The Complete Guide to Spain

Spain is Europe's great all-rounder — a country that hands you world cities, golden beaches, snow-capped mountains, Moorish palaces and some of the planet's best food, all bound together by the largest, fastest high-speed rail network on the continent. You can stand before a Velazquez in Madrid at noon, walk under Gaudi's spires in Barcelona that evening, and be eating fried fish by an Andalusian river the next day — Spain travels far bigger than the map suggests, yet its distances melt away on the AVE.

The two heavyweight cities anchor most trips. Madrid, the high, sunlit capital, lives outdoors and stays up late: the Prado, Reina Sofia and Thyssen form one of the world's great art triangles, while marble-topped bars pour cana after cana and dinner rarely starts before ten. Barcelona, on the Mediterranean, is its creative counterweight — Gaudi's Sagrada Familia and Park Guell, the medieval lanes of the Gothic Quarter, the grid of the Modernista Eixample, and a city beach to round off the day. Between them runs the country's busiest high-speed line, covered in about two and a half hours.

The south is a different Spain again. Andalusia is the romantic heart of the country, where eight centuries of Moorish rule left the Alhambra crowning Granada, the Mezquita in Cordoba, and the orange-scented Real Alcazar and giant Gothic cathedral of Seville. This is the land of flamenco, whitewashed hill villages, blistering summers and the great Holy Week and spring-fair festivals. On the east coast, Valencia — the birthplace of paella — pairs a handsome old town and Europe's most futuristic museum complex with a long, easygoing beach, while offshore in the Balearic Islands, Palma de Mallorca turns out to be a honey-coloured Mediterranean capital beneath a colossal seafront cathedral, not just a gateway to the coves.

Spain's variety is its defining feature. The green, rainy north — Galicia, Asturias and the Basque Country — feels almost Celtic, with its own languages, cider houses and the pintxo bars of San Sebastian and Bilbao. The interior is high, dry meseta studded with historic towns like Toledo, Segovia and Salamanca. The Pyrenees and the Sierra Nevada offer real skiing; the Canary Islands, far out in the Atlantic, deliver year-round warmth and volcanic landscapes. Few countries pack so many different holidays inside one set of borders.

And then there is the food, which alone justifies the trip. Spain runs on the social ritual of tapas — small plates grazed over drinks, free with every round in Granada and much of Andalusia — alongside paella and rice dishes, cured jamon iberico, the cold soups of the south, Basque pintxos, and the great wines of Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Catalan cava and Andalusian sherry. The legendary late timetable (lunch at two, dinner at ten) is part of the pleasure once you surrender to it.

Practically, Spain is one of Europe's easiest and best-value destinations. It is safe, sunny for much of the year, and superbly connected: Renfe's AVE high-speed trains link the major cities at up to 310 km/h, low-cost rivals have pushed fares down, budget flights and ferries reach the islands, and ALSA coaches fill in the gaps. It uses the euro, sits inside the Schengen area, and offers more sights per euro than almost anywhere in western Europe. Most first trips pair Madrid and Barcelona, or focus on Andalusia, over a week to ten days; two weeks lets you string the whole country together. This guide covers when to go, how to get around, the best cities, the food and the south, so you can build the trip that fits you.