Essentials or non essentials that make sense to pack for a self-catering holiday in Spain

[Whattopack]

Heading on a self catering vacation to a villa in Spain in the next week and it's my first abroad holiday just me and kids aged 12 and 9. Please share your best ideas of bringing little things from home that made life easier or were an absolute win for you or kids.

Extension cables, clothes pegs, games like uno, scrabble, rapidough. We took some spice mixes e.g. peri peri seasoning, tikka marinade. Painkillers, antihistamines, aftersun. Ds took protein powder, dh and I took blue curaçao for cocktails 🍸. Maybe take some breakfast bars, snacks if you are arriving late as you might not make it to a supermarket and villas dont always have anything provided

Do you have a washing machine/dishwasher? Maybe take a few tablets/pods to tide you over until you get to a shop. Tea bags/coffee if you have a preferred brand. Dh takes some of his sharp knives (wrapped in tea towels in the case) as he likes decent ones for prepping food. We used the bbq a few times and they were good for chopping up meat.

We usually have to buy some platters/plastic cups while we're away. We do like a trip to the overseas supermarkets!

Spain is super easy, there are great supermarkets and also lots of “Chinese shops” (Bazar chinés) which open long hours, don’t generally close for siesta and many of which sell absolutely anything you might need from beach umbrellas to sun cream to wine to batteries to bikinis to kitchen equipment. I would take your favourite teabags if you’re not near an area with a lot of Brits but on for eg Costa del Sol it’s v easy to get British brands. Source: I have family there, have lived there for short periods and go there at least three times a year. One thing I always take is Savlon because I’ve never found anything similar that’s as good there.

Supermarkets in Spain are very good and at least in tourist areas are open on Sundays for the summer. You can buy everything you want and much more! Except for double cream for some bizarre reason and you can hardly bring that!
I would just bring things you don’t want to have to buy a whole packet of…
Also good call above for travel adapters and multi socket extension cable.
Pharmacies here are great and really helpful.
I’d also download a good translation app for your phone and load English and Spanish (Castilian) so it works offline.

I forgot to say, have a fantastic holiday!

With teens - adaptor to eu socket and an extension cable with a number of UK sockets (and preferably a couple of USB ports) to make 1 socket useful for many devices needing charging.

a single small sharp knife (I used to wrap in a teatowel as others, but now have one with its own protective plastic cover), corkscrew, 1 wooden spoon. I usually buy a mug when away as I always forget to bring 1 (the rest don’t care but I want a proper mug of tea not the wincy tiny cups). A ziploc bag with a decent handful of teabags (but I’ll happily buy local coffee).

A ziploc bag with a handful of dishwasher tablets and washing machine tablets/capsules. A 100ml squeezy bottle of washing up liquid (I mostly use the dishwasher on hols).

Microfibres towels can be handy for beach/pool and some kind of tote bag for beach things/food shopping/bringing cardigan for evening dinner etc.

I also usually bring a few favourite seasonings - but do a supermarket shop when we get there.

I always pack my knife sharpener when self-catering in Spain. Villas are usually well stocked but knives inevitably go blunt. I don’t take anything else as we all love our first trip to the Mercadona (supermarket).

I live in Spain and Spanish supermarkets are terrible! They hardly stock anything. There is an equivalent of double cream but sour cream is sadly not a thing here.

Charging cables, at least one per device you bring

Tea bags

some tupperware containers for leftovers or take food/fruit when you go out

If you have a dishwasher and/or washing machine some pods/laundry sheets

check if beach towels are provided

I google 'Aldi or Lidl Malaga/Barcelona' or where ever you are going to see how far the closest is. There are other supermarkets available, but aldi/lidl tend to be cheaper there also.

Take some carrier bags

If the kids like a certain squash see if they sell the mini, concentrated versions and take some. I can certainly taste the difference between my regular brand and a random one bought abroad.

Tea bags/coffee is you prefer a certain brand

I often buy a roll of foil once there to keep the oven and grill cleaner

Don't take tupperware, get yourself to Mercadona, they have a great range, I've bought loads to bring home.

Unlike a PP, I love a Spanish supermarket and walking distance to a Mercadona and/or an Eroski, or Lidl at a push is a non negotiable for a Spanish SC holiday for me.

Apart from UK teabags, they have everything I want on holidays. Eroskis are usually massive so have loads of choice, but I like Mercadona best, its like a Spanish Aldi, just simple stores with decent mostly own brand stuff.

I also try to remember to take reusable bags, which can double as beach bags.

We take bags for life including a couple of cool bag type ones. Does hiperdino/superdino exist in mainland Spain? We went there and aldi and lidl and mercadona and the Chinese supermarket place which sells everything you might need. If you go to lidl you can change the app to the country you're in and you get their special offers too. We used lidl a lot in Lanzarote as they had a good range of meat and fruit/veg

Eroski is brilliant.

Well, I don't want to buy more, I already have plenty of containers at home.

Tupperware is good to pack because you can put your stuff in it in the case.

I always take OTC medicine like paracetamol, ibuprofen etc. You have to buy them from a pharmacy in Spain, they don't have them in supermarkets.

Good idea, also comparatively expensive, a few euros instead of pennies.

However, if you do have a minor ailment, Spanish pharmacies are brilliant and can prescribe things like antibiotics without a GP visit. We've had issues like severely infected insect bites where you just go and show the pharmacist and walk out with antibiotics and a cream that's more effective than standard savlon type stuff.

Tea bags/ instant coffee and I usually pack tiny jam jars of salt and pepper so you don’t have to buy more than you can use. For beach days, picnics etc I travel with this portable cutlery set, honestly comes in handy all the time.

Reusable plastic bags come in handy for wet towels and bathing suits, an extra quick dry towel, reusable water bottle and portable charger for long days out!

I like things like that because I hate eating with wooden cutlery.

I got some lunch boxes that came with a plastic knife fork and spoon set that seemed slightly useless so they just lived in a drawer for a couple of years and nearly fell victim to a clear out.

Fortunately I realised they were 'airport safe' unlike my titanium spork so they now live in the bag I use when flying.

One thing I insist on is a washing up sponge. Most places don’t have a dishwasher and I have seen enough ppl at work just rinsing things and declare it ‘clean’ so I tend to re-wash things.
Microfibre towels for the beach.
Washing up powder decanted.
In recent years we’ve been travelling with hand luggage only as they’re becoming more expensive than buying a few items here or there.
I have also saved up some little packets of spices/sauces from Gousto boxes to take them with us.
Enjoy your holiday!

I live in Spain part time.
The only thing I have never tracked down is chilli's. I'm actually growing a couple on my balcony.
Also, DH practically drinks HP sauce.
TBF, we do have our property in a very spanish area. When I am there, the English population swells to 3

It's a balance between taking loads of 'bits' or having to waste stuff abroad that you can't bring back (plus the annoyance of having to shop for things you already have plenty of at home) but one surprising thing we found in Mercadona in Spain was packs of sachets of allioli, which we always like to have there. I suppose the intention is that people use them for picnics or packed lunches?

In the past we've bought a tub and accepted that we can't bring it back if we're hand luggage only but during a recent short break, a pack of a few sachets was cheaper than a tub, so we bought that. We brought the sachets that we didn't use back and if they're still around next time we go away, they'll go back with us in the liquids bag. Waste not, want not.