to it after a year or two, but I think it will still bother you no matter how long you might be in Madrid. I don't want to put you off of coming to Madrid of course, but as you say you can't take a lot of heat, you will not be able to avoid it in Madrid during summer, unless you're going to live the life of a night-owl, and either work or study at night, as I did for a while, it was much easier working during the night, and kipping during the day.

Me personally, I get really fed-up with it, too much heat for too long is not my idea of having a nice time, or too much bitter cold in winter either, and I've had winter hols in both Madrid and Barcelona, and they're both quite cold, especially Madrid, and that's the problem with Madrid, it suffers from the two extremes,
but anyway, the choice is yours at the end of the day.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

Santiago.

hey webbie, welcome to the board.

well, i am one of those people who sweats in january here so you can imagin e how miserable i can get in july and august. i am a naturally hot person and my body genarates a lot of warth, ena (my lady ) reaps the benefits of this as she is a "friolera" (person who is often cold) but for me it is my cross in summertime.

summer and the heat wave hit earlier this year (global warming?) than usual and it is HOT, HOT, HOT!!!

i deal with it as i love living here. we go to the pool, the beach in august (ena has a beach place ), etc...

i have ac at the office and every year around early june i say to myself i am going to put in ac at home but for some reason the summer flies by (probably becuase it is my bussiest time at work) and i end up not putting it in.

this year i am thinking of buying a portablke ac unit for home, have even scoped out models and prices.

as for the duration, i would say it is really only unbearable for 2 months of the madrid summer.

saludos,
jer...

I'm told it really is very hot this year, even in the north. My husband and son are up in Navarre on the Camino de Santiago; they are rising each day at 5:30 a.m. to walk when it is bearable!

Pray for rain.
Reb.

Hi,

Santiago@45: The thing is that Madrid has everything to deal with the heat (such as air conditionning in the Metro, shops, even in some flats, etc.) which is not the case in Paris.
That is why I'm wondering if it will be the same, maybe with all the "equipments" it is easier.

I lived in Spain for 6 months (5 years ago) and I don't remember having a problem with the heat but maybe it was because I was on the North.
Your advice about working during the night is possible for me as I prefer working late ;-)

About the winter, I don't have a problem with it :-D because I used to live in a part of France quite cold and I am used of temperatures under zero ;-)

Thanks for sharing your experience!

jer: Thank you too. Yes maybe there is a relation with the global warming because for example on Yahoo! weather forecasts I can see that here in Paris it is (well officially) 31 degrees (Celsius) and it is 34 in Madrid...
On days like this one, it's simple: I try not to go out or only if it is important, and I'm quite fine so maybe that if I do that it will be ok?

About the air conditionning, I hope you will put it this year!

rebrites: Thanks and nice sentence about the Camino ("A Santiago, nunca se llega, solo se va"), I didn't knew it :-)

I lived in Paris for several years, and definitely prefer Madrid´s weather. The difference here is that it´s dry heat, and not the damp stickiness in Paris. Winters here are also much more bearable here as because it is dry the cold doesn´t creep through any tiny gap in your clothing. People don´t rush around here as much as in Paris and that helps, and there are loads of open air swimming pools in summer.
And the big bonus about Madrid is that there are no stressed-out Parisians and they also know about deodorant here, which is more than I could say for my fellow RER passengers on the way to La Defense in summer. Come to Madrid, it´s a zillion times nicer than Paris.

Hi Scooter,
Well I have to say that some things are unfortunately true...
Thanks for your testimony, it helps :-)

When I was stationed in Rota, (Cadiz), Spain I used to sleep with 3 fans on me. One at my head, one at my feet, and one on the side just to cool off enough to sleep. The only thing that made it bearable was going to the beach all day to cool off in the water. As hot as it was, I still look back to those days as some of my favorite of my whole life.

well, it has cooled down A TON this week here in madrid, great breeze at night and not too bad during the day.

figures since i did it! i went out and got the portable ac unit for home i was looking at. the day we got it it was sweltering outside and it made a WORLD of difference.

of course now that i have one it will probably be the coolest summer in history

if anyone wants to know which brand/model i got, where i got it, etc... just ask.

saludos,
jer...

Yes yes... I would like to know all that please and how much thanx!

Yep, you also need to tell us the output capacity, measured in kW, and the square metre of floor area you're cooling! Come on!

okeeeeeeee, here goes.

keep in mind that we wanted a portable unit since i refuse to install an ac for just 2-3 months of the year, especially since we live in the plaza mayor and the exterior part of one of those installation units would look HORRID on our balcony from down in the plaza. some of the neighbors of the plaza have them and it is U.G.L.Y!!!

we also have a unique apt. in that the living room and 2 main bedrooms are separated from the hall, 3rd bedroom, kitchen and bathroom by a door. so keep in mind that we only need to cool the living room and one (our) bedroom, reducing the m2 we need to cool to about 50 (35 for the living room and 15 for the bedroom). we do not cool the hallway, kitchen, bathroom, etc... as it would be a waste of time and money.

the one we went with is made by "suntec-wellness". they have a website in many languages at http://www.suntec-wellness.de but for some reason the specs. pages for the products has not been translated.

our unit is at http://www.suntec-garten.de/wellness2004/suntecmain.php...rik=klima&seite=plus

it is the "Suntec Klimatronic Preference 3.6 plus reversible", is ac and heater and cost 349.00 euros + 18 euros delivery at media markt (http://www.mediamarkt.es) we went to the san sebastian de los reyes store.

- cooling cap. = 3024 kcal/hr. - 3529 watts.
- heating cap. = 3150 kcal/hr. - 3676 watts.

when i was looking into ac, i was told by many store employees that i would need an installation unit to cool 50 sq meters, NOT TRUE.

when it comes to cooling, it all depends on the "frigorias" per hour the unit outputs. the more the cooler.

our unit is supposed to have 3580 frigorias per hour and is only supposed to cool up to 25 m2. ours cools the 50 meters pretty fast and with no probs.

ok, maybe to convert the rooms into an igloo i would need more but this bad boy rocks and really makes a difference in the room temp. i have it on right now and it shows 25 degrees as the room temp. compared to the 34 outside. for me it is about being comfy and not being frozen.

even when i step into the hallway i can feel the difference.

i HIGHLY recommend these things, it will change the way you sleep. i had trouble sleeping on very hot nights before.

buy one!!!

end of infomercial

saludos,
jer...

Hey dude, tell me, does your unit do de-humidify-ing?

I ask because I've been looking at an AC unit over here, (portable, not fixed) and it is almost identicle in spec to the one you've got, but, it states clearly on the front that it "de-humidifies", and the price is almost literally the same as your AC unit.

Now I've experienced the diference of having one that automatically de-hunidifies, at a friends place recently, when we were having a mini heatwave here, and I can tell you for sure, that the combination of air cooling and de-humidification is really very noticeable, and his unit was really cooling down his whole apartment.

But as he explained to me, the way to get the maximum effect (cooling) throughout the flat, with the minimum output from the unit, is to make sure you keep all the windows tightly shut, only opening occasionally to refresh the air in the flat.

I think it is because, when there is enough hunidity in the air, we feel warmer, when the overall ambient temperature is higher, and loaded with moisture, we tend to perspire more easily, therefore it makes sense to take some of that humidity/moisture out of thr air, which is why I'm considering the one that does that, because where my flat is situated, it gets cooked by direct sunlight from morning to evening, and does get really very, very hot & oppressively himid/sticky.

Now I know some people are not too keen on the dry air provided by some AC systems in their offices, (mine included) as it can dry you out a little too much, and in my office in central London, it's been bloody freezing for weeks now, and I've been getting some very dry throaty symptoms, and a little headache from it, simply because it's so damn powerful, and we've been complaining about it to management, but to no avail, but if they just turned the power down a few notches, I'm sure it would be fine, and also save them some electricity.

If your unit does not do de-humidifying, would you consider getting a small de-humidifier, to further enhance the "comfort factor" in/around your apartment?

Of course in other places like Barcelona, there's really no choice in most flats/apartments, you either have a de-humidifier in your place, or you spend more time dripping, and that I know from experience of living in BCN during some of the most humid times that I have ever had in my life, I mean I was literally dripping from morning to midnight, and sometimes all night as well, man that place is a steam bath in September, as it was last September when I was there for a while, and I know that Madrid can get pretty steamy like that at times too.

Anyway, glad to hear that you finally got one, (long over due it is too) but better late than never eh! It's the only way to get a decent sleep during the siesta, in the afternoon, when it's 42 degrees outside, just switch on the cooler, kick off you're sandles, and there you go, Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Cheers & Saludos.

Santi.

quote:

Hey dude, tell me, does your unit do de-humidify-ing?

hey buddy , in the specs. it says...

- humidity removal capacity - 1.5 1/h.

whatever that means.

saludos,
jer...

An air conditioner by definition is also a de-humidifier. The cool coils in a humid, warm space condense the water vapor out of the air. That's why there's often a puddle beneath a car or window where an air conditioner is running.