1027 Best Sights in Spain

The highlight of Nerja, this tree-lined promenade is on a promontory just off the central square, with magnificent views of the mountains and sea. You can gaze far off into the horizon using the strategically placed telescopes, or use this as a starting point for a horse-and-carriage clip-clop ride around town. Open-air concerts are held here in July and August.

Explore the narrow alleys of old Jaén as you walk from the cathedral to the Baños Árabes (Arab Baths), which once belonged to Ali, a Moorish king of Jaén, and probably date to the 11th century. In 1592, a viceroy of Peru named Fernando de Torres y Portugal built himself a mansion, the Palacio de Villardompardo, right over the baths, so it took years of painstaking excavation to restore them to their original form. The palace contains a fascinating, albeit small, museum of folk crafts and a larger museum devoted to native art.

This interesting Roman forum remained buried for over 20 centuries until excavations in 2008 and 2009 into the hillside revealed an entire block of Roman buildings. Highlights here include a thermal bathing complex, atrium, and the Decumano Calzada Romana, a section of the Roman road that originally joined the harbor and forum. The paintings on the walls of the banquet hall in the atrium and the mosaics in the baths are of particular note.

Tucked away on the north side of the old quarter and founded in 1998, this is one of the city's youngest bodegas, but it has the oldest sherry. The five types sit in the casks for at least 20 years—most for longer. Visits (book in advance by phone or email) include a tour of the winery, a lesson in how to pair each sherry type, and a tour of the unique Spanish art collection that includes works by El Greco, Zurburán, Goya, and Velázquez.

Ascending nearly to the top of El Teide, the cable car soars over sandy scrubland and sulfur steam vents. You can get a good view of southern Tenerife and Gran Canaria from the summit, although you'll be confined to the tiny terrace of a bar. The station also has a basic restaurant. Online booking is a must, but if extreme winds or storms are the forecast, cancel your booking before 6 pm the day prior to your reservation to ensure you get reimbursed.

The Casa de las Veletas (House of the Weather Vanes) is a 12th-century Moorish mansion that is now used as the city's museum. Filled with archaeological finds from the Paleolithic through Visigothic periods, the museum also includes an art section with works by El Greco, Picasso, and Miró. The highlight is the superbly preserved Moorish cistern—the aljibe—with horseshoe arches supported by mildewy stone pillars.

The 1911 Casaramona textile factory, a neo-Mudejar Art Nouveau masterpiece by Josep Puig i Cadafalch (architect of Casa de les Punxes, Casa Amatller, and Palau del Baró de Quadras), is now a center for temporary art exhibits, as well as concerts, live performances, and other cultural events. The original brickwork is spectacular, while a 2002 restoration added sleek white modern entryway designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, also responsible for the nearby Palau Sant Jordi.

What strikes you first about Caldera de Taburiente National Park is its sheer verticality, jutting over 900 meters (3,000 feet) above sea level, which feels dramatic considering that the ocean is only a couple of miles away as the crow flies. Trails here take you through dense Canarian pine forests, meadows of wildflowers, dramatic gorges, and burbling streams. All around you are even higher, jagged cliff tops whose peaks are often hidden above the cloud line. There are essentially two routes: one uphill and one downhill. The latter is far and away more enjoyable, but you'll have to hire a taxi (approximately €55; you may wish to split the fee with other hikers) at the Barranco de las Angustias (aka Parking de la Villa) to drop you at the trailhead at Mirador Los Brecitos. You then walk the scenic route from Los Brecitos back down to the taxi stand, four to seven hours depending on how pokey you are. The hike is steep with lots of uneven surfaces and not suited to all travelers. Bring plenty of water and snacks. If you visit in spring or early summer, you'll be treated to jaw-dropping indigo tajinaste flowers in bloom. Islabonitatours ( www.islabonitatours.com) is an outstanding English-speaking tour company that can make all transportation arrangements and provide knowledgeable mountain guides.

A few yards off the northeastern corner of the mezquita, this tiny street has the prettiest patios, many with ceramics, foliage, and iron grilles. The patios are key to Córdoba's architecture, at least in the old quarter, where life is lived behind sturdy white walls—a legacy of the Moors, who honored both the sanctity of the home and the need to shut out the fierce summer sun. Between the first and second week of May—right after the early May Cruces de Mayo (Crosses of May) competition, when neighborhoods compete at setting up elaborate crosses decorated with flowers and plants—Córdoba throws a Patio Festival, during which private patios are filled with flowers, opened to the public, and judged in a municipal competition. Córdoba's tourist office publishes an itinerary of the best patios in town (downloadable from  patios.cordoba.es/en); note that most are open only in the mornings on weekdays but all day on weekends.

Clinging to the cliffside in the valley, the \"King's Walk\" is a suspended catwalk built for a visit by King Alfonso XIII at the beginning of the 19th century. It reopened in 2015 after many years and a €9 million restoration and is now one of the province's main tourist attractions—as well as one of the world's dizziest. No more than 400 visitors are admitted daily for the walk, which includes nearly 3 km (2 miles) on the boardwalk itself and nearly 5 km (3 miles) on the access paths. It takes four to five hours to complete, and it's a one-way walk, so you need to make your own way back to the start point at the visitor center at the Ardales end (shuttle buses take you back). A certain level of fitness is required, and the walk is not permitted for the under-eights or recommended for anyone who suffers from vertigo. Good guided tours in English (€18) are available. This is one of the Costa del Sol's busiest attractions; book well ahead.

Northeast of Cadaqués, Spain's easternmost point is a fundamental pilgrimage, if only for the symbolic geographical rush. The hike out to the lighthouse—through rosemary, thyme, and the salt air of the Mediterranean—is unforgettable. The Pyrenees officially end (or rise) here. New Year's Day finds mobs of revelers awaiting the first emergence of the "new" sun from the Mediterranean.

Gaze down at heart-pounding views of the craggy coast and crashing waves from Bar Restaurant Cap de Creus ( restaurantcapdecreus.com), which sits on a rocky crag above the Cap de Creus. On a summer evening, you may be lucky and stumble upon some live music on the terrace.

Originally built as a palace in 1309, the monastery was founded in 1399. After the monks were expelled in 1835, it acquired a new lease on life by offering apartments to travelers. The most famous lodgers were Frédéric Chopin and his lover, the Baroness Amandine Dupin, the French novelist better known by her pseudonym, George Sand. The two spent three difficult months here in the cold, damp winter of 1838–39.

In the church, note the frescoes above the nave—Goya's brother-in-law was the monk who painted them. The pharmacy, made by the monks in 1723, is almost entirely preserved. A long corridor leads to the apartments, furnished in period style, occupied by Chopin and Sand (the piano is original). Nearby, another set of flats houses the local museum, with mementos of Archduke Luis Salvador and a collection of old printing blocks. From here, you return to the ornately furnished King Sancho's palace, a group of rooms initially built by King Jaume II for his son. The tourist office sells tickets for the monastery's attractions in Valldemossa's central plaza.

Over five times the size of New York's Central Park, Casa de Campo is Madrid’s largest park and a nature-lover’s paradise, complete with bike trails, picnic tables, pine forests, lakeside restaurants (seek out Villa Verbena, run by the folks behind Triciclo in Barrio de las Letras), and a public outdoor pool (€5 entry). See if you can spot wildlife like hawks, foxes, hares, and red squirrels—and, from November to May, a flock of sheep cared for by a real-deal shepherd. The park's name ("country house") is a holdover from when the grounds were the royal family's hunting estate. In 1931, the park became public property with the arrival of the Spanish Second Republic, which dissolved royal landholdings; a few years later, Franco's troops dug trenches and built bunkers there from which to attack Madrid. 

In a palace where Christopher Columbus may have stayed when he stopped to repair the Pinta's rudder, nautical instruments, copies of early navigational maps, and models of Columbus's three ships are on display in addition to interactive exhibits. The palace, which retains many original features, has two rooms holding pre-Columbian artifacts and one floor dedicated to paintings from the 16th to 19th centuries. There's a glaring absence of criticism of Columbus's complicated legacy.

With its fine patio and superb azulejo decorations, this palace is a beautiful blend of Spanish Mudejar and Renaissance architecture and is considered a prototype of an Andalusian mansion. It was built in the first half of the 16th century by the dukes of Tarifa, ancestors of the present owner, the duke of Medinaceli. It's known as Pilate's House because Don Fadrique, first marquis of Tarifa, allegedly modeled it on Pontius Pilate's house in Jerusalem, where he had gone on a pilgrimage in 1518. The upstairs apartments, which you can see on a guided tour, have frescoes, paintings, and antique furniture. Admission includes an audio guide in English.

Wine and food lovers shouldn't miss this wine museum and tasting room, opened by the Canary Islands' government to promote local vintners. The well-appointed museum describes local grapes, viticultural methods, and history and has English-language placards. There are reasonably priced tastings in the abutting bar area, and you can buy your favorite bottle in the shop. The complex also has a tapas bar and a restaurant with creative Canarian fare and a curious little honey museum with exhibits and tastings. Casa del Vino lies about halfway between Puerto de la Cruz and Tenerife North Airport, at the El Sauzal exit on the main highway.

This was Dalí's summerhouse and a site long associated with the artist's notorious frolics with everyone from poets Federico García Lorca and Paul Éluard to filmmaker Luis Buñuel. Filled with bits of the surrealist's daily life, it's an important point in the "Dalí triangle," completed by the castle at Púbol and the Teatre-Museu Dalí in Figueres.

It's about a 1.1-km (0.6-mile) walk northeast from Cadaqués, or you can take the scenic 3-km (2-mile) walk along the coast. Only small groups of visitors are admitted at any given time, and advance reservations are required.

Antoni Gaudí's first important commission as a young architect was built between 1883 and 1885, and it stands out for its colorful facade that combines green-and-white checkered tiles alongside floral designs. The client, Manel Vicens i Montaner, a stock and currency broker, entrusted the young architect with designing his summer residence in the former village of Gràcia. The home is a triumph of early Catalan Modernisme, borrowing freely from architectural styles around the world including Moderniste (with its sinuous nature-inspired motifs) and Orientalist and Mudejar (Moorish-inspired) elements, evident in the ornate tile work. 

In 1925, Antonio Jover i Puig, a prominent local doctor, purchased the house and greatly altered the interiors; in 2014, it was sold to the Andorra-based MoraBanc, which established a foundation to preserve this remarkable historic property, and opened it to the public in 2017. Recent renovations have restored much of Gaudí’s original design. The marvelous interiors feature trompe-l'oeil birds painted on the walls and intricately carved ceilings; the phantasmic Orientalist papier-mâché tiles and cupola in the smoking alcove on the main floor is enough to make you wonder what folks back then were putting in their pipes. In any case, it is a must-visit.

As if Cuenca's famous Casas Colgadas, suspended impossibly over the cliffs below, were not eye-popping enough, they also house one of Spain's finest museums, the Museo de Arte Abstracto Español (Museum of Spanish Abstract Art)—not to be confused with the adjacent Museo Municipal de Arte Moderno (Municipal Museum of Modern Art). Projecting over the town's eastern precipice, these houses originally formed a 15th-century palace, which later served as a town hall before falling into disrepair in the 19th century. In 1927 the cantilevered balconies were rebuilt, and in 1966 the painter Fernando Zóbel created Spain's first museum devoted exclusively to abstract art and one of the first artist-run spaces in the world. The works he gathered—by such renowned names as Carlos Saura, Eduardo Chillida, Lucio Muñoz, and Antoni Tàpies—are primarily by exiled Spanish artists who grew up under Franco's regime.

The best way to spend your time in Santiago de Compostela is to simply wander the old town, losing yourself in its maze of narrow stone-paved streets and postage-stamp plazas. In the process you'll stumble on old pazos (manor houses), convents, and churches. The most beautiful pedestrian thoroughfares are Rúa do Vilar, Rúa do Franco, and Rúa Nova—portions of which are covered by arcaded walkways called soportales, designed to keep walkers out of the rain. Don't miss Praza da Quintana, bounded by the majestic walls of the cathedral and the 9th-century Monastery of San Paio de Antealtares, a favorite summer hangout for buskers and young travelers.

Overlooking the city and the bay from a hillside, the castle was built in Gothic style at the beginning of the 14th century but with a circular design—the only one of its kind in Spain. It houses an archaeological museum of the history of Mallorca and a small collection of classical sculptures. The Bus Turistic 50 and the EMT municipal buses Nos. 4, 20, and 46 all stop a 20-minute walk from the entrance. In summer, classical music concerts are held in the courtyard and performed by the Ciutat de Palma Symphony Orchestra.

Alarcón's fortress dates to the 8th century, and in the 14th century it came into the hands of the infante (child prince) Don Juan Manuel, who wrote a collection of classic moral tales. Today the castle is one of Spain's finest paradores. You'll have to be a guest at the hotel to actually enter, but day-trippers can explore the grounds and extensive patio. If you're not driving, you can take a bus to Motilla and from there take a short taxi ride to the castle.

One of the largest existing medieval fortresses in Europe, Castillo de Santa Bárbara sits atop 545-foot-tall Monte Benacantil. From this strategic position you can gaze out over the city, the sea, and the whole Alicante plain for many miles. Remains from civilizations dating from the Bronze Age onward have been found here; the oldest parts of the castle, at the highest level, are from the 9th through 13th centuries.

The castle also houses the Museo de la Ciudad de Alicante (MUSA), which uses audiovisual presentations and archaeological finds to tell the story of Alicante, its people, and the city's enduring relationship with the sea.

This castle, perched on a rocky crag 400 yards above the center of town, is Jaén's star monument. It may have originated as a tower built by Hannibal, but whatever its origins, the site was fortified continuously over the centuries. The Nasrid king Alhamar, builder of Granada's Alhambra, constructed an alcázar here, but Ferdinand III captured it from him in 1246 on the feast day of Santa Catalina (St. Catherine). Catalina consequently became Jaén's patron saint, so when the Christians built a castle and chapel here, they dedicated both to her. Guided tours are available twice daily.

It's well worth the climb up to this castle, which dates from medieval times when it was the most important fortress in the area, due to its strategic position on the frontier between the fighting kingdoms of Christian Castile and Moorish Granada. The two watchtowers and main castle wall are from the 13th century, while the Jewish quarter and lovely synagogue date from the 1500s. Audio guides in English are included in the admission price.

The battlement apse of Ávila's cathedral forms the most impressive part of the city's walls. Entering the town gate to the right of the apse, you can reach the sculpted north portal by turning left and walking a few steps. The west portal, flanked by 18th-century towers, is notable for the crude carvings of hairy male figures on each side. Known as \"wild men,\" these figures appear in many Castilian palaces of this period. The Transitional Gothic structure, with its granite nave, is considered to be the first Gothic cathedral in Spain (though this fact is often disputed). Look for the early-16th-century marble sepulchre of Bishop Alonso de Madrigal. Known as El Tostado (\"the Toasted One\") for his swarthy complexion, the bishop was a tiny man of enormous intellect. When on one occasion Pope Eugenius IV ordered him to stand—mistakenly thinking he was still on his knees—the bishop pointed to the space between his eyebrows and hairline, and retorted, \"A man's stature is to be measured from here to here!\" 

Barcelona's cathedral is a repository of centuries of the city's history and legend—although as a work of architecture visitors might find it a bit of a disappointment, compared to the Mediterranean Gothic Santa Maria del Mar and Gaudí's Moderniste Sagrada Família. It was built between 1298 and 1450; work on the spire and neo-Gothic facade began in 1892 and was not completed until 1913. Historians are not sure about the identity of the architect: one name often proposed is Jaume Fabre, a native of Mallorca. The building is perhaps most impressive at night, floodlit with the stained-glass windows illuminated from inside; book a room with a balcony at the Hotel Colon, facing the cathedral square, and make the most of it.

This is reputedly the darkest of all the world's great cathedrals—even at high noon the nave is enveloped in shadows, which give the appearance that it's larger than it actually is—so it takes a while for your eyes to adjust to the rich, velvety pitch of the interior. Don't miss the beautifully carved choir stalls of the Knights of the Golden Fleece; the intricately and elaborately sculpted organ loft over the door out to Plaça Sant Iu (with its celebrated Saracen's Head sculpture); the series of 60-odd wood sculptures of evangelical figures along the exterior lateral walls of the choir; the cloister with its fountain and geese in the pond; and, in the crypt, the tomb of Santa Eulàlia.

St. Eulàlia, originally interred at Santa Maria del Mar—then known as Santa Maria de les Arenes (St. Mary of the Sands)—was moved to the cathedral in 1339, and venerated here as its patron and protector. Eulalistas (St. Eulàlia devotees, rivals of a sort to the followers of La Mercé, or Our Lady of Mercy) celebrate the fiesta of La Laia (the nickname for Eulàlia) for a few days around her feast day on February 12.

Enter from the front portal (there are also entrances through the cloister and from Carrer Comtes down the left side of the apse), and the first thing you see are the high-relief sculptures of the story of St. Eulàlia, on the near side of the choir stalls. The first scene, on the left, shows St. Eulàlia in front of Roman Consul Decius with her left hand on her heart and her outstretched right hand pointing at a cross in the distance. In the next, she is tied to a column and being whipped by the consul's thugs. To the right of the door into the choir the unconscious Eulàlia is being hauled away, and in the final scene on the right she is being lashed to the X-shape cross upon which she was crucified in mid-February in the year 303. To the right of this high relief is a sculpture of the martyred heroine, resurrected as a living saint.

Among the two dozen ornate and gilded chapels in the basilica, pay due attention to the Capella de Lepant, dedicated to Sant Crist de Lepanto, in the far right corner as you enter through the front door. According to legend, the 15th-century polychrome wood sculpture of a battle-scarred, dark-skinned Christ, visible on the altar of this 100-seat chapel behind a black-clad Mare de Deu dels Dolors (Our Lady of the Sorrows), was the bowsprit of the flagship Spanish galley at the battle fought between Christian and Ottoman fleets on October 7, 1571.

Outside the main nave of the cathedral to the right, you'll find the leafy, palm tree–shaded cloister surrounding a tropical garden and a pool said to be populated by 13 snow-white geese, one for each of the tortures inflicted upon St. Eulàlia in an effort to break her faith. Legend has it that they are descendants of the flock of geese from Rome's Capitoline Hill, whose honking alarms roused the city to repel invaders during the days of the Roman Republic. Don't miss the fountain with the bronze sculpture of an equestrian St. George, hacking away at his perennial foe, the dragon, on the eastern corner of the cloister. On the day of Corpus Christi, this fountain is one of the more spectacular displays of the traditional l'ou com balla (dancing egg).

In front of the cathedral is the grand square of Plaça de la Seu, where on occasion, barcelonins gather to dance the sardana, the circular folk dance performed for centuries as a symbol-in-motion of Catalan identity and the solidarity of the Catalan people. Nimble-footed oldsters share the space with young esbarts (dance troupes), coats and bags piled in the center of the ring, all dancing together to the reedy music of the cobla (band) in smooth, deceptively simple, heel-and-toe sequences of steps. This is no tourist attraction: Catalans dance the sardana just for themselves. Check local listings for the annual series of evening organ concerts held in the cathedral.

The cathedral contains such a wealth of art and other treasures that the local burghers lynched their civil governor in 1869 for trying to take an inventory of it, fearing that he was plotting to steal their riches. Just as opulent is the sculpted flamboyant Gothic facade. The cornerstone was laid in 1221, and the two 275-foot towers were completed in the 14th century, though the final chapel was not finished until 1731. There are 13 chapels, the most elaborate of which is the hexagonal Condestable Chapel. You'll find the tomb of El Cid (1026–99) and his wife, Ximena, under the transept. El Cid (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar) was a feudal warlord revered for his victories over the Moors, though he fought for them as well; the medieval Song of My Cid transformed him into a Spanish national hero.

At the other end of the cathedral, high above the West Door, is the Reloj de Papamoscas (Flycatcher Clock), named for the sculptured bird that opens its mouth as the hands mark each hour. The grilles around the choir have some of the finest wrought-iron work in central Spain, and the choir itself has 103 delicately carved walnut stalls, no two alike. The 13th-century stained-glass windows were destroyed in 1813, one of many cultural casualties of Napoléon's retreating troops. Audio guides via phone app are included.

At the heart of the Barri Vell, the cathedral looms above 90 steps and is famous for its nave—at 75 feet, the widest in the world and the epitome of the spatial ideal of Catalan Gothic architects. Since Charlemagne founded the original church in the 8th century, it has been through many fires and renovations.

Take in the rococo-era facade, "eloquent as organ music," and impressive flight of 17th-century stairs, which rises from its own plaça. Inside, three smaller naves were compressed into one gigantic hall by the famed architect Guillermo Bofill in 1416. The change was typical of Catalan Gothic "hall" churches, and it was done to facilitate preaching to crowds. Note the famous silver canopy, or baldaquí (baldachin). The oldest part of the cathedral is the 11th-century Romanesque Torre de Carlemany (Charlemagne Tower).

The cathedral's exquisite 12th-century cloister has an obvious affinity with the cloisters in the Roussillon area of France. Inside the Treasury there's a variety of precious objects. They include a 10th-century copy of Beatus's manuscript Commentary on the Apocalypse (illuminated in the dramatically primitive Mozarabic style), the Bible of Emperor Charles V, and the celebrated Tapís de la Creació (Tapestry of the Creation), considered by most experts to be the finest tapestry surviving from the Romanesque era.