Things to do in Spain

There are so many places to visit and so many things to do in Spain that is a difficult task to summarize all these possibilities in just a few.

Spain is loaded with great places to visit while traveling the country, and you can choose from easy to drive to destinations to places very hard to get to. Here you can find the top places to visit while in Spain, note that these are some of the most visited destinations within the country and can pretty crowded.

Visit Madrid's Three Essential Art Museums

Three of the best museums in Europe are located within a ten-minute walk of each other: Museo del Prado, Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza.

Visit the Palacio Real

The Palacio Real (Royal Palace) is the official residence of His Majesty the King of Spain, but it is only used for ceremonies of state, and does not live in it.

Visit El Escorial

El Escorial is a historical residence of the king of Spain and functions as a monastery, royal palace, museum, and school. It is located about 50 km north of Madrid

The City of Toledo

Toledo was the capital of Spain until the Moors conquered Iberia in the 8th century. For some time during the 16th century, Toledo served as the capital city of Castile, and the city flourished. It is called "the city of three cultures:" Jews, Catholics and Moors lived peacefully during the Middle Ages.

Visit the city of Ávila

Ávila is located 53 miles northwest of Madrid, is the highest city in Spain and best known for the majestic walls that encircle the city. The walls, which reflect Avila's history as a warring center of the region, are considered an excellent example of Medieval architecture.

Eat tapas

Tapas are Spain's appetizers and are eaten anytime of the day or night. They may be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or warm (such as chopitos, which are battered, fried baby squid). The serving of tapas is designed to encourage conversation because people are not so focused upon eating an entire meal that is set before them.

Eat Paella

Paella is a traditional dish of Spain. Its home is Valencia, but variations exist in the different Spanish provinces. A colorful mixture of saffron-flavored rice and various meats, paella's name comes from the paellera, the flat, round pan in which it is cooked.

Ramble along Las Ramblas

La Rambla is the most famous street in Barcelona. The wide boulevard connects the Plaça de Catalunya, a busy square, to the Columbus Monument. The middle part of the Rambla is pedestrianized and bordered by trees. Kiosks, flower stalls and street artists are in abundance here.

Summer vacation in Benidorm

Benidorm is one of the most popular hotspots on the coast of Spain and is booming with tourists, especially during the summer season when its population is more than half a million.

Visit the Mosque of Cordoba

Cordoba is an exemplary city. It is one of the most beautiful places in Spain and a UNESCO world heritage site due to its large, well conserved historical old town. The famous Mosque of Cordoba is considered the greatest monument of the Western Arab World.

Run with the bulls in Pamplona

The annual San Fermin Festival is celebrated every year in the city of Pamplona (7th of July). It is a week of riotous celebration, bullfighting and the world famous running of the bulls. Thousands of visitors from all over the world, descend on the town, jamming its hotels, bars, campsites and streets, with a sea of white and red.

Las Fallas in Valencia

What started as a feast day for St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters, has evolved into a 5-day, multifaceted celebration involving fire. The focus of the fiesta is the creation and destruction of ninots (puppets or dolls), which are huge cardboard, wood, paper-machè and plaster statues.

Laze on Menorca beaches

Menorca's fine white beaches are scattered around the island offering peace and tranquility to holidaymakers. Although Menorca has fewer beaches than the nearby islands of Mallorca and Ibiza, and these tend to be quieter and less crowded.

Tour La Rioja wine country

The vineyards of La Rioja, Spain's most famous wine-growing area, sprawl over the banks of the wide Ebro valley and borders southern Navarra, Castile and Leon and the Basque Country and offers visitors not only fine Rioja wines, interesting wine museums and grand dining, but also stunning scenery, prehistoric archaeological findings, medieval towns and fine Riojan manor houses.

Enjoy Ibiza

Ibiza is one of the most popular places to party in the Balearic Islands. It has some of the best nightclubs in the world and is well known for having spectacular beaches.

Hiking on the Picos de Europa National Park

A small but spectacular range of jagged limestone mountains cut by deep gorges in northern Spain which harbours an incredibly diverse flora and fauna. It is a great walking country, with fantastic views and wildlife.

See the Architecture of Antoni Gaudí and relax at Parc Güell

This is an itinerary that takes you through the Barcelona of Gaudí (Sagrada Familia,La Pedrera and Parc Güell among others), the Modernism Route of Barcelona.

Visit the Alhambra

The Alhambra is a palace and fortress complex constructed during the mid 14th century by the Moorish rulers of the Emirate of Granada. The name Alhambra comes from an Arabic root which means "red or crimson castle".

Celebrate Easter in Seville

During the Holy Week in Seville there are many processions (more than 50 altogether or 7-8 a day) that commemorate the Catholic traditions surrounding the death of Jesus Christ and the sorrow experienced at that time. It is an event that literally transforms towns and cities across Seville and Andalusia in general.

Costa del Sol beaches and golf

Costa del Sol's 160 kilometres of coastline are mostly beach, and most of its hotels are on or close to the beach, so the beach is the centre around which life revolves in this part of Spain. The Costa del Sol has also a staggering number of golf clubs

See a bullfight

Bullfighting is the most traditional of Spanish Fiestas. This show could not exist without the Toro Bravo, a species of bull of an archaical race that is only conserved in Spain.

Visit the Donana National Park

Donana National Park occupies the right bank of the Guadalquivir river at its estuary on the Atlantic Ocean. It is notable for the great diversity of its biotopes, especially lagoons, marshlands, fixed and mobile dunes, scrub woodland and maquis.

Sleep in luxurious paradores

Paradores are hotels for luxury accommodation in Castles, Palaces, Fortresses, Convents, Monasteries and other historic buildings. There are also modern hotels, built in traditional style, in areas of outstanding beauty. They stretch from Galicia in the North West through Catalonia to Andalusia in the south of Spain, the Canary Islands and to the Spanish cities in North Africa.

Visit Sierra Nevada

Sierra Nevada spreads over 86,000 hectares and features the Mulhacen and Veleta peaks, the two highest peaks of Iberian Peninsula. Sierra Nevada is an exceptional biodiversity of Europe providing refuge to around 2100 plant species out of which 116 are endangered and about 70 are endemic. In winter, Sierra Nevada becomes one of the most sought after ski destinations in southern Europe.

Visit the Canary Islands

The sun-kissed Canary Islands is one of the only places in Europe that offers you a great a climate all year round. The archipelago offers strikingly diverse landscapes including remarkable sub-tropical flora, luxuriant pine woods, giant sand dunes and mountain peaks. Interesting places: Mount Teide (Tenerife) is the highest point in all Spanish territory at 3,718m, Caldera de Taburiente (La Palma), Timanfaya National Park (Lanzarote) among others, great beaches all over the islands.

Salvador Dalí Theatre Museum

Salvador Dalí's museum is the largest surrealistic object in the world. It is located in the artist's home town Figueres, 140km north of Barcelona.

Visit the town of Ronda

Ronda is one of the loveliest and most historical towns of Andalusia. A walk in Ronda's Medieval quarter is the best way to enjoy this Andalucian town steeped in history and packed with Arab and renaissance.

See a Flamenco Show

Flamenco can be seen in many bars and taverns in Spain. Normally you would go for an evening meal to one of these places, and listen to the music afterwards. Seeing a flamenco show became an essential part of any trip to Spain.

See Aqueduct of Segovia

Segovia's most unique feature is its still-functioning ancient aqueduct. It was built by the Romans around 50 AD, and is designed to make water flow uphill. Even more amazing, Segovia's aqueduct was built without mortar. The pillars, and the arches, of the structure were built simply by stacking large stones.

El Camino de Santiago

The way of Saint James is the famous pilgrimage Route of St. James. Pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela began in the 9th century from the time of the discovery, history or legend, of the tomb of the Apostle Santiago. Walking the Camino is not difficult - most of the stages are fairly flat on good paths. The main difficulty is that few of us have walked continuously for 10, 20 or 30 days.

Visit the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao

The Guggenheim Museum is a modern of modern and contemporary art designed by architect Frank Gehry. Its structure is made of titanium, glass and limestone.