If you’re flying to Spain and have some spare funds just waiting to be spent, you may be wondering what to bring back home with you. In today’s post, we’ll go over just that: the top souvenirs and general products you can buy in Spain and how much these will cost you.
Shopping in Spain
What to bring back from Spain?
Spain is rich in delicious products, interesting souvenirs and gifts that you can bring back with you. Shopping in Spain can be done in shopping malls or special markets, of which we recommend the latter, because the products you’ll find there will be local, often of higher quality and more special.
Remember about your hand luggage limits when it comes to liquids if you wish to bring wine or olive oil. It’s preferable to pack them in your checked-in hold luggage. The maximum you can pack in your hand luggage is a 100 ml/container, and you don’t have such limits with hold luggage. Also, take some bags and bubble wrap to safeguard your bottles!
Jamon Iberico and Serrano
Spanish ham
This is the famous Iberian ham from Spain, which you can buy already sliced or, better still, whole. Jamon Iberico is effectively a smoked pork leg, produced from the black Iberian pig to be exact. How much does Jamon Iberico cost? Quite a lot, as you can sometimes pay thousands of euros for an exclusive leg of Jamon Iberico.
If you’re not a yacht owner, you may want to consider something much cheaper, like the Jamon Serrano. This is still mountain ham, just like Iberico, just coming from a white pig, ergo the common sort. You’ll still pay around €50 per leg though.
Olive oil from Spain
Absolute essentials
As with many Mediterranean countries, Spain produces excellent olive oil. In fact, Spanish olive oil is among the best in the world. How much will it cost you? You can get 1 litre for as little as €4, but there are fancier options if you have the cash for it. For Almazaras de la Subbética from Córdoba, for instance, you will pay around €20 per bottle.
Cava
Sparkling wine from Spain
What else can you find in Spain? Cava is one very popular wine in Spain – it’s effectively the Spanish version of champagne (though don’t tell the Spanish we said that, we may get arrested). Cava can be white or rosé, and is mainly produced in Penedes in Catalonia. The word Cava itself means cellar, ergo where Cava would be stored and where it would sit to mature.
Only sparkling wines produced traditionally can be called Cava, the most famous being Codorniu and Freixenet. You will pay €12 for an ordinary bottle of Cava in Spain.
Wine from Spain
What should you bring back home from Spain?
While on the subject of such beverages, it’s worth mentioning Spanish wine. For a good bottle of local wine, you can pay as little as €3. Most wine is produced in Castilla-La Mancha – but according to many, the best Spanish wines are produced in Galicia. We recommend the Rias Baixas DO.
Look for wines with the DO, or denominacion de origen designation – this means that the wine went through a local quality status check and has been approved. This also means that, in theory, the whole production process was also local.
Gïk blue wine
Strange wine from Spain
What else to bring back from Spain? Gïk wine is one of the few blue wines in the world. Gïk is made from a blend of red and white grapes. Why is the Gik wine blue? According to the official website:
Gïk is produced through a pigmentation process. Firstly a base is created from a mixture of red and white grapes, which is then added to two organic pigments; indigo and anthocyanin – which comes from the very skin of the grapes used to make wine.
(at https://gik.blue/en/learn-more/).
Paella pan
Spanish cookware
Paella is a traditional Spanish dish and, in Spain, you can actually buy special flat pans for paella. Traditionally, you will find them under the name Paellera or Paella. The pan is made of polished or coated steel with two side handles. The name of the dish Paella probably comes precisely from the word pan.
Abanico
Spanish handheld fans
What’s an abanico?
It’s a traditional Spanish handheld fan, one you may instinctively associate with flamenco dancers, which people sometimes use to cool themselves down on the hot Spanish days. Abanico costs around €2 for the cheapest versions in souvenir shops and as much as €180 for a hand-painted Abanico in traditional handicraft shops.
Mantyla
Lace headscarves from Spain
A mantilla is a unique lace headscarf from Spain. It looks a bit like a veil or a shawl and is usually worn by Spanish women during the Holy Week and other important events. A mantilla in Spain costs between €50 and €100 depending on its length and quality.
Guitars from Spain
Flamenco guitars
You can also buy yourself an original flamenco guitar in Spain. How much do these cost? This is a very wide range, as you can buy toy ones for €30 or real artisan-made ones for thousands of euros at Guitarras de Luthier.
Flamenco dress
What to bring back from Spain?
You’re probably already familiar with what flamenco is – and you can certainly buy a traditional Flamenco dress in Spain. Multicoloured, patterned, tight and with a distinctive ruffle at the bottom. In Spain, you’ll find them under the name ‘traje de flamenca’ or ‘sevillana’.
Flamenco dresses cost between €500 and €900.
Saffron
A spice from Spain
Saffron is a spice derived from the flowers of Crocus Sativus. The characteristic yellow-red colour of saffron threads and its general unavailability means that saffron can be a very expensive spice. In Spain, it is called azafran. It was brought here from Asia Minor and is now grown in Castilla-La Mancha – thanks to its high quality, it is definitely more expensive here than, for example, that from Iran.
Caganer figurines
The single most questionable gift from Spain
A rather strange souvenir from Spain – it depicts a merchant or a villager shown during the act of defecation. The figurine has a red traditional cap and pulled down trousers. It is often placed in special nativity scenes. According to some, the meaning of the statue is that the Caganer fertilises the earth by defecating or it is meant to show authority figures by representing them with their trousers down. We simply don’t know, but it’s certainly one gift you can buy for a loved one.
Bull figurines
Less questionable souvenirs from Spain
What souvenir to buy in Spain? If you buy a bull figurine, then everyone will know right away that you got it from Spain. There are lots of bull figurines around, from key chains to large ceramic bulls with colourful patterns. Small bulls, big bulls, middling bulls, any and all bulls to your bull’s desire.
We also highly recommend Churros in Spain, though you won’t be able to bring them with you very far. 🙂
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