Spain Travel Guide, Every Information You Need 2014

Madrid

Spain conjures images of flamenco dancers, café-lined plazas, white hillside villages, and soaring cathedrals. Beyond these traditional associations, this modern country offers top-notch art museums, inventive cuisine, and exciting nightlife. From the Pyrenees to the coast, its landscapes and varied cultures are worth exploring. Especially enticing is the national insistence on enjoying everyday pleasures. The Spanish live life to its fullest whether they are strolling in the park, pausing for a siesta, lingering over lunch, or dancing until dawn. 

Top Things to Do in Spain

La Alhambra, Granada

Nothing can prepare you for the Moorish grandeur of Andalusia's greatest monument. The palace unfolds in a series of sumptuous courtyards and gardens, with softly playing fountains and delicate stone tracery and exquisite motifs in ceramic tile.

Toledo

El Greco's city (the fourth centenary of his death is 2014), an hour southwest of Madrid, is often described as Spain's spiritual capital, and past inhabitants—including Jews, Romans, and Muslims—have all felt its pull. Perched on a ridge above the Río Tajo, Toledo is a tapestry of medieval buildings, churches, mosques, and synagogues threaded by narrow, cobbled streets and squares.

La Sagrada Família, Barcelona

The symbol of Barcelona, Antoni Gaudí's extraordinary unfinished cathedral should be on everyone's must-see list. The iconic pointed spires, with organic shapes that resemble honeycombed stalagmites, are visible from almost any point in the city and it’s well worth taking a tour round them if you’re fit and don’t mind heights.

Guggenheim, Bilbao

All swooping curves and rippling forms, the architecturally innovative museum—one of Frank Gehry's most breathtaking projects—was built on the site of the city's former shipyards and inspired by the shape of a ship's hull. The Guggenheim's cachet is its huge spaces: there's room to stand back and admire works such as Richard Serra's monumental steel forms; sculpture by Miquel Barceló and Eduardo Chillida; and paintings by Anselm Kiefer, Willem de Kooning, and Mark Rothko.

Museo del Prado, Madrid

One of the world's greatest museums, the Prado holds masterpieces by Italian and Flemish painters but its jewels are the works of Spaniards: Goya, Velázquez, and El Greco.

Mérida's Roman Ruins

In the center of a somewhat drab modern town is the largest Roman city on the Iberian Peninsula. Ogle the fabulously preserved Roman amphitheater with its columns, statues, and tiered seating, or the humbler, yet equally beguiling, 2nd-century house with mosaics and frescoes.

Cuenca's Hanging Houses

Cuenca is all honey-colored buildings, handsome mansions, ancient churches, and earthy local bars. Seek out the famous Casas Colgadas, or "Hanging Houses," with their facades dipping precipitously over a ravine. Dating from the 15th century, the balconies appear as an extension of the rock face.

San Lorenzo de El Escorial

This giant palace-monastery (with no fewer than 2,673 windows), built by the megalomaniac Felipe II, makes visitors stop in their tracks. The exterior is austere, but inside the Bourbon apartments and library are lush with rich, colorful tapestries, ornate frescoes, and paintings by such masters as El Greco, Titian, and José de Ribera.

Mezquita, Córdoba

An extraordinary mosque, the Mezquita is famed for its thicket of red-and-white-striped columns resembling a palm grove oasis interspersed with arches and traditional Moorish embellishments. It's a fabulous, massive monument that comprises a whole block in the center of Córdoba's tangle of ancient streets and squares.

Top Reasons to Go to Spain

Cool Cities: Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Granada, Valencia, Bilbao, San Sebastián, and Salamanca.
Amazing Architecture: From the Moorish Alhambra to Gaudí’s eclectic Sagrada Família.
History: From Segovia’s Roman aqueduct to Córdoba’s Mezquita, history comes alive.
Superlative Art: Masterpieces by Goya, El Greco, Picasso, Dalí, and Miró thrill.
Tapas and Wine: Spain’s justly famed small bites pair perfectly with its Riojas.
Beautiful Beaches: From Barcelona’s city beaches to Ibiza’s celebrated strands.