Plan a trip to Spain: when to go, budget and itineraries

The centre of the country is explored from Madrid, whose museum triangle, Prado, Reina Sofia and Thyssen, needs two full days. Around it, the AVE and regional trains put Toledo 33 minutes away, Segovia 30 and Salamanca 1h40: all feasible as day trips to UNESCO-listed old towns. Allow three nights in Madrid to combine museums, the Retiro, the Royal Palace and a tapas night in La Latina, busiest on Sunday around the Rastro flea market.

Barcelona concentrates Gaudi's work, the Sagrada Familia and Park Guell on a booked time slot, the Gothic quarter and the Barceloneta city beaches; three to four nights are enough. To the north, Catalonia, where Catalan is co-official, opens onto the coves of the Costa Brava, reachable in 1h30 by train to Girona. Further south, Valencia lines up the City of Arts and Sciences, an art-nouveau central market and the paella of the Albufera, three hours from Barcelona by direct train.

Seville, Cordoba and Granada form the country's most requested circuit, linked by the high-speed line: 45 minutes between Seville and Cordoba, a little more towards Granada. Allow at least five days for Seville's Alcazar, the Mezquita and the Alhambra, whose Nasrid palace tickets sell out weeks ahead. From Tarifa or Algeciras, a ferry reaches Morocco in one to two hours, letting you add Tangier to an Andalusian trip.

The Atlantic coast shows a very different face: rainy, mountainous and food-focused. Bilbao is worth a day for the Guggenheim and its old town, San Sebastian for its pintxos and its bay. Further west, the Picos de Europa offer day hikes, and the Camino de Santiago crosses all of Galicia; the final stage from Sarria, about 100 kilometres, is the most walked.

The Balearics, Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera, are a 40-minute flight from Barcelona and run on Mediterranean time: high season June to September, calm and cheap in spring. The Canaries, off Morocco, hold 20 to 24 degrees year-round; they are one hour behind the mainland. You can pair a mainland week with a Canaries week, but rarely on the same ticket: plan a separate domestic flight.

The Spanish calendar shapes trips: Holy Week in late March or early April, Seville's Feria right after, Valencia's Fallas in mid-March, San Fermin in Pamplona in July, the Tomatina near Valencia in late August. At the table, each region has its speciality, iberico ham in Extremadura, octopus in Galicia, gazpacho in Andalusia. Meals are late, lunch around 2pm, dinner rarely before 9pm, and many museums open for free late in the day.