Tour Routes in Spain

Suggested Tour Routes to make the best of your holiday in Spain

A Suggested Route around Spain

Although Spain is a major tour destination in its own right, many tours combine it with Portugal and even Morocco. Such combinations inevitably miss out interesting areas. Here’s a route that covers most of the major Spanish attractions so you can get an overall picture:

Note: links to the towns go to photo albums on the Travel Signposts website

MADRID – Segovia – Avila – SALAMANCA – Leon – Lugo – SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA – Coruna – Burgos – VITORIA – Santander – Bilbao – San Sebastian – PAMPLONA – Zaragoza – BARCELONA – Peniscola – Tarragona – VALENCIA – Alicante – GRANADA – Las Alpujarras (ORGIVA, Bubion, Trevelez) – Malaga – Torremolinos – Marbella – Gibraltar – Jerez – SEVILLE – Cordoba – Toledo – MADRID

This tour would take a minimum of fifteen days to do and you wouldn’t be sitting still much, twenty would be more comfortable! If you wanted to cut it down, missing out the Santiago de Compostela extension and omitting the Alpujarras detour would still give you a pretty comprehensive tour.

A Spectacular and Diverse Country

Spain is a spectacular and diverse country. Although you may tend to think about the beaches and drier landscape of the south, don’t forget the north, especially the Basque Region, with its different food, mountains, ancient hill top walled villages and rolling, green hills that remind you a bit of Ireland.

Whether you’re visiting the Alhambra in Granada or the Grand Mosque of Cordoba (the Mezquita), or Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, or the Antoni Gaudi designed Parc Guell or Sagrada Família, Barcelona’s best-known landmark, the variety of attractions is astonishing.

And although you may have a tight schedule, the thing to remember is that Spain is best experienced slowly. Take it easy and relax, especially in the countryside, where life and the local people tend to move to a slower rhythm…you won’t regret it!

TRAVEL TO SPAIN WITH US: PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS

Some other Spain pages:

Travel to Spain for a Europe tour with passion!

When to travel to Spain for your tour: weather and seasons

Useful facts, dates and links to help you plan your tour of Spain

Book your sightseeing tours or day-trips in Spain online

Book your hotel in Spain online

Anyone else have feelings about this?

Travel to Spain for a holiday with passion!

Travel to Spain for a Europe Tour that will stir your emotions!

Travelling in Spain is a hot-blooded experience! Strong red wine, the brilliance and heat of the sun, spicy Spanish food, flamenco music that stirs your soul – whatever it is, people get passionate about their travel to Spain. It’s that kind of place.

Cowboys,Gaudi and Don Quixote

Sergio Leone shot Clint Eastwood in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” in the deserts of Almeria, Gaudi conceived his Sagrada Familia and other mind-bending architectural masterpieces in Barcelona, Hemingway popularised the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona (although it happens in lots of places), Cervantes had Don Quixote and Sancho Panza tilting at windmills in La Mancha and Sev Ballesteros caused the proliferation of golf courses all over (although the constant sunshine helped).

Spain is fiestas – and a lot more!

Spain is Fiestas. All over Spain, from small villages to large cities, the local populace devote a couple of days each year to their own individual festivals.

But Spain is also Flamenco. Castanets. Guitars. Tapas. Gazpacho. Paella. Manchego cheese. Olives. Oranges. Rioja and Penedes wine. Sherry. And Cervantes. Lope de Vega. Lorca. Carreras. Domingo. Segovia. Velasquez. Goya. Picasso. Miro. Dali. Almadovar. Gaudi. The Alhambra. The Prado. La Mezquita. Costa Del Sol. Sierra Nevada. The Pyrenees.

Places that echo through history

Travel to places whose names echo through Europe’s history: Seville. Granada. Madrid. Valencia. Toledo. Cordoba. Salamanca. Barcelona. Zaragoza. Santiago de Compostela. Cadiz. Castile. Aragon.

Travel to Spain for a Europe tour with a hot-blooded difference!

Other Spain pages:

Tour Routes in Spain

When to travel to Spain: weather and seasons

Useful facts, dates and links to help you plan your tour of Spain

Book your sightseeing tours or day-trips in Spain online

Book your hotel in Spain online

Your Turn: Do you have any advice you would like to share? What tips would you like to add? Please comment below.

The Mezquita – Cordoba’s unique monument

The Mezquita, a World Heritage site:

The Mezquita, Cordoba’s Great Mosque is one of the most unique monuments that you’ll ever visit. In a world marked by decades of religious battles between Catholics and Protestants and Muslim and Hindus, who would ever have imagined that a mosque with a Christian cathedral within it could have survived the times!

When it all began

The Muslim arrival in Spain started in the 8th century when the Arabs and Berbers invaded Spain. A rich and powerful caliphate was established in Cordoba and this was the start of the brilliant civilization of early medieval Europe.

Mathematics, science, architecture and decorative arts flourished under the patronage of Abd al Rahman II during his 30-year rule. The Great Mosque was built where a Visigoth basilica once stood. Over the centuries, additions were made and its architectural and artistic styles evolved, but the most lavish changes occurred in the 10th century when Hakam II added the elaborate prayer niche (mihrab) and the caliph’s enclosure (maqsura). When Spain reverted to Christian rule, it was decided that a Gothic-style cathedral would be built inside the mosque itself.  Part of the mosque was destroyed in 1523 to make way for the construction of the cathedral.

A sightseeing visit to the Mezquita therefore is a look all the way back to the wealthy period of the Caliphate and Spain’s Moorish heritage.

The Great Mosque, a symbol of Spain’s Moorish heritage

Set in the historic old town of Cordoba, the Mezquita is a World Heritage site. The most stunning of its features are the arches and more than 850 columns of granite, jasper and marble that support the roof. Nineteen naves make up the quadrangular plan of the early mosque, divided by a double series of arches. Alternating red and white, brick with stone and other decorative elements were used, in addition to sculpted marble, stucco, mosaics, and plasterwork to give this amazing look. Another star attraction from its Moorish heritage is the richly ornamented Mihrab.

Inside, at the centre of its forest of columns, stands a great Christian cathedral.  It is a design wonder in its own right, with different styles of architecture ranging  from the Gothic to the Baroque. The Capilla de Villaviciosa was the first Christian chapel built in 1371 and the 93m bell tower (Torre del Alminar) was built on the site of the original minaret.  Also check out the elaborate Churrigueresque stalls of the cathedral choir

Just outside the Great Mosque itself you will find an orange tree courtyard where the faithful washed before prayers (Patio de los Naranjos). This beautiful garden is a perfect place to rest and catch your breath in the cool of its fountains and trees, and amidst the wafting scent of orange blossoms.

See Travel Signposts Photo Gallery

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