After living through 40C Madrid summers without air conditioning, Vicky Parry now applies her heatwave survival habits in the UK, where temperatures are increasingly reaching 30C and beyond. Her key lessons include strategic window management, using cool water on the lower body, and investing in a fan rather than portable air con.
Don't open every window and hope for the best
The biggest lesson from Madrid: once your home is already baking, you've left it too late. In really hot weather, air the house when the outside air is cooler than inside — usually early morning and later at night. Once temperatures climb, shut curtains, blinds, and shutters in rooms getting direct sun, especially south-facing ones. If the outside air is hotter than inside, opening windows only lets heat in.
Go downstairs if you can
Heat rises, so lower floors are often cooler. In Spain, people were ruthless about this: if one room was cooler, that's where you sat, regardless of where the sofa was. Upper bedrooms can become unbearable by late afternoon.
My least glamorous cooling trick genuinely works
Cooling the lower body quickly with cold water — via a bidet, cool rinse, or cold flannel applied strategically — can make your whole body temperature feel as if it dropped in seconds. It's the same principle as running cool water over wrists or feet, but stronger. It's not elegant, but it provides quick relief.
A cool bath helps — but so can a warm one
A cool bath or shower works, but a warm bath before bed can also help. When you get out into a slightly cooler room, the contrast makes the air feel dramatically fresher. The key is warm, not boiling.
Hydration is boring advice because it's true
In Madrid, hydration wasn't a wellness thing — it was survival. If you're sweating more than normal, drink throughout the day rather than waiting until you feel awful. Parry keeps a bottle nearby and is conscious of alcohol and caffeine, which can worsen dehydration.
Cooling bedding can help — but only up to a point
Products from Emma, Simba, and Bedsure can help at the margins. A cooler-feeling pillow, topper, or blanket can take the edge off if your room is just a bit too warm. But if the bedroom is stifling with no airflow, they won't solve the problem alone.
My best heatwave buy is technically for my dog
Parry's dog's cooling sheet, costing about a fiver from a pet shop, stays cool without leaving you damp. She admits to lying on it with no shame when overheating.
Handheld fans are romantic in theory — less so in reality
Handheld fans remind Parry of the Madrid metro, but vigorously fanning yourself feels like cardio. A small electric fan, like her Groov-e one, does the work for you. However, if the air is hot and stale, a fan can blow warm air back at your face.
If you do want a fan, the running costs are thankfully not terrifying
Parry would choose a fan over air con partly because they're cheaper to run. Dyson's Cool CF1 uses 30 watts at maximum speed, costing roughly 0.8p per hour or 6p for an eight-hour night. The Dyson AM07 tower fan uses 56 watts — around 1.5p per hour or 12p overnight. A typical 50W-60W pedestal fan costs about 1.3p-1.6p per hour, or 10p-13p overnight. The SwitchBot Standing Circulator Fan runs at 24W, costing about 0.6p per hour or 5p for eight hours. Fans move air over your skin to make you feel cooler, but they don't lower room temperature.
Portable air con is the dream — but it's the expensive dream
Portable air conditioning can bring room temperature down, but it's much more expensive to run — tens of pence per hour — and units are often noisy, bulky, and need proper venting out of a window. Parry treats it as the bigger, pricier option rather than the automatic answer.
The biggest lesson I learnt in Spain cost absolutely nothing
Most habits that got Parry through 40C Madrid summers were free: shut the sun out before it gets in, open the house at the right time, move downstairs if cooler, drink more water, and cool your body, not just the room. If all else fails, sit in the darkest part of the house with a cold flannel and a fan.
