Travel tips in Spain

Spain

Historic sites

Alcazaba and Gibralfaro, Málaga

Málaga

The Alcazaba is an 11th-century Moorish fortress-palace on the hillside above Málaga's centre, with layers of gates, courtyards, fountains and garden…

Historic sites

Alhambra, Granada

Granada

The palace and fortress of the Nasrid sultans, the last Muslim rulers of Spain, set on a hill above Granada with the Sierra Nevada behind.

Historic sites

Aqueduct of Segovia

Segovia

A Roman aqueduct built around 100 AD, striding through the heart of Segovia on two tiers of granite arches, up to 28 m high, built without mortar.

Walks and treks

Caminito del Rey

Ardales, Málaga

A walkway pinned to the walls of the El Chorro gorge, once called the world's most dangerous path, and rebuilt safely in 2015.

Buildings

Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña

The great Romanesque cathedral at the end of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, said to hold the tomb of St James.

Attractions

Fuente Dé cable car, Picos de Europa

Camaleño, Cantabria

A cable car that climbs 753 m in under four minutes, from the meadows of Fuente Dé to a viewpoint on the edge of the central massif of the Picos de E…

Buildings

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Bilbao, Bizkaia

Frank Gehry's spectacular museum of modern art, opened in 1997, with curving forms clad in shining titanium beside the river.

Natural features

La Concha Beach, San Sebastián

Donostia-San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa

A perfect shell-shaped bay of golden sand in the heart of San Sebastián (Donostia), often called the best city beach in Europe, with the little islan…

Natural features

Lakes of Covadonga, Picos de Europa

Cangas de Onís, Asturias

Two glacial lakes, Enol and Ercina, high in the western Picos de Europa, surrounded by mountain pastures where cows graze.

Historic sites

Mezquita of Córdoba

Córdoba

The great mosque of Córdoba, begun in 785, with a forest of more than 850 columns supporting red and white striped arches, and a dazzling mihrab of g…

Natural features

Montserrat Monastery

Monistrol de Montserrat, Barcelona

A Benedictine monastery perched on a mountain of strange, saw-toothed rock pinnacles, about an hour from Barcelona.

Walks and treks

Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park

Torla, Huesca

A deep limestone canyon in the Spanish Pyrenees, with cliffs and waterfalls rising above beech forests, shared with France's Gavarnie as a UNESCO Wor…

Attractions

Park Güell, Barcelona

Barcelona

A hillside park designed by Gaudí, with gingerbread-like gatehouses, a mosaic dragon on the grand staircase, and a great terrace edged with a long, w…

Food and drink

Pintxos bars in the Parte Vieja, San Sebastián

Donostia-San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa

San Sebastián's old town is packed with bars whose counters are piled with pintxos, the Basque version of tapas: small works of art on bread or skewe…

Historic sites

Plaza Mayor, Salamanca

Salamanca

Often called the most beautiful square in Spain: a vast 18th-century baroque square of golden sandstone, enclosed by arcades and balconies, with meda…

Attractions

Prado Museum, Madrid

Retiro, Madrid

One of the world's great art museums, with the finest collection of Spanish painting: Velázquez's Las Meninas, Goya's 'black paintings' and The Third…

Historic sites

Real Alcázar of Seville

Sevilla

A royal palace begun by the Moors and rebuilt by Christian kings in the Mudéjar style, with richly tiled and carved halls, courtyards with pools, and…

Historic sites

Ronda and the Puente Nuevo

Ronda, Málaga

A dramatic hilltop town split in two by the El Tajo gorge, 100 m deep, spanned by the 18th-century Puente Nuevo bridge.

Walks and treks

Ruta del Cares, Picos de Europa

Cabrales, Asturias

One of the most spectacular walks in Spain: a path cut into the cliffs of the Cares gorge, deep in the Picos de Europa National Park, with the river …

Buildings

Sagrada Família, Barcelona

Barcelona

Antoni Gaudí's extraordinary basilica, under construction since 1882 and due to be finished in the coming years.

Natural features

Teide National Park, Tenerife

La Guancha, Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Spain's highest mountain, the volcano Mount Teide, 3,715 m, rises from a vast crater of lava fields and colourful rocks in the middle of Tenerife.

Natural features

Timanfaya National Park, Lanzarote

Tinajo, Las Palmas

A landscape of volcanoes and lava fields created by huge eruptions between 1730 and 1736, with craters in shades of red, orange and black.

Historic sites

Toledo

A medieval city on a hill in a bend of the Tagus River, where Christians, Muslims and Jews lived side by side for centuries.

Buildings

Casa Batlló and Casa Milà, Barcelona

Barcelona

Two of Gaudí's most famous buildings on the elegant Passeig de Gràcia.

Buildings

City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia

Valencia

A futuristic complex of white buildings by Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela, set among pools in the former bed of the Turia River.

Historic sites

Cuenca's Hanging Houses

Cuenca

Cuenca's medieval houses with wooden balconies cling to the edge of a cliff above the Huécar gorge.

Historic sites

Gothic Quarter and La Boqueria, Barcelona

Barcelona

The heart of old Barcelona, a maze of narrow medieval streets and squares around the Gothic cathedral, with Roman walls, the Plaça del Rei and hidden…

Walks and treks

Haría and the Valley of a Thousand Palms, Lanzarote

Haría, Las Palmas

Lanzarote is often seen as a beach destination, but its volcanic landscapes make for wonderful walking.

Historic sites

Marbella Old Town and Plaza de los Naranjos

Marbella, Málaga

Behind Marbella's glitzy reputation is a pretty Andalusian old town (Casco Antiguo) of narrow whitewashed lanes, flower pots and little squares.

Historic sites

Mausoleum of the Lovers of Teruel

Teruel

The tomb of Diego de Marcilla and Isabel de Segura, the 'Lovers of Teruel', Spain's Romeo and Juliet.

Historic sites

Mijas Pueblo

Mijas, Málaga

A whitewashed Andalusian mountain village 430 m above the Costa del Sol, with views down to the coast and the sea.

Attractions

Monte Igueldo funicular, San Sebastián

Donostia-San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa

A wooden funicular railway, running since 1912, climbs Monte Igueldo at the western end of La Concha Bay.

Attractions

Museo Picasso Málaga

Málaga

Pablo Picasso was born in Málaga in 1881, and this museum, in the 16th-century Buenavista Palace in the old town, holds more than 200 of his works, d…

Buildings

Plaza de España, Seville

Sevilla

A vast semicircular plaza built for the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition, with a curving brick palace, towers, a canal crossed by bridges, and tiled al…

Natural features

Retiro Park, Madrid

Madrid

Madrid's favourite park, once the gardens of a royal palace, and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the Paseo del Prado.

Historic sites

Roman Theatre of Mérida

Mérida, Badajoz

Mérida, once Augusta Emerita, capital of Roman Lusitania, has some of the finest Roman ruins in Spain.

Buildings

Royal Palace of Madrid

Madrid

The official residence of the Spanish royal family, though they live elsewhere, and the largest royal palace in Western Europe, with more than 3,000 …

Buildings

Salamanca's Old and New Cathedrals

Salamanca

Salamanca has two cathedrals joined together: the 12th-century Romanesque Old Cathedral, with a superb altarpiece of 53 painted panels, and the Gothi…

Natural features

Serra de Tramuntana and Sóller, Mallorca

Port de Sóller, Islas Baleares

A mountain range along Mallorca's north-west coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with terraced olive groves, stone villages such as Valldemossa and …

Historic sites

Torre de El Salvador, Teruel

Teruel

Teruel has some of the finest Mudéjar architecture in Spain, built by Muslim craftsmen under Christian rule, and its towers are a UNESCO World Herita…