1027 Best Sights in Spain

This collegiate church, which serves as Ronda's cathedral, has roots in Moorish times: originally the Great Mosque of Ronda, the tower and adjacent galleries, built for viewing festivities in the square, retain their Islamic design. After the mosque was destroyed (when the Moors were overthrown), it was rebuilt as a church and dedicated to the Virgen de la Encarnación after the Reconquest. The naves are late Gothic, and the main altar is heavy with baroque gold leaf. A visit to the rooftop walkway offers lovely views of the town and surroundings. The church is around the corner from the remains of a mosque, Minarete Árabe (Moorish Minaret) at the end of the Marqués de Salvatierra.

A stop on the Camino de Santiago, this town is named after an 11th-century saint who built roads and bridges for pilgrims and founded the hospital that is now a parador. The cathedral ( Calle Cristo  94/134--0033) is a Romanesque-Gothic pile containing the saint's tomb, choir murals, and a walnut altarpiece carved by Damià Forment in 1541. The live hen and rooster in a plateresque stone chicken coop commemorate a legendary local miracle in which a pair of roasted fowl came back to life to protest the innocence of a pilgrim hanged for theft. Be sure to stroll through the beautifully preserved medieval quarter.

Distinguished for accumulating the deepest water of any building in the casco viejo during the disastrous 1983 flood, as can be witnessed by the water mark more than 14 feet above the floor in the back of the church (to the left as you come in), this simple baroque church was the first Jesuit building in Bilbao, built in 1604. Originally the home of the Colegio de San Andrés de la Compañía de Jesús (St. Andrew's School of the Order of Jesuits), the original school is now divided between the Museo Vasco and the church dedicated to both St. Johns—the Evangelist and the Baptist. The church's most important relic is the Relicario de la Vera Cruz (Relic of the True Cross), a silver-plated cross containing what is widely believed to be the largest existing fragment of the cross used at Calvary to execute Jesus in AD 33.

The legend of this Marian religious retreat is based on the story of Sant Gil of Nîmes, who did penance in the Núria Valley during the 7th century. The saint left behind a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary, a bell he used to summon shepherds to prayer, and a cooking pot; 300 years later, a pilgrim found these treasures in this sanctuary. The bell and the pot came to have special importance to infertile women, who, according to local lore, would be blessed with as many children as they wished after placing their heads in the pot and ringing the bell.

La Moreneta, also known as La Virgen Negra de Lluc (the Black Virgin of Lluc), is a votary Virgin Mary statue held in a 17th-century church, the center of this sanctuary complex (where you can even stay overnight). The museum has an eclectic collection of prehistoric and Roman artifacts, ceramics, paintings, textiles, folk costumes, votive offerings, Nativity scenes, and work by local artists. Between September and June, a children's choir sings psalms in the chapel daily at 1:15 pm, Monday–Saturday, and at 11 am for Sunday Mass. The Christmas Eve performance of the \"Cant de la Sibila\" (\"Song of the Sybil\"), based on a medieval prophecy of the end of the world, is an annual choral highlight.

Covadonga's shrine is considered the birthplace of Spain. Here, in 718, a handful of sturdy Asturian Christians led by Don Pelayo took refuge in the Cave of St. Mary, about halfway up a cliff, where they prayed to the Virgin Mary to give them strength to turn back the Moors. Pelayo and his followers resisted the superior Moorish forces and set up a Christian kingdom that eventually led to the Reconquest. The cave has an 18th-century statue of the Virgin and Don Pelayo's grave. Covadonga itself has a basilica, open to visitors except during services, and its museum(daily 10:30–2 and 4–7:30; €2.50) has the treasures donated to the Virgin of the Cave, including a crown studded with more than a thousand diamonds.

Overlooking Cáceres's Ciudad Monumental is this 18th-century shrine dedicated to the city's patron saint. It's built on a mountain with stunning views of the old town, especially at sunset. The panorama is worth the 15-minute drive—or even the grueling two-hour climb past chalets and farms—even if the interior of the church is rather mundane (barring the gilded baroque altar).

Originally a cluster of farms and country houses, Sarrià is now a premier residential neighborhood overlooking Barcelona from the hills. Start an exploration at the main square, Plaça de Sarrià—the site of Tuesday antique and bric-a-brac markets; Sunday morning sardana dances; Christmas pageants; and concerts, book fairs, and artisanal food and wine events at various times during the year. The 10th-century Romanesque Church of Sant Vicenç dominates this square, and its bell tower, illuminated on weekend nights, is truly impressive. Across Passeig de la Reina Elisenda from the church is the Mercat de Sarrià, a Moderniste gem built in 1911, with its intricate brickwork facade, wrought-iron girders and stained-glass windows.

On the cobblestone street behind the Mercat is the Centre i Teatre de Sarrià ( Pare Miquel de Sarrià 8  93/039772) a fixture in the village for the past 125 years, with a lovely 340-seat theater (it has red plush seats and gilded fixtures) that hosts a wide range of programs, films, dance performances, and drama—and two- or three-times a year, professional opera. The Centre also has an indoor café and a pleasant terrace fronting the theater, just right for a short break in your village ramble.

From the square, cut through the Placeta del Roser to the left of the church to the elegant Town Hall (1896) in the Plaça de la Vila. Note the buxom bronze sculpture of Pomona, goddess of fruit, by famed Sarrià sculptor Josep Clarà (1878–1958). Follow tiny Carrer dels Paletes, to the left of the Town Hall (the saint enshrined in the niche is Sant Antoni, patron saint of paletes, or bricklayers). Turn right on Major de Sarrià, the High Street of the village and then left onto Carrer Canet. The two-story row houses on the right—built for workers on the village estates—and the houses opposite at Nos. 15, 21, and 23 are among the few remaining original village structures in Sarrià.

Turn right at the first corner on Carrer Cornet i Mas and walk two blocks down to Carrer Jaume Piquet. On the left is No. 30, Barcelona's most perfect small-format Moderniste house. Thought to be the work of architect Domènech i Montaner, it features faux-medieval upper windows, wrought-iron grillwork, floral and fruited ornamentation, and organically curved and carved wooden doors either by or inspired by Gaudí himself. The next stop down Cornet i Mas is Sarrià's prettiest square, Plaça Sant Vicens, a leafy space ringed by old Sarrià houses and centered on a statue of Sarrià's patron St. Vicenç, portrayed (as always) beside the millstone used to sink him to the bottom of the Mediterranean after he was martyred in Valencia in AD 302. Can Pau, the café on the lower corner with Carrer Mañé i Flaquer, is the local hangout, once a haven for authors Gabriel García Marquez and Mario Vargas Llosa, who lived in Sarrià in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Other Sarrià landmarks include the two Foix de Sarrià pastry shops, one at Plaça Sarrià 12–13 and the other at Major de Sarrià 57, above Bar Tomás. The late J. V. Foix (1893–1987), son of the shop's founder, was one of the great Catalan poets of the 20th century, a key player in keeping the Catalan language alive during the 40-year Franco regime. The shop on Major de Sarrià has a bronze plaque identifying the house as the poet's birthplace and inscribed with one of his most memorable verses, translated as, "Every love is latent in the other love / every language is the juice of a common tongue / every country touches the fatherland of all / every faith will be the lifeblood of a higher faith."

At this above-average aquarium at the marina, you can find rays, sharks, and sunfish; there's also a turtle reef with rare green turtles, an Asian otter family, and an Amazon rain-forest area with poisonous frogs, plus information about various conservation projects. Nearby is a pirate-themed miniature golf course. Book online to save on admission.

A 15-km (9-mile) detour north through the town of Orbaizeta up to the headwaters of the Irati River, at the Irabia Reservoir, gets you a good look at the Selva de Irati, one of Europe's major beech forests and the source of much of the lumber for the Spanish Armada. Today it's a popular nature reserve that's veined with trails from which you might glimpse wildlife like deer, woodpeckers, wild boar, and even wolverines. Notably, it also contains megalithic cromlechs and dolmens around the villages of Azpegi and Orbaizeta.

Very much a place to see and be seen, the beach at Ses Salines is a 2-km-long (1-mile-long) narrow crescent of golden sand about a 10-minute drive from Eivissa in a wildlife conservation area. Trendy restaurants and bars, like the Jockey Club and Malibu, bring drinks to you on the sand and have DJs for the season, keeping the beat in the air all day. The beach has different areas: glitterati in one zone, naturists in another, gay couples in another. There are no nearby shops, but the commercial vacuum is filled by vendors of bags, sunglasses, fruit drinks, and so on, which can be irritating. The sea is shallow, with a gradual drop-off, but breakers are good enough to surf on a windy day. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking (fee); showers; toilets; water sports. Best for: nudists; partiers; swimming; windsurfing.

This small city, in a cleft in the rock cut by the Río Guadalporcín, is 8 km (5 miles) north of Acinipo. The streets resemble long, narrow caves, and on many houses the roof is formed by a projecting ledge of heavy rock.

This giant Southeast Asian--themed water park covers just about all the aquatic bases, from sleepy, restful pools to the heart-stopping Tower of Power, which drops you 90 feet into a "shark-infested" aquarium.

The only Jewish temple in Andalusia to survive the expulsion and inquisition of the Jews in 1492, Córdoba's synagogue is also one of only three ancient synagogues left in all of Spain (the other two are in Toledo). Though it no longer functions as a place of worship, it's a treasured symbol for Spain's modern Jewish communities. The outside is plain, but the inside (restored in 2018), measuring 23 feet by 21 feet, contains some exquisite Mudejar stucco tracery. Look for the fine plant motifs and the Hebrew inscription saying that the synagogue was built in 1315. The women's gallery (not open for visits) still stands, and in the east wall is the ark where the sacred scrolls of the Torah were kept.

This stunning estate belonged to Austrian archduke Luis Salvador, who arrived here as a young man and fell in love with the place. He acquired vast tracts of land along the northwestern coast, building miradors (lookouts) at the most spectacular points but leaving the pristine beauty intact. Below the mirador, you can see Sa Foradada, a rock peninsula pierced by a huge archway, where the archduke moored his yacht. Now a museum, the estate house contains the archduke's collections of Mediterranean pottery and ceramics, Mallorcan furniture, and paintings. The garden is lovely. From May through September, the Deià International Festival holds classical concerts here (see  www.dimf.com for the schedule). 

Maintained by the Fundació Tren de l'Art, these galleries have two small but remarkable collections—one of engravings by Miró, whose grandfather was born in Sóller, and the other of ceramics by Picasso.

In a city as noble and staid as Vitoria, you don't expect to find world-class street art, but the parallel streets of Anorbin and Carnicerías in the old town prove otherwise. Feast your eyes on multistory, thought-provoking murals depicting family scenes, landscapes, and political issues. See it all on a new, official \"mural itinerary\" guided tour (inquire at the tourism office for details).

Occupying a century-old tobacco factory, this modern cultural center hosts a variety of performances, exhibitions, and screenings (check the website for upcoming events). The roof deck affords pleasing views of the river and skyline.

Take time to appreciate the neoclassical symmetry of this theater, Palma's chief venue for classical music. The opera season here usually runs through June.

Opera companies from Italy en route to Spain made the Teatre Principal in Mahón their first port of call; if the Maonesos gave a production a poor reception, it was cut from the repertoire. It was built in 1829, which makes it Spain's oldest opera house. It has five tiers of boxes, plush red seats, and gilded woodwork: La Scala in miniature. Lovingly restored, it hosts regular concerts and international opera weeks in December, May, or June.

A century ago, this 1,500-seat theater was as exciting a source of Bilbao pride as the Guggenheim is today. Built between 1886 and 1890, when Bilbao's population was a mere 35,000, the Teatro Arriaga represented a gigantic per-capita cultural investment. Always a symbol of Bilbao's industrial might and cultural vibrancy, the original \"Nuevo Teatro\" (New Theater) was a lavish Belle Époque, neo-baroque spectacle modeled after the Paris Opéra by architect Joaquín Rucoba (1844–1909). The theater was renamed in 1902 for the Bilbaíno musician considered \"the Spanish Mozart,\" Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga (1806–26).

After a 1914 fire, the new version of the theater opened in 1919. Following years of splendor, the Teatro Arriaga (along with Bilbao's economy) gradually lost vigor; it closed in 1978 for restoration work that was finally concluded in 1986. Now largely eclipsed by the splendid and more spacious Palacio de Euskalduna, the Arriaga stages opera, theater, concerts, and dance events September through June. Walk around the building to see the stained glass on its rear facade and the exuberant caryatids holding up the arches facing the river.

If you've come from Barcelona, this extraordinary facade built in 1901 by architects Alfredo Acebal and Jean Baptiste Darroquy may look familiar. The wild Moderniste excitement of the intensely ornate circular arch is a marked contrast to the more sober Bilbao interpretation of the turn-of-the-20th-century art nouveau euphoria. The theater is called Campos Elíseos after Paris's Champs-Élysées (a brief spasm of Francophilia in a town of Anglophiles), as this area of town was a favorite for early-20th-century promenades. During most of the 20th century, Bilbao's theatrical life had two poles: the Casco Viejo's Teatro Arriaga and El Ensanche's Campos Elíseos. The elegant venue offers varied programs of theater, dance, and more.

Next door to the Church of the Holy Cross are the remains of a 1st-century-BC Roman theater, one of the oldest and largest in Spain. The stage is unexcavated (it lies under nearby houses), but you can visit the entrance and large seating area as well as the visitor center.

As you approach the parador of Fuente Dé, at the head of the valley northwest of the hamlet of Espinama, you'll see a wall of gray rock jutting 1,999 meters (6,560 feet) into the air. At the top is a tiny hut: El Mirador del Cable (the cable-car lookout point). Get there via a 800-meter (2,625-foot) funicular (€20 round-trip). After you exit the funicular, you can hike along the Ávila Mountain pasturelands, rich in wildlife, between the central and eastern massifs of the Picos de Europa National Park.

The highest point in Roman Barcelona is marked with a circular millstone at the entrance to the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya, a club dedicated to exploring the mountains and highlands of Catalonia on foot and on skis. Inside the entryway on the right are some of the best-preserved 1st- and 2nd-century Corinthian Roman columns in Europe. Massive, fluted, and crowned with the typical Corinthian acanthus leaves in two distinct rows under eight fluted sheaths, these columns remain only because Barcelona's early Christians elected, atypically, not to build their cathedral over the site of the previous temple. The Temple of Augustus, dedicated to the Roman emperor, occupied the northwest corner of the Roman Forum, which coincided approximately with today's Plaça Sant Jaume.

Dating to the time of Augustus, the ruins of Gijón's baths are under the plaza at the end of the beach. Visits take approximately 20 minutes. Descriptions are in Spanish only, but English pamphlets are available upon request. 

Hot springs along the Minho River draw visitors from far and wide and are ideal for soaking weary muscles on the pilgrim trail. At the spring at Burga de Canedo you can enjoy a 90-minute soak free of charge. In Outariz, you'll have to pay a small fee of €6.50, but the sessions are two hours long. Neither baths allow for reservations.

One of Barcelona's two promontories bears a distinctive name, generally translated as "To Thee I Will Give." It refers to the Catalan legend that this was the spot from which Satan tempted Christ with all the riches of the Earth below (namely, Barcelona). On a clear day, the views from this 1,789-foot peak are legendary.

Tibidabo's skyline is marked by a neo-Gothic church, the work of Enric Sagnier in 1902, and—off to one side, near the village of Vallvidrera—the 854-foot communications tower, the Torre de Collserola, designed by Sir Norman Foster. If you're with kids, take the San Francisco–style Tramvía Blau (Blue Trolley) from Plaça Kennedy to the overlook at the top, and transfer to the funicular to the 100-year-old amusement park at the summit.

Puzzle over Menorca's prehistoric past at this megalithic site with several stone constructions, including a massive taula. Behind it, from the top of a stone wall, you can see the monolith Fus de Sa Geganta (the Giantess's Spindle) in a nearby field.

The tower on the far side of the Puente Romano (Roman Bridge), which was restored in 2008, was built in 1369 to guard the entrance to Córdoba. It now houses the Museo Vivo de Al-Andalus (Arabic for \"Land of the West\"), with films and audiovisual guides (in English) on Córdoba's history. Climb the narrow staircase to the top of the tower for the view of the Roman bridge and city on the other side of the Guadalquivir.