Spain

Spain rewards travellers who go beyond the beach. Each region has a strong identity, often its own language, and a very different landscape, from the green north to the dry plains of Castile and the white villages of the south. Life runs late here: lunch at two, dinner at nine or ten, and the evening paseo is a ritual in every town.

Madrid is the capital of art, with the Prado, the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen within a short walk, and easy day trips to Toledo and Segovia. Barcelona combines Gaudí's Sagrada Família and Park Güell with a Gothic quarter and a city beach, with Montserrat and Girona nearby. In Andalucía, Seville, Córdoba and Granada hold the cathedral and Alcázar, the Mezquita and the Alhambra. Málaga and Marbella anchor the Costa del Sol, with Ronda's gorge inland, while Valencia mixes futuristic architecture with orange groves and paella. In the north, Bilbao and San Sebastián bring the Guggenheim and some of the finest food in Europe, while Galicia ends at the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

Spanish food deserves a trip of its own. Tapas in Seville and Granada, pintxos in the north, jamón ibérico, paella in Valencia, sherry from Jerez and Cádiz, and churros with chocolate in Madrid. Rioja and Ribera del Duero reds are well known, but every region has good local wine.

We have a wide range of Spain tours: day tours from Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Málaga, photography sessions, city breaks, a Christmas market walk in Madrid, and rail tours through Spain and Portugal. For longer journeys there are private van tours and self-drive itineraries from Madrid. High-speed AVE trains link Madrid with Barcelona, Seville, Málaga and Valencia in a few hours, so a multi-city trip by rail is often quicker than flying.