Snow on the Costa Brava

The general perception in the UK of places in the south of Europe, like the Costa Brava is one of year-round warm temperatures and mild winters, but in reality the weather can get colder. Looking out of the window at the moment and it's snowing. OK, that's big wet soggy snowflakes that aren't settling at the moment, but it's very unusual to have snow close the coast in November.

Snow itself is rare, but not so unusual. In general most years have the possibility of a day's snow and the occasional whiteout during December to February. When we were first looking for somewhere to live here, we arrived just after a snow flurry in February and were walking around Pals with snow on the ground. Generally though the snow doesn't settle, but if you we're close enough to the Pyrenees to be able to head to the mountains for a day to get a full winter experience.

The general winter situation is that nights are cold, but days can be bright and sunny and it can be sunny enough to keep a house warm without needing heating during the daylight. As it gets colder in the evenings many people just use a simple fire for warmth, rather than turn to full heating, at least until the deeper winter. So a piece of advice for anyone visiting during the winter period eg over Christmas, is to check whether the house or villa has central heating.