Most people reading this article will be looking for the biggest music festivals in Spain which feature some of the world’s most famous artists and bands. A wide range of musical genres can be encompassed in this section ranging from rock and electronic dance music to pop, hip-hop and more. …
Most people’s knowledge of Pamplona begins and ends with those eight minutes of chaos each July when bulls and runners tear through cobbled streets. Which is a shame, because there’s considerably more to this elegant Navarrese capital than its famous encierro. The city sits at the foot of the Pyrenees …
Spain has long suffered from typecasting. To many Britons, it represents little more than package holidays, crowded beaches and the relentless July-August tourist crush along the Mediterranean coast. This reductive view does a profound disservice to one of Europe’s most culturally rich and geographically diverse nations. The reality is that …
Salamanca catches people off guard. Most visitors know it has one of Spain’s oldest universities and some impressive architecture, but few expect how the city glows golden at sunset or how the student population shapes its atmosphere. The nickname “La Ciudad Dorada” (Golden City) isn’t marketing hyperbole – the Villamayor …
Santiago de Compostela does something rather unusual for a city built around medieval pilgrimage – it hasn’t frozen itself as heritage display. Yes, the cathedral dominates physically and historically, and yes, the pilgrim infrastructure remains central to how the city functions. But Santiago’s also got 20,000 university students creating proper …
Granada does something no other Spanish city quite manages – it makes you feel like you’ve stumbled into somewhere that shouldn’t exist anymore. Here’s this Moorish palace sitting on a hill, surrounded by Islamic gardens and medieval Arabic quarters, with the Sierra Nevada providing snow-capped backdrop most of the year. …
The Mezquita-Cathedral of Córdoba stops most visitors mid-stride the first time they step inside. You think you’re prepared – you’ve seen photographs of those famous red-and-white striped arches, read descriptions of the forest of columns, maybe watched a video or two. Then you actually walk in and the scale, the …
Gijón doesn’t pretend to be anything it isn’t, which makes it rather refreshing after Spain’s more self-consciously picturesque destinations. This is a working port city on Asturias’ Atlantic coast that’s been shaped by industry, maritime trade and coal mining as much as tourism. The beaches are genuinely excellent, the Roman …
I’ve been visiting Córdoba since the early ’90s, and honestly, people who allocate just one day here are missing the point entirely. The Mezquita is obviously the headline attraction – that forest of red-and-white arches genuinely lives up to its reputation and justifies the journey alone. But Córdoba rewards proper …