Spain Travel Guide
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Spain's Main 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 or hop onto the efficient metro network!
**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, Catalonia (Catalunya)
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 attractions in the organic shape of Gaudi architecture. But it's also the pick-pocket capital of Spain. Barcelona Pictures, Map, Weather.
** Figueres, about 2 hours north of Barcelona (via train from Barcelona Sants, bus or drive) is Dali's birthplace and home to 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! And there's another Dali Museum in his old home of Port Lligat, see below.
** Cadaques. In 1920 Dali 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 15 minutes walk - is Dali and Gala's (his wife) home in Port Lligat, now the fascinating though small Port Lligat Dali House-Museum, which must be booked in advance.
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.
Valencia, Communidad Valenciana **Valencia.
On the central east coast of Spain, this large and lively city surrounded by farmland 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 some OK beaches and the dunes of La Albufera lagoon,
while 30km away is the tomato madness of Buñol.
Seville, Andalusia (Andalucia)
Southern Spain: *** Andalusia is a magical region, truly the traditional heart of Spain, with a cluster of magnificent cities such as Seville, Granada,
Cordoba, Malaga, Cadiz, and pueblos blancos such as gorgeous Ronda. Andalusia has all the heat, Moorish magnificence, flamenco and festivals you
ever dreamed of, along with some of Spain's best beaches on the southern Costa de la Luz too - breezy Tarifa or La Caleta in Cadiz for example, or the less brilliant but more popular Costa del Sol beaches - when culture overload
kicks in.
Benidorm's typically hideous beach, Costa del Sol ***Spain's
Beaches.
Massive stretches of golden Spanish sand, but there are few easily accessible beaches between France
and Gibraltar that are not lined with grotesque high rises and low culture
sand addicts. Still, they are cheap and cheerful.
Gibraltar's rock, British territory. *Gibraltar, hmm. Well it's certainly an oddity, a little piece of England surrounded by foreigners. Everything focuses on the Rock and views from it, on it or of it. Not Bugbog's cup of tea, but if you can handle the frequent, massive queue to get in by car (due to Spanish border guards taking a siesta at 10am) the apes await your handbags.
Valdemossa, Majorca (also known as Mallorca), Balearic Islands **Balearic islands (Majorca {aka Mallorca}, Menorca, Ibiza, Formentera). Great beaches, constant sunshine and wild nights are not all attractions that 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.
Playa de las Teresitas, Tenerife, Canary Islands (Canaries)
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.
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