Sleep like a Spaniard: in a cooling bedroom without air conditioning

That first summer in my Spanish home, I slept the way an Englishman thinks one should sleep: windows shut, duvet on, fan in the corner, air conditioning set to polite chill. The result? Three broken nights, a creaky back, and the distinct feeling of living in a pensioner’s fridge. A cooling bedroom without air conditioning? Come again?

It took me a while to get it. In Spain, you don’t fight the heat – you learn to live with it. And sleep with it.
Without the aircon cranked up to Arctic blast. Because a bedroom isn’t a walk-in freezer. It’s where your body surrenders to the night. Even when the night is 27 degrees.

Cooling starts with the light

A cooling bedroom without air conditioning doesn’t start with a gadget—it starts with a colour. White walls, white ceilings, white sheets. Not clinical white—soft, chalky, light-reflecting white.

My bedroom has an old wooden shutter on the outside of the window. I close it the moment the sun hits. I open it as soon as it sinks. That way, the heat stays out—and the quiet stays in. Controlling light is controlling temperature.

Linen. Always linen.

I know cotton’s easier to iron. And satin feels softer. But if you truly want to sleep through a Spanish summer, choose linen. It creases, it breathes, it lives. And the longer you use it, the better it gets.

My sheets are made of undyed linen. Bought at the market in Mijas from a woman who swore she’d woven them herself (I didn’t believe her, but I bought them anyway).
Ever since, I’ve slept cool. Even when the outside air is still smouldering.

A breathing house, a breathing night

Make sure there’s airflow. Open windows on opposite sides of the house as soon as the sun goes down. Don’t use a fan to chase air around—use it to bring it in. Air that moves always feels cooler than air that doesn’t—no matter what the thermometer says.

And no, air conditioning isn’t the devil. But it’s not the answer to everything either. I only use mine when absolutely necessary—and even then, I turn it off before I fall asleep. You don’t want a machine dictating your sleep.

Atmospheric doesn’t have to mean stiflingly hot

A bedroom can feel cool without air conditioning—and still warm in atmosphere. By choosing materials that absorb rather than reflect. By using lighting that doesn’t keep you awake. By letting the furniture breathe.
I’ve got one fan, a wooden wardrobe, and a stone floor. No carpets, no fleece, no unnecessary frills.

There’s a beauty in simplicity that naturally brings a sense of cool. Not because it’s minimalist—but because it doesn’t get in the way.

And if it really doesn’t work…

Then you can always fall back on Elena’s tips—she’s already shared her Vida Sana take on sleeping like a Spaniard. She speaks with more conviction about routines and rhythms—I lean more towards trial and error and a hand fan. But on one thing, we fully agree: sleep should be soft. Even in August.