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From Tenerife to Ibiza, here's how to survive the sun, surf and superclubs of the Spanish islands with World Nomads.
- Be sun smart
- Beach safety in Spain
- Beachside petty crime in Spain
- Tips for clubbing in Spain
- Clubbing safely in Spain
- Staying safe at night in Spain
- Driving safely in the Canary Islands
- Potential wildfire danger in the Spanish Islands
Be sun smart
The biggest factor here is heat. Both the Balearics and the Canaries can get baking hot in the height of summer. Sunscreen, a hat and some common sense can save you a lot of pain down the track.
Bad sunburn can be uncomfortable and inconvenien,t but sunstroke will leave you laid out for days. Prolonged exposure to the sun can overwhelm your body's cooling mechanisms, resulting in headache, dizziness, weakness or fainting. In severe cases, sunstroke can cause organ failures, brain damage or even death.
Dehydration is one of the biggest contributing factors in sunstroke or heatstroke cases. It's important to keep up your fluid intake but sucking down cold cocktails isn't the way to go about it. Alcohol is a diuretic, so you'll end up actually losing water through excessive urination. So, if you are enjoying the beachside bars, make sure you have plenty of water between drinks.
If you're recovering from a big night out, you may already be dehydrated, so energy drinks and coffee are a bad idea, even if they make you feel better in the short term. A sports drink or some ice cold water is your best bet.
Young children are particularly susceptible to sunstroke so if you're travelling with kids, be vigilant and make sure they drink plenty of water. Sugar and sodium are actually effective in preventing or treating sunstroke, so you can fill them up with juice or soft drinks without feeling guilty.
Strenuous activity can contribute to sunstroke so make sure children are kept out of the sun in the hottests times of the day – do what the Spanish do and take a siesta (afternoon sleep).
Symptoms of heatstroke to watch for are:
- headache
- flushed then pale skin
- shallow, rapid breathing
- slurred or incoherent speech.
Treatment for sunstroke relies on rapidly dropping body temperature, and can include anything from drinking cold drinks to ice baths, depending on the severity of symptoms. In all cases. get the sufferer into a cool shady spot, remove any restrictive clothing and seek medical attention.
Beach safety in Spain
Be careful when swimming at the beach – the surf at Balearic beaches might be flat but there are dangerous currents. The Canary Islands' are the Atlantic Ocean and can get some very powerful surf. Many of the bigger beaches will have blue flags, to indicate the safe areas to swim, or red flags, which mean you mustn't enter the water.
If you're swimming at one of the smaller unguarded beaches either don't venture out too far and stay out of the water if conditions seem dangerous.
Beachside petty crime in Spain
The resorts centred around the most popular beaches are also the focus of pickpockets and petty thieves. Unattended items at the beach will quickly disappear, so even while you're relaxing kepp an eye on your belongings.
Stuffing your wallet down the bottom of your shoe isn't as clever as you might think, with thieves often making footwear their first priority. The best bet is to take only the basics to the beach and leave valuables, especially your passport, under lock and key in your accommodation. If you have a camera, phone or an iPod with you, makre sure someone watches it for you when you go for a dip.
Loose fitting summer clothing and huge beach bags are a blessing for pickpockets. With plenty of room for error, even fumbling thieves can get their fingers on your stuff. For this reason it's especially important to be on your guard when visiting sightseeing hotspots, crowded beaches or busy markets.
Any strangers who approach you out of the blue should be treated with suspicion. They could be trying to distract you while they delve into your pockets. Women offering flowers or rosemary sprigs "for luck" are prime examples of this tactic and should be avoided, ignored or firmly dismissed.
Tips for clubbing in Spain
Ibiza is known for its giant clubs, which boast some of the world's top DJs as residents. However, all this prestige comes with a price tag, and tickets to some of the bigger parties can hit your pocket pretty hard. Don't be tempted by scalpers offering cheap tickets on the street, they'll often turn out to be fake.
You can get tickets from almost any shop or bar on the island but it's safest to source them from the bigger venues. You can sometimes avoid long queues by purchasing tickets online, which means you're added to a guest list and can slip through a special entrance. During the giant opening parties in May and June or the closing parties in September, these guest lists are likely to be just as full as the main entrances.
There's no real dress code at most of the clubs, although after forking out for a ticket you don't want to push your luck too far. For those of you with friends in high places, you won't be able to get into VIP areas while wearing shorts.
If you dress snappily enough and hang onto someone with a record bag you may be able to slip in for free, although you shouldn't count on it.
Clubbing safely in Spain
The Balearic Islands are alternatively known for their intense nightlife or chilled-out recovery culture. Either way, indulgence and hedonism are the orders of the day. Unfortunately, some people take it too far and burn themselves out or get burned.
Bartenders here tend to be very generous when pouring drinks, so it can be difficult to keep track of your alcohol intake. The exorbitant drinks prices in the superclubs of Ibiza and Mallorca are probably enough to make you think twice about that next cocktail, but in bars and restaurants, it's a different story. Promoters will offer you full trays of drinks for almost nothing in order to entice you into their establishment. Be aware that it's easy to get caught up in this excitement and overdo it. No matter how careful and sensible you normally are, it's difficult to make good decisions with a jug of sangria under your belt.
The popularity of these islands as party hotspots means there will be plenty of other rowdy travelers around, some of them looking for trouble after a long night. Try and avoid big, noisy groups of revellers, especially outside bars or clubs, and don't get sucked in by provocative or aggressive behaviour. Big drug cultures on both Ibiza and Mallorca mean you can't always predict how someone is going to react. The riskiest time is when the clubs close and everybody's flooding into the streets. Don't linger for too long.
Staying safe at night in Spain
By the time you head for home, you probably won't be too concerned about how you get there, as long as there's a bed waiting for you. Often the sun will be coming up by the time the clubs close, so walking might seem like a safe option. If you're close to your accommodation this should be fine, although as usual you should stick to well-lit main streets and avoid dark alleys.
There are a lot of prostitutes on the streets of San Antonio who can be very insistent. Make sure they don't get their hands on your wallet while they grab at you, but don't be too aggressive when getting rid of them. They often have large friends watching from the shadows.
For long trips home, make sure you get a cab or a bus. Ibiza's superclubs are scattered all over the island and while there are "disco bus" services running between them and all the major resorts, you could find yourself fighting the crowds as thousands of your fellow clubbers pour onto the street.
Taxis are quite cheap and reliable on all of the islands, especially if you're in a group. There are often set prices between certain points on the islands so it's a good idea to get a price, or at least an estimate before setting off.
Girls should be wary if heading home by themselves, and should avoid the unlicensed, illegal cabs that scour the islands.
Driving safely in the Canary Islands
Despite the high-season crowds, there are plenty of unspoilt beaches and coves to be found on all of Spain's islands. Hire a car or scooter to head out on your own.
Aside from the main highways, the islands' roads are often narrow, windy and unlit, so drive carefully. If you're on a scooter, helmets are mandatory and should be provided by the hire company. Make sure you are insured and licenced to ride a scooter. Police are vigilant and there are heavy, on-the-spot fines for offenders.
Spanish law is very strict on drink driving, and the unpredictable pouring in Spanish bars means it's easy to accidentally find yourself over the 0.05 per cent BAC limit. Don't drink if you're driving.
If you're parking your car in a populated area, don't leave valuables inside to tempt thieves. On Tenerife especially, thieves are known to stake out isolated miradors or lookouts and wait for careless tourists. Anything left in the car you're likely to lose, and there are also reports of entire cars being boosted to be quickly shipped over to Africa.
Potential wildfire danger in the Spanish Islands
The hot, dry climate of the Canary Islands means there is a danger of forest fires. Devastating blazes swept across the Islands in 2007 and 2009, forcing thousands of residents and holidaymakers to evacuate. La Palma, the least developed and most wooded of the islands, is particularly susceptible.
Ibiza also has a history of wildfires, with big blazes in 2010 and 2011 leading to the precautionary evacuation of hundreds of tourists. The fires are more common in the sparsely populated north of the island, so if you plan on exploring, make sure to look at weather reports and take note of any warnings.
Even if the flames don't directly threaten tourist areas, smoke plumes can cause flight delays and greatly disrupt your holiday.
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