Hi
We leave for Spain the first Tuesday of April. (just about 2.5 weeks from now) I've been watching the weather there (tons of rain in Andalusia).
I tried to find a department store website in Barcelona (where we land) and Madrid but didn't get far (don't know Spanish).
Does anyone have an idea of how cheap umbrellas are?
For 10 E I'd be willing to buy one as needed. (I'll have a warm coat that's sort of a rain coat along w/ a waterproof hat)
Otherwise, I'm willing to bring one with.
I always take small travel umbrella on every trip I take. Buy one at home and pack it so you don’t waster time looking for one in Spain. In cities a rain jacket with a hood works best.
When it rains in the big cities, you’ll almost always see street vendors selling umbrellas for €5-10. Personally, I just go with a good hooded rain jacket and leave my hands free. But that’s me.
I don't know about the quality of umbrellas sold on the street or in cheap shops in Barcelona/Madrid, but the one I bought in Bulgaria lasted less than 24 hours. I had taken a good one from home, but left it in a restaurant. So I'd check the weather forecast the day of departure, and if it looks likely to be wet, I'd throw a collapsible umbrella in the suitcase.
People selling cheap umbrellas pop up on sidewalks like mushrooms the instant it starts raining, in any large city around the world. The umbrellas sold there are generally crap, but will work for a few hours if you're careful.
Honestly - I think umbrellas are only marginally useful. OK for ducking between one doorway and another - just a quick dash to minimize how wet you'll get. If you will be walking around in a rainy place, get a good hooded waterproof rain jacket. You get can a good-enough one that's small, light, effective and cheap at a place like REI or any decent outdoor store.
I never go on any trip without 1) a small, lightweight - but 100% waterproof - hooded rain jacket, and 2) a good rain hat that will keep rain/drizzle off my head and face (keeping my glasses dry). These items are tiny (the jacked packs down to a baseball-sized lump, and the hat is floppy, light and small). If I'm going someplace where I expect to be outside much (which is pretty much everyplace I go) and if there's much chance of significant rain, I usually bring waterproof rain pants, too.
If you have some distance to cover, and it's raining hard, an umbrella will NOT keep you and your things dry - they are utterly useless if there's any wind along with the rain. Believe me! Hey, I live in Seattle, a city that's notorious for rain. Question: How can you tell the difference between someone who has lived in Seattle for a while, and someone who just arrived? Answer: Look outside on any rainy day...the newcomers are easy to spot - they're all the ones with umbrellas (the locals are dressed in Goretex outer-ware).
YMMV. Good luck.
5€ at any of the pound shops (dollar shops for the Americans) run mostly by the Chinese community members. 10€ for a decent one. These are found almost every hundred yards!
Still, "tons of rain" is misleading... this ain't the tropics, here in Barcelona -the region of Catalonia- rain normally means a shortish heavy downpour (if even!) and then the sun might come back again. We have very few really miserable all-day-long-rain-days during the year.
PS. Not that it matters, but here in Catalonia where you land, Catalan is the local language -albeit Spanish is co-official- yet most serious places will have a multilingual website, including Catalan (of course), Spanish and English.
El Corte Inglés headquartered in Madrid, is the biggest department store group in Europe and ranks fourth worldwide. El Corte Inglés is Spain's only remaining department store chain, as well as owner of several associated businesses, ...
https://www.elcorteingles.com/en/fashion/search/?s=UMBRELLAS
We just returned from a three week trip through Andalusia and yes, it rained. A lot. We each had a light raincoat with hood, waterproof shoes and a small umbrella. It was adequate most of the time. There were two times where we got soaked anyway because it was windy and the rain was sideways. It seemed like the weather is improving though. You can buy one in the bigger cites no problem.
