Spain Travel Guide
Tourist Attractions

Hiking in Picos de Europa, north Spain

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Spain's Main Tourist Attractions:

Madrid's main street

***Madrid. Not a good place to drive to, too hot in the summer and too cold in winter, but otherwise a magnificent, baroque and late-partying capital with terrific museums such as the world famous El Prado, impressive buildings and parks. If you're on wheels, park them asap and drag the legs into action!

**Toledo. This stunning medieval city - home to El Greco and an easy ride from Madrid - is packed with castles, churches and tourists. Stay the night, mid-week if possible, and enjoy it early/late.

***Cuenca, halfway from Madrid to the Mediterranean, Cuenca is a medieval World Heritage Site in a stunning location on a precipitous ridge teetering between two gorges. The rustic region is heaving with castles, while the town offers gothic churches and hanging houses - hanging over the Huecar Gorge.

Barcelona

North East Coast:

*** Barcelona. Not as grand as Madrid but just as lively, with a better climate, a good beach, excellent cuisine and totally unique and spectacular Gaudi architecture. But also becoming increasingly seedy after dark and arguably the pick-pocket capital of Spain.

** Figueres, just north of Barcelona for the mad Dali Museum. It's not so much the exhibits, which are quite limited considering the artist's staggering output, but the building itself is wacky, red walls decorated with golden turds for a start!

** Cadaques. In 1920 Dail said, "I have spent a delightful summer, as always, in the perfect and dreamy town of Cadaqués. There, alongside the Latin sea, I have been quenched by light and colour." Not far from Cadaques - in fact walking distance - is Dali and Gala's [his wife] home in Port Lligat, now a fascinating museum.

North Coast:

**San Sebastian and the [north] Basque country. Less 'Spain' and more rain than the south, so less moronic beer/beach louts, San Sebastian is a pretty, relaxed resort town with a superb beach and matching cuisine.
And not far away recently transformed **Bilbao is now a Guggenheim-led arts and culture centre [www.guggenheim-bilbao.es] while Pamplona is definitely bullish. Want to run for your life? When you get to Pamplona go to Plaza del Castillo Tourist Office for a timetable, map and spare underpants. [www.sanfermin.com].

Valencia's old town

**Valencia. More central east Spain than south but a large and lively city surrounded by farmland, Valencia offers a warm coastal climate, a magnificent old city centre with Baroque palace, some excellent museums and the amazing new City of Arts and Sciences. A few kms east are OK beaches and the dunes of La Albufera lagoon, while 30km away is the tomato madness of Buñol. Ferries go to the Balearic islands from here. A good source of information in English is [www.thisisvalencia.com/].

Seville

Southern Spain:

*** Andalusia: Seville, Granada, Cordoba and Malaga, truly the heart of Spain, with all the heat, Moorish magnificence, flamenco and festivals you ever dreamed of. Superb beaches in the south too - Tarifa for example - when culture overload kicks in.
By the way, if you want to visit the spectacular Alhambra and its Nasrid Palace without spending an eternity in a queue, book online and pick up your tickets on arrival in Spain. [www.alhambra-patronato.es].
p.s. don't forget to explore Cordoba's palace gardens too, they're lush and spectacular.

Benidorm's typically hideous beach backdrop

***Spain's Beaches. Massive stretches of golden Spanish sand, but there are few easily accessible beaches between France and Gibraltar that are not riddled with high rises and low culture sand addicts from north Europe.
Spain's Atlantic Coast is the best option for grand landscapes and less wallies though the weather can go wobbly all of a sudden. The Costa Brava up north has some pretty little towns and more characterful beaches but cool winter weather, while the Costa del Sol in the south gets the most sunshine and most foreigners - many of them primarily interested in cheap booze and plentiful sunshine rather than local culture, though there is actually a lot of traditional Spain nearby in Andalusia.
The Costa de la Luz in the far south west offers spacious and scenic beaches, perfect for windsurfing but generally a little windy for loafing, though as a bonus FRS run hi-speed ferries across to Morocco's Tangier from Tarifa several times a day.

Gibraltar's rock

*Gibraltar, hmm. Well it's certainly an oddity, a little piece of England surrounded by foreigners. Everything focuses on the Rock - up, down, inside, outside. Not Bugbog's cup of tea, but boats go to Morocco if you fancy mint tea instead and there's superb windsurfing nearby at gorgeously bleak and blasted Tarifa beach.

Valdemossa, Majorca [also known as Mallorca]

**Balearic islands [Majorca {aka Mallorca}, Menorca, Ibiza, Formentera]. Great beaches, constant sunshine and wild nights are not all the Balearics have to offer. With package tourists clustered in varied enclaves it is easy enough to escape to traditional little towns, isolated beaches and high peaks.
Mallorca/Majorca offers most variety, ranging from the grand buildings of Palma, through the old town to superb beaches and hikes in the mountains of Tramuntana.
Menorca is less developed, with plenty of lovely old buildings, quiet beaches and even prehistoric remains.
Ibiza is party central, but quiet little alleys, city walls and wooded hills still give refuge to those of a quieter disposition.
Formentera's undeveloped flat beauty and unspoiled beaches are accessible by ferry from Ibiza.

Playa de las Teresitas, Tenerife, Canary Islands

The Canary Islands, way south of Spain, off the coast of Morocco are primarily a winter sun package destination though tourists do go there all year round and many hikers don't even go near the beaches. Wind is fairly constant, as is sunshine, so the Canaries are HOT for windsurfers, kiteboarders and even plain old surfers.
Gran Canaria is the perhaps the most varied island, with history, culture, mini-mountains, forests, dunes, the pretty colonial town of Las Palmas, and a couple of mega beach resorts.
Lanzarote is dry and has an artistic bent, with a volcanically bizarre landscape and fine beaches, while Fuerteventura is a pure beach destination, with over 150 beaches, many enthusiastic Germans, plenty of wind and more nudists than goats.
Tenerife offers both scenic variety and wild nightlife possibilities, and includes a wild Carnival before Easter, volcanoes, great water sports options and lots of new man-made 'golden' sand beaches [as in the picture above].
For excellent, tranquil walking in dramatic landscapes try the quieter islands of La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro.

Safety:
Violent crime is rare, but pickpockets and bag snatchers may take advantage of carelessness.

Language:
Spanish is just about the easiest common language. Learn a few words...You already know 'Hasta la vista [baby]!'