From culture-rich cities to mountains threaded with hiking trails and beaches in every shape and size, Spain’s holiday destinations are fun, plentiful and pleasingly varied. Some places happily coast along with the same old charm year after year (it’s hard to improve on a few rounds of tapas at a beachfront chiringuito), while others are busy tempting visitors with waves of new hotels, restaurants and attractions.
With overtourism remaining a concern in many popular parts of Spain, it’s worth remembering that May, June, September and October are the sweet spots if you’re keen to relax along the costas while sidestepping summer crowds. Most Spanish cities also make excellent shoulder- and low-season destinations, thanks to ever-evolving arts, culture and gastronomy scenes, while several previously under-the-radar regions are gaining traction too. And at any time of year, there’s usually a colourful local festival to tap into.
- Best for culture
- Best for food and wine
- Best for luxury
- Best for beach days
- Best for nature
- Best for families
Best for culture
Barcelona
The landmark mid-2026 completion of La Sagrada Família’s Tower of Jesus Christ is putting the spotlight on Catalonia’s capital, which has been named this year’s Unesco–UIA World Capital of Architecture. A slew of events throughout the year will celebrate the work of the great Modernista architect Antoni Gaudí, a century after his death. Immersive Modernisme highlights might include catching a concert on the rooftop of Gaudí’s dragon-like Casa Batlló, or joining a tailored trail with Barcelona Design Tours.
How to do it: Led by historian and Gaudí biographer Gijs van Hensbergen, Martin Randall’s eight-day Celebrating Gaudí tour combines headline buildings with after-hours visits, from £3,750 per person. Alternatively, book into Eixample’s Casa Bonay, which has arty rooms, a season-driven, bodega-style restaurant and a brand-new rooftop spa. Doubles from £174, room only.
Bilbao
Well-connected Bilbao makes a terrific city-break destination, with its Basque-focused galleries, riverside paths, Michelin-star meals and packed pintxo bars. Art fans will, of course, want to check out the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Bilbao. The Bilbao Fine Arts Museum is due to wrap up a €45m expansion led by Norman Foster – complete with a glass-built atrium – in the summer of 2026, and has already opened its renovated 1970s wing.
How to do it: Audley Travel’s tailor-made seven-day Basque Country Explorer trip includes two nights in Bilbao, at the arty Hotel Miró, from £5,575 per person, including flights and car hire. Alternatively, book one of Tayko Bilbao’s urban-chic rooms, with gastronomy by celebrated chef Martín Berasategui in the Casco Antiguo. Doubles from £117, room only.
Granada
Granada’s marvellous Unesco-recognised Alhambra palace rightly counts among Spain’s most visited monuments, but there are many more layers to this cultured Andalusian city if you allow time to dig a little deeper. Local chefs are experimenting with from-the-doorstep ingredients, while chic rooftop bars are joining old-school tapas joints as popular drinking haunts. The landmark cathedral, meanwhile, is set to open a new 56-metre-high terrace lookout in mid-2026.
How to do it: The five-star, newly revamped Hospes Palacio de los Patos combines a grand 19th-century palace with a design-led contemporary annexe. Doubles from £170, room only. For a longer itinerary, Toma & Coe’s Classic Andalucía Tour links Seville, Córdoba and Granada over six culture-packed days, staying in four- or five-star boutique accommodation, from £3,425 B&B per person, based on two sharing.
Seville
Seville is up there with Spain’s most enchanting cities (just skip the sweltering summer), and a raft of hot new hotels is now upping the local accommodation game. Andalusia’s regional capital feels most captivating (and busiest) during Semana Santa (early April in 2026), when elaborate pasos are carried through the streets in soulful, candle-lit processions. Climb La Giralda, soak up the intricately carved Real Alcázar, catch flamenco in its heartland, and mix time-worn tapas bars with inventive dining from up-and-coming sevillano chefs.
How to do it: Launched in 2024, Cristine Bedfor is an arts-driven boutique restoration of an early-20th-century building near Las Setas. Doubles from £171, B&B. Alternatively, book with Audley Travel for tailored Seville trips, including a six-day itinerary combined with Córdoba, based in evocative boutique hotels in both cities, from £2,745 per person.
Ibiza
Ibiza’s Balearic beaches, all-night clubbing and rural agroturismos draw droves of visitors every year. For cultural immersion, head to the stylish seaside capital Ibiza Town, known as Eivissa in Catalan. A stay here is bound to start with a stroll through Dalt Vila, the evocative fortified old quarter on a hill, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site with roots stretching back to Phoenician times. Plazas across town buzz with tapas bars and wine spots, particularly in the evening.
How to do it: easyJet Holidays has three nights at the five-star Ibiza Gran Hotel, across the marina from Dalt Vila, from £833 B&B per person, including return flights from London Luton. Hidden across several historic Dalt Vila buildings, La Torre del Canónigo is a 26-room boutique haven with a Med-view pool. Doubles from £314, B&B.
Málaga
As someone who grew up in Málaga province, I’ve been delighted to see how a flurry of design-forward hotel openings and fired-up new restaurants, Michelin stars included, has put Málaga on the map as much more than Picasso’s Andalusian hometown. Laid-back beaches, long-running chiringuitos sizzling up fresh seafood and a packed cultural calendar add to the appeal. In the thick of the elegant, always-buzzing old town, the Museo Picasso’s 2026 line-up includes Picasso Memory and Desire, running until mid-April.
How to do it: Explore Málaga’s old town from the gorgeous Palacio Solecio with EasyJet Holidays, which offers three nights from £449 per person, room only, including return flights from London Luton. Alternatively, H10 Croma has a fun vibe, light-flooded rooms with balconies, and rooftop cocktails by the dip pool. Doubles from £167, room only.
Valencia
Ever-expanding green spaces, busy neighbourhood markets, boldly diverse architecture and one of the country’s greatest festivals – Les Falles in mid-March – are among cycle-friendly Valencia’s many draws. The ever-changing food scene quietly rivals Spain’s more famous gastronomic cities, and there’s much more to devour than glorious paella by the sea. New for 2026 is a major 220-piece museum devoted to the Valencian painter Joaquín Sorolla, slated to open in the 1920s Palau de les Comunicacions building.
How to do it: Byway organises train-based trips to Valencia from the UK via France, including a seven-day route with three nights in the city, from £1,093 per person, including accommodation. Alternatively, book Art Deco-inspired rooms in an old-town location at Only You Valencia. Doubles from £170, room only.
Best for food and wine
Jerez de la Frontera
Sherry-making Jerez, between Cádiz and Seville, has bagged the coveted title of Spanish Capital of Gastronomy 2026. See what all the fuss is about by wandering the casco antiguo (old town), where renowned sherry wineries such as Bodegas Tradición sit among tile-studded churches, and traditional tabancos (sherry bars) host live flamenco over glasses of fino and tapas like chicharrones or Payoyo cheese. The February/March Festival de Jerez, one of Spain’s great flamenco events, is an especially good time to visit.
How to do it: Andalusia-based chef and sherry educator Annie Manson, founder of Annie B’s Spanish Kitchen, is leading four-night Best of Jerez culinary tours in June and November, from £2,250 per person. Alternatively, the five-star Casa Palacio María Luisa is a 19th-century old-town mansion, beautifully restored with creative flair. Doubles from £299, B&B.
La Rioja
Just south of the much better known Basque Country, Spain’s smallest autonomous region is synonymous with world-renowned wine. It also has some dreamy places to stay, typically overlooking vine-carpeted hills and stone-built medieval villages, a flourishing, locally rooted food scene and excellent cycling, yet still remains the least visited part of Spain among British travellers. Ideal, then, for going behind the scenes at top Spanish wineries such as the wave-like, Santiago Calatrava-designed Bodegas Ysios and Frank Gehry’s winery-hotel Marqués de Riscal.
How to do it: Kirker Holidays’ seven-night Northern Spain: Bilbao, Pamplona & La Rioja tour ends with two nights at the fabulous Marqués de Riscal in Elciego, from £2,149 per person, including return flights. Alternatively, choose the chicly restyled 19th-century Hotel Echaurren, a Relais & Châteaux member in the Ezcaray ski village, renowned for its Michelin-star dining. Doubles from £209, B&B.
Costa de la Luz
Cádiz province’s windswept Coast of Light is easily one of the most spectacular stretches of Spain’s shoreline, with broad, little developed beaches to loll about on while gazing across the Strait of Gibraltar to Morocco. It’s a place for sipping local sherry at sandside chiringuitos and trying kitesurfing, before pottering around bohemian towns such as Tarifa, Zahara de los Atunes and Vejer de la Frontera. The food is famously good too – start with Cádiz-made Payoyo cheese or wild almadraba bluefin tuna, prepared in all kinds of imaginative ways.
How to do it: La Casa del Califa, in Vejer, is one of Andalusia’s loveliest boutique hotels, with a North African-leaning restaurant and a hammam. Doubles from £83, B&B. Jet2 Holidays offers three nights at the four-star Meliá Zahara Resort & Villas, from £545 B&B per person, including return flights from London Stansted.
Castilla y León
Northwest of Madrid, the vast Castilla y León region, Spain’s largest, is emerging as a destination for gastronomy-focused escapes built around grand, yet generally less visited, inland cities. Hop between tapas bars in Salamanca, home to one of the country’s finest squares, the Plaza Mayor; wander the medieval plazas and Gothic cathedral in León; and marvel at Segovia’s ancient Real Alcázar, believed to have inspired several Disney castles. Most major Castilian cities are easily reached from Madrid.
How to do it: Days begin with tasting-menu-style breakfasts at the 11-room Eunice Hotel Gastronómico, a boutique bolthole created by local chef José Manuel Pascua. Doubles from £217, B&B. Alternatively, Kirker Holidays has three nights at the five-star Parador de León, a stylishly renovated 16th-century landmark, from £776 B&B per person, including return flights to Madrid.
San Sebastián
If food is top of your Spanish-trip list, it doesn’t get dreamier than San Sebastián, where the pintxo has been carefully crafted into a work of art over recent decades and a crop of Michelin-awarded restaurants includes triple-starred kitchens Arzak and Akelarre. This beloved Basque city also happens to have three knockout beaches fronting the Bay of Biscay (head to Zurriola for surf waves), splendid Belle Époque architecture to soak up and coastal paths weaving across forested cliffs.
How to do it: Intrepid’s eight-day North Spain Discovery holiday includes two days exploring San Sebastián, along with Barcelona, Logroño and Madrid, from £1,282 per person, excluding flights. Alternatively, just five minutes’ walk from Zurriola beach, Pensión Aldamar is a friendly, fresh Parte Vieja guesthouse. Doubles from £60, room only.
Best for luxury
Madrid
The past few years have seen Madrid steal the show for Spanish luxury accommodation, and 2026 promises new launches from Nobu, Mercer and Nômade. Not that you need a five-star stay to thoroughly enjoy Spain’s capital. Most visitors understandably make a beeline for the Unesco-recognised Paseo del Prado and its second-to-none art galleries, which can easily fill a couple of days. Innovative cuisine, bustling neighbourhood plazas for sipping vermouth, and a stash of unmissable monuments, including the colossal Palacio Real, make for a thrilling city break (avoid summer). If you fancy getting under the skin of madrileño gastronomy, try one of Elysian Tales’ behind-the-scenes dining experiences.
How to do it: British Airways Holidays has three nights at the five-star Madrid Edition near Puerta del Sol, from £491 per person, room only, including return flights from London Heathrow. Alternatively, in the Barrio de las Letras, the beautifully restored Gran Hotel Inglés has swish Art Deco style and season-focused dining. Doubles from £377, room only.
Costa del Sol
Andalusia’s friendly, fun-loving Costa del Sol has seriously smartened up over the past few years, with whitewashed old quarters enjoying charming makeovers, boutique hotels popping up in historic buildings and a wave of luxe resort openings drawing an international crowd. In Marbella, get lost in the revitalised casco antiguo and explore its tile-studded churches, before diving into seafood-based tapas bars or hitting the walking trails in the Sierra Blanca hills.
How to do it: With its breezy design, top-tier wellness experiences and a locally popular dining scene, Marbella Club channels elevated Andalusian style. Doubles from £520, B&B. British Airways Holidays has three nights at Marbella’s chicly revamped Kimpton Los Monteros, from £869 B&B per person, including return flights from London Gatwick.
Best for beach days
Menorca
Walking between pretty coves – rust-coloured in the north, salty white in the south – along the 115-mile Camí de Cavalls trail is a classic Menorca joy, so pack your swimming gear for any excursion on this low-key Balearic beauty. The island is also known for its creative scene, celebrated by a slew of arts fairs, including April’s new-for-2026 Cultural Opening programme, along with the bold Hauser & Wirth Menorca gallery on Illa de Rei, in Maó’s meandering harbour.
How to do it: In Menorca’s rural centre, Son Blanc Farmhouse is a secluded, sustainably run boutique retreat styled with local crafts. Doubles from £255, B&B. Alternatively, Mr & Mrs Smith can arrange stays at the barefoot-chic, olive-fringed agroturismo Amagatay Menorca, near Alaior, from £205 B&B for two, with a minimum two-night stay.
Gran Canaria
Sun-drenched year-round, Gran Canaria provides a taste of everything people flock to the Canary Islands for. The simmering food scene, centred on locally grown ingredients and Canarian recipes both classic and reinvented, is a big draw, especially in the buzzing capital Las Palmas. Dive in with a wander around the fresh-produce markets, sampling artisanal Flor de Guía cheese, and along golden Las Canteras beach, perhaps also day-tripping into the island’s mountainous centre to explore villages such as Tejeda and Artenara.
How to do it: A stylishly grand haven in Las Palmas, Santa Catalina, a Royal Hideaway Hotel, wows with Michelin-starred dining, including Borja Marrero’s Muxgo. Doubles from £200, room only. For the more outdoors-inclined, Exodus offers an eight-day self-guided Contrasts of Gran Canaria walking holiday, taking in Tejeda and Artenara, from £1,249 per person, excluding flights.
Lanzarote
For a few years now, Lanzarote has been making a name for itself as a stylish Canarian escape, especially the more rustic northern half, with its volcanic-inspired boutique hotels, innovative produce-first restaurants and Atlantic sea pools for splashing around in. Stroll through the pretty historic centre of the former capital, Teguise, which has excellent tapas bars and studios run by artists, designers and craftworkers. Nearby, surfy Famara beach is one of the Canary Islands’ finest strands.
How to do it: Teguise’s Hotel Palacio Ico is a creatively restored 17th-century mansion with a destination restaurant. Doubles from £148, B&B. Alternatively, Mr & Mrs Smith offers doubles at La Casa de los Naranjos, a beautifully renovated two-century-old mansion in the village of Haría, from £210 B&B, with a minimum two-night stay.
Mallorca
Few places in Spain have the instant allure of the largest Balearic isle, with its hundreds of sparkling coves. Mallorca’s graceful capital, Palma, is a destination in its own right, home to family-run craft shops, thriving restaurants and some of the Balearics’ finest cultural hubs, including the Fundació Miró gallery. Or head to the Serra de Tramuntana, where orange blossom fills the air, hiking trails continue to evolve and honey-coloured stone villages such as Deià, Valldemossa and Sóller pepper the mountain landscape.
How to do it: Stay at the four-star Nakar Hotel on the edge of Palma’s old town for crisp, Scandi-feel design and a rooftop infinity pool. Doubles from £158, B&B. For more adventurous tastes, Inntravel’s seven-night Mountains & Villages of Mallorca is a hotel-hopping walking adventure across the Tramuntana hills, from £1,093 per person, excluding flights.
Costa Blanca
Stretching more than 100 miles from the Murcia border to Dénia, the Valencia region’s Costa Blanca has been a beach-holiday favourite among Spanish and international visitors since the 1960s. Venture beyond the sand, though, and you’ll be immersed in a world of traditional crafts, reinvigorated local cuisine and markets stacked with regional produce. Alicante, the rice-loving provincial capital, is fresh from a year as Spain’s 2025 Capital of Gastronomy, and quieter, further-out coves can still be found around tempting coastal towns such as Altea.
How to do it: Tui offers four nights at Altea’s beachfront SH Villa Gadea, which has a swish spa and a sea-view pool, from £315 per person, including return flights from London Stansted. For a grown-up escape, the beachy, adults-only La Serena is tucked away in Altea’s old town and has a sea-view pool. Doubles from £140, B&B.
Best for nature
Galicia
A wild coast marked by long inlets, windswept cliffs and Atlantic surf beaches makes beautifully green Galicia a refreshing northwestern antidote to Spain’s beloved Mediterranean shores. It also has a powerful spiritual energy as the end point of the famous Camino de Santiago, walked by around half a million pilgrims each year. Pair Galicia’s storied regional capital, Santiago de Compostela (perhaps joining a rooftop tour of the splendid Cathedral), with time on the Costa da Morte, a meandering 125-mile stretch known for its fishing villages, fresh seafood and undeveloped beaches.
How to do it: At Hotel Costa Vella in Santiago’s old town, days start with local-produce breakfasts in the gorgeous garden café. Doubles from around £70, room only. Camino Ways’ range of Galicia walking holidays includes a seven-night Camino Finisterre Guided Tour, linking Santiago with the Costa da Morte, from £990 per person.
Extremadura
Sandwiched between Madrid and Portugal, Extremadura remains one of Spain’s most under-the-radar regions. Yet, at just a 2.5-hour drive from the capital, it’s becoming increasingly popular with a Spanish crowd seeking quiet rural retreats, strong regional food scenes and some of the country’s finest birdwatching in the Parque Nacional de Monfragüe. The walled medieval old town of Trujillo is a Spain-wide standout, with elaborately stone-carved mansions, storks nesting among church spires and a castle with Islamic-era roots.
How to do it: Just outside Trujillo, Finca El Azahar is a calming rural escape that doubles as an artists’ retreat, serving extremeño meals based on home-grown produce. Doubles from £112, B&B. To explore more deeply, Sunvil’s eight-night Exciting Extremadura holiday links elegant Parador hotels along a self-drive route taking in Cáceres, Guadalupe and Trujillo, from £1,321 B&B per person.
La Palma
For a taste of the Canary Islands’ raw volcanic landscapes and blossoming outdoor-adventure scene, you can’t beat steep, verdant and slightly under-the-radar La Palma, which is set to welcome new Jet2 flights from the UK later this year. The big highlight is hiking in the spectacular Parque Nacional de la Caldera de Taburiente, but save time, too, for wandering around the colourful capital, Santa Cruz, lazing on shimmering volcanic-sand coves or tapping into top-tier stargazing.
How to do it: Stay in the heart of La Palma’s capital at the boutique Hotel San Telmo, a colourfully restored 17th-century house. Doubles from £82, room only. Active travellers might consider Headwater’s new Walk the Bonita Island of La Palma holiday, which offers a seven-night self-guided itinerary based at the Canaries-inspired Parador de La Palma.
Asturias and Cantabria
Easily paired together, these small, side-by-side northern regions dazzle with jade-coloured countryside, golden, surf-whipped beaches and craggy peaks rising just inland from the thundering Bay of Biscay. A few days of road-tripping allows for mountain hikes and wildlife spotting in the Picos de Europa, one of Spain’s oldest national parks, alongside time to relax in maritime beach towns popular with Spaniards, such as Ribadesella, Llanes or San Vicente de la Barquera.
How to do it: A 30-minute drive inland from Ribadesella, the smart four-star Parador de Cangas de Onís occupies a medieval monastery in the Picos de Europa foothills. Doubles from £100, room only. Pura Aventura’s 10-day Northern Spain Signature Drive tour travels from Bilbao to Galicia via the Picos and the Cantabrian and Asturian coasts, from £1,950 per person, excluding international travel.
Costa Brava
Popular year-round with savvy weekenders from Barcelona, the Costa Brava combines cliff-edged coves with white-walled fishing harbours and gold-stone inland villages. Spend a few days walking along elevated coastal trails, picking up locally crafted ceramics from independent studios and swimming off tiny, pebbly beaches, the best of which can’t be reached by car. Lunch is a key part of any Costa Brava trip, often involving seafood-laden arroces made with Catalonia-grown rice.
How to do it: Inntravel’s new seven-night Discover Calella walking holiday dives into the Costa Brava’s seaside trails, with four-star accommodation in pretty Calella de Palafrugell, from £960 per person, flights excluded. Alternatively, book La Bionda, a seven-room boutique bolthole set in a 17th-century mansion in Begur, one of the Costa Brava’s most delightful towns. Doubles from £162, B&B.
Best for families
Aragón
Popular with Spaniards, the northern Aragón region still flies under the radar among international visitors. Its lively capital, Zaragoza, one of Spain’s largest cities, has fabulous tapas bars, a revered basilica overlooking the Ebro river, and an Islamic-era masterpiece in the elaborately decorated Aljafería Palace. Then there’s the mountainous wonderland of Aragón’s Pyrenees, where you can walk past glacial lakes, thundering waterfalls and springtime flower fields, especially in the Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte Perdido, a two-hour drive north of Zaragoza.
How to do it: Pura Aventura’s Aragón-based Spanish Pyrenees Family Adventure is a seven-day trip featuring kayaking, canyoning, e-biking and hiking in the Ordesa Valley, from £1,600 per person, excluding international travel. Alternatively, consider InnSide Zaragoza, a crisp, stylish and super-central four-star base with a rooftop pool. Doubles from around £150, room only.