Spain
Spain is a diverse country with contrasting regions that have different languages and unique historical, political and cultural traditions. Some of the autonomous communities—notably the ones which have other official languages alongside Spanish—have been recognised as “historical nationalities” that have a unique historical identity. These include the Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia, the Valencian region, Andalusia, the Balearic Islands, Aragon and the Canary Islands.
A country of large geographic and cultural diversity, Spain may come as a surprise to those who only know of its reputation for great beach holidays and almost endless sunshine. In 2019, Spain was the second most visited country in the world. The World Tourism Organization has its headquarters in Madrid.
As a crossroads of several civilizations, Spain offers a number of historical cities and towns. Major destinations include Spain’s two largest cities: Madrid and Barcelona, which stand as two of the leading city destinations in Europe.
Fifteen Spanish cities have been declared World Heritage Cities by the UNESCO: *Alcalá de Henares (map), Ávila (map), *Baeza (map), *Cáceres (map), *Córdoba (map), *Cuenca (map), *Ibiza (map), Mérida (map), Salamanca (map), *San Cristóbal de La Laguna (map), Santiago de Compostela (map), *Segovia (map), Tarragona (map), *Toledo (map) and *Ubeda (map).
Other first-class destinations are Seville (map), Granada (map), *Santander (map), *Oviedo (map), *Gijón (map), *Bilbao (map) and San Sebastián (map). All of them with historical landmarks and a lively cultural agenda.
The most popular Spanish mainland coasts are on its Mediterranean side, and include, from north to south clockwise:
- The Costa Brava (map), the *Costa Daurada and the *Costa del Maresme (map), in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia, Salou and the city of Barcelona.
- The Costa Blanca (map) and the Costa del Azahar in *Castellón province (map) are both in the Valencian Community.
- The *Costa Cálida (map) in the Region of Murcia and the Mar Menor, a lagoon by the Mediterranean sea.
- The *Costa de Almería, the *Costa Tropical (map), the Costa del Sol (map) and the *Costa de la Luz, all in the community of Andalusia. Some of the summer destinations here are renowned worldwide, such as Marbella (map) in Málaga Province or Sotogrande (map) in Cádiz province.
Spain’s two archipelagoes, the Balearic Islands (map) off the mainland coast in the Mediterranean and the volcanic *Canary Islands (map) in the Atlantic, are also both very popular destinations.
Sierra Nevada in Spain is a popular tourist destination, as its high peaks make skiing possible in one of Europe’s most southerly ski resorts. At its foothills is found the city of Granada and, a little further, Almería and Málaga.
To date, Spain has a total of 15 National Parks, of which 10 are on the mainland, 1 in the Balearic Islands and 4 in the Canary Islands. Spain’s most visited National Park is the *Teide National Park (map) in the Canary Islands. (*List of national parks of Spain)
Madrid is considered one of the top European destinations concerning art museums (*List of museums in Madrid). Best known is the Golden Triangle of Art:
- Prado Museum (Museo del Prado, map)
- Reina Sofía Museum (Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, map)
- Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum (map)
Regions & Sities
::: Source: www.ezilon.com
Historically, Spain has been an important crossroads: between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, between North Africa and Europe, and as Europe began colonizing the New World, between Europe and the Americas. The country thus is blessed with a fantastic collection of historical landmarks — in fact, it has the second largest number of UNESCO Heritage Sites and the largest number of World Heritage Cities of any nation in the world.
Community of Madrid
Valencian Community
Andalusia / adm. center Seville
Catalonia / adm. center Barcelona
Galicia / adm. center Santiago de Compostela
Castile and León / adm. center Valladolid
Basque Country / adm. center Vitoria-Gasteiz (+ basquecountry-tourism.com)
Castilla-La Mancha / adm. center Toledo
Canary Islands / adm. center Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Las Palmas
Region of Murcia / adm. center Murcia
Aragon / adm. center Zaragoza
Extremadura / adm. center Mérida
Balearic Islands / adm. center Palma
Asturias / adm. center Oviedo
Navarre / adm. center Pamplona
Cantabria / adm. center Santander
La Rioja / adm. center *Logroño
Alicante
Almería
Ávila
Aviles
Balmaseda
Barbastro
Barcelona
Bilbao
Burgos
Cádiz
Castellón
Castro Urdiales
Córdoba
Cuenca
Figueres
Gijón/Xixón
Girona
Granada
Guernica
Haro
Hondarribia
Huelva
Huesca
Ibiza
Las Palmas
León
Lugo
Madrid
Málaga
Marbella
Mataró
Mérida
Montanejos
Murcia
Murillo de Gallego
Palma
Pamplona
Pollença
Pontevedra
Ronda
San Sebastián
Sant Antoni de Portmany
Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Santiago de Compostela
Santillana del Mar
Segovia
Seville
Toledo
Valencia
Zaragoza
Public transport

The main train operator is RENFE, including AVE (Spanish high speed train) or Talgo intercity services.
www.aena.es | information about Spanish airports.
BUS >> Virtually all companies operating Intercity buses in France including Ouibus and even German players Flixbus offer buses to/from Spanish destinations.
The least expensive way to get around most parts of Spain is by bus. >> ALSA | Grupo Avanza | Socibus and Secorbus. You can also see what is all available on Movelia.es.
Spain isn’t a good country for hitchhiking. Sometimes you can wait many hours.
Spain is a suitable country for cycling, and it is possible to see many cyclists in some of the cities. Depending on where you are in Spain, you could face a very mountainous area. Much of central Spain is very flat, though elevated, but towards the coast the landscape is often very hilly, especially in the north.