Spain tourist information - Tourism in Spain

The Costa Calida in Region of Murcia, Mediterranean Coasts and the Mar Menor (Lesser Sea), a inner salt lake separated to the Mediterranean by a large sandy bank. The Costa de Almería, the Costa Tropical, the Costa del Sol and the Costa de la Luz, all in Andalucía. Some of its summer towns are worldwide famous, like Marbella, a tourist destination of tourist with big purchasing power. Málaga is also one of the largest harbours in Spain.

Spain also has two archipelagoes, the volcanic Canary Islands, in the Atlantic, and the Balearic Islands, in the Mediterranean, both very popular between Spaniards and foreigners.
Parallel to the summer tourism, other modalities like cultural and monumental tourism congresses, sport or fun tourism have been developed in these areas, including such famous cities as Barcelona and Valencia, both the biggest harbours of the Spanish Mediterranean coast.

The Beach Tourism also has had to do in the development of the nightlife, present in all the coastal or island cities, as well as their excellent gastronomy.
Many coastal or island places also have great ecological and natural importance. Theme Parks like Port Aventura or diverse Water-fun parks are also popular between Spaniards and foreigners.

Winter Tourism
Spain, as the second most mountainous country of Europe and is full of high mountains and good ski resorts, with famous ski slopes all over Spain, including the Pyrenees, the Cordillera Central, The Sistema Ibérico and Sierra Nevada.

Regions
Andalucía main cities: Seville (Sevilla), Malaga, Cordoba, Granada, Cadiz, America.
Aragón main city: Zaragoza.
Asturias (Spanish: Principado de Asturias)main cities: Oviedo, Gijon.
Balearic Islands (Spanish: Islas Baleares, Catalan: Illes Balears or Ses illes)It's in Catalonia. The principal cites are: Palma de Majorca/Palma de Mallorca and Ibiza/Eivissa.

Basque Country (Spanish: País Vasco, Basque: Euskadi) main cities: Bilbao/Bilbo, Vitoria/Gasteiz, San Sebastian/Donostia.
Canary Islands (Spanish: Islas Canarías) chief cities: Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Cantabria main city: Santander.
Castile-La Mancha (Spanish: Castilla-La Mancha) main city: Toledo.


Castile and Leon (Spanish: Castilla y León) main cities: Valladolid, Salamanca, Leon, Zamora.
Catalonia (Spanish: Cataluña, Catalan: Catalunya) Catalonia is the one of the most visited regions of Spain, probably because of its own culture and tradition. The capital is Barcelona, one of the most famous cities in Europe, and an example of cosmopolitism. Barcelona is well known for its museums, like Picasso Museum, MACBA or MNAC, and also for its architecture.

The other main cities in Catalonia are Lerida/Lleida, Girona/Girona. Catalonia is one of the richest parts in Spain, attending to economy, culture, society and education.
Ceuta, an independent Spanish enclave city in north Africa.
Extremadura, main cities: Badajoz, Merida and Caceres.

Galicia (Spanish: Galicia, Galician: Galicia or Galiza) main cities: Vigo, Santiago de Compostella, A Coruna.
La Rioja (Spain) La Rioja is the smallest of the Spanish regions but well known thanks to Rioja wine, one of the best in the world.Main city: Logrono.

Madrid - the region includes the second, fourth and current capital of Spain Madrid with three world class museums (Prado, Sofia, and Thyssen-Bornemisza), and Aranjuez, the Escorial, Salamanca, Segovia, Toledo, and the Valle de los Caidos are also nearby.
Melilla, an independent Spanish enclave city in north Africa.
Murcia main cities: Murcia, Cartagena.

Navarra (Spanish: Navarra, Basque: Nafarroa) Main city: Pamplona/Iruna.
Valencia (Spanish: Comunidad Valenciana, Catalan: Comunitat Valenciana) principal cities: Valencia, Alicante/Alacant, Castellon/Castello.

Spain is now divided into autonomías or autonomous regions/ plus 2 independent cities. Some of the autonomías - notably the ones with languages other than Spanish as co-official (Basque Country or Euskadi -Basque language-, Galicia -Galician language-, Catalonia or Catalunya, Valencian Country or País Valencià, and Balearic Islands or Illes Balears -Catalan language-) and Andalucía - are historical regions.

Travelers to these parts of the Iberian Peninsula will do well to respect their history and language. The Canary Islands are actually off the coast of Morocco and are properly in Africa and so are the two Autonomous cities: Ceuta and Melilla.

Spain has hundreds of interesting cities. In addition to its vibrant capital, Madrid, here are 11 of the most popular destinations:
Barcelona - Spain's second city, capital of Catalonia, full of modernist buildings and a vibrant cultural life, nightclubs, and beaches.
Bilbao - former industrial city, home to the Guggenheim Museum.

Cadiz - oldest city in Western Europe, celebrates a famous carnival.
Córdoba - The Grand Mosque ('Mezquita') of Cordoba is one of the world's finest buildings.
Granada - stunning city in the south, surrounded by snow capped mountains of the Sierra Nevada, home of La Alhambra.
Jerez de la Frontera - a beautiful city of Andalusial. Jerez is the capital of flamenco, horse and wine.

León - used to be a Roman colony, great monuments, nice food.
San Sebastián - wealthy city with a large sandy beach bay and bay of Viscaya.
Santander - well-styled city with beautiful coastal parks.
Seville - a beautiful, verdant city, and home to the world's third largest cathedral.

Valencia - paella was invented here, has a very nice beach.
Andorra - a principality nestling in the Pyrenees, and one of the smallest countries in the world.
Béjar - really nice place to visit.
El Arenosillo - rocket launch site near Mazagón in Huelva, Andalucia.
Jerez de la Frontera - home of sherry wine.

La Rioja - Rioja wine and fossilized dinosaur tracks.
Peñiscola - nice town on the east coast with a medieval castle.
Rías Altas (comprising the province of Lugo plus the northern part of the province of Coruña) - beautiful beaches and food.
Rías Baixas (comprising the province of Pontevedra plus the southern part of the province of Coruña) - beautiful beaches and food.

Ronda - beautifully preserved old town in southern Spain with the oldest still-used bullring in Spain - it was the location for the film of Carmen with Placido Domingo.
Salamanca - home to the oldest University in Spain, the premier learning center during the middle ages.
Toledo - the first capital of Spain, the ecclesiastical capital of Spain.

Valladolid - the third capital of Spain, a nice place to visit.
Sitges,a seaside resort near Barcelona.
Costa Brava, the rugged coast.
Merida, an historical city.

With great beaches, fun nightlife, many cultural regions and historic cities, Spain makes a great destination for any kind of trip. A country of large geographical and cultural diversity, Spain is sometimes a surprise to people who know its reputation for great beach holidays. There is everything from lush meadows, snowy mountains, huge marsh and salines and deserts in the south east.

Festivals
Spain has a lot of local festivals that are worth going to.
Córdoba en Mayo (Cordoba in May) - great month to visit the Southern city.
Las Cruces (1st week in May) - big flower-made crosses embellishing public squares in the city center, where you will also find at night music and drinking and lot of people having fun!

Festival de Patios - one of the most interesting cultural exhibitions, 2 weeks when some people open doors of their houses to show their old Patios full of flowers.
Cata del Vino Montilla-Moriles - great wine tasting in a big tent in the city center during one week in May.
Fallas - Valencia´s festival in March - burning the ´fallas` is a must.

Seville's April Fair - flamenco dancing, drinking sherry, bullfights.
San Fermines - July in Pamplona, Navarra.
Fiesta de San Isidro - May 15 in Madrid - a celebration of Madrid's patron saint.
Holy week - best in Seville and the rest of Andalusia; also interesting in Valladolid.
Carnival - best in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Cádiz.

Cabalgata de los Reyes Magos (Three wise men parade) - on the eve of epiphany, 5th of January, the night before Spanish kids get their Christmas presents, it rains sweets and toys in every single town and city.
La Tomatina - a giant tomato fight in Buñol
Moros y Cristianos (Moors and Christians, mostly found in Southeastern Spain during spring time) - parades and ´battles` remembering the fights of medieval ages

The Spanish coasts suitable for summer vacations include, from north to south:
The Costa Brava, the Costa Dorada and the Costa del Maresme, in the autonomous community of Catalonia, very popular between tourist from inland Spain and France, including famous resorts like Salou and the city of Barcelona, that also has the largest harbour of Spain.

The Costa del Azahar, Costa de Valencia, whose capital city is Valencia and the Costa Blanca, (one of the most developed coastal areas of Spain, extremely popular for tourists from the United Kingdom and Germany, with Benidorm as the leading summer city of Spain), all in the Valencian Community.