With its’ colourful culture, Spain and its people have gone through a rapid transformation in the past 20 years. It is now touted as being Europe’s number one for innovative cuisine with design and culture a close second, Spain offers arguably, a palette of the most seductive and sop...
Aimia Hotel
Port de Sóller is the only natural port along Mallorca’s northwestern coastline. Dominated by the dramatic Serra de Tramuntana mountain range, it is surrounded by wonderfully quaint villages...
Hotel Can Simoneta
On Mallorca’s northeastern coast within the nature reserve of Serra de Llevant, protected for its astounding nature and beauty, lies Can Simoneta, magnificently exposed on the edge of a clif...
No other country in Western Europe can lay claim to such a socio-cultural turnaround in the last 20 years as Spain. Somehow, its 40 million inhabitants have wrought plenty of extraordinary and unanticipated changes, propelling their country out of a long, dark tunnel of repression into the full blaze of international attention. Now touted as being Europe’s number one for innovative cuisine with design and architecture a close second, Spain offers, arguably, a palette of the most seductive and sophisticated offerings of the Mediterranean. Few can resist.
Among the many temptations that lure over 50 million annual visitors, climate plays a primordial role, as most of the peninsula and its balmy islands sizzle in lengthy, hot sultry summers, and only the far north ever sees much rain. That factor propels millions straight to the costas to be greeted by unimaginative line-ups of apartment blocks and hotels. Yet a slight shift inland opens up a very different world of unspoilt bucolic delights including endless dramatic sierra and dozens of towns blessed with rich history and fine local cuisine. Today, you can add to these inducements a burgeoning new generation of superbly converted mansions, cortijos (farmhouses) and, in the cities, cutting-edge new architecture. These are Spain’s incredibly coveted hotel destinations that are casting yet another light on this country in the throes of reinvention.
Tucked in a corner of the Bay of Biscay, from where it rolls inland across pastoral hills and craggy peaks, is the Basque country. It may look small but the region boasts the world’s highest...
Andalucia’s cultural appeal lies in three remarkable cities-Cordoba, Granada and Seville. And with the popular Costa del Sol nearby, Malaga has become an attraction as well. Rivalled only by...
From Mallorca’s moody, mountainous coves and literary associations to Menorca’s emerald-green pastures and prehistoric relics, and from the dynamic nightlife of Ibiza to tiny Formentera’s om...
In the last few years, Spain’s third largest city, Valencia-land of oranges and paella-has been grabbing the headlines. In 2007, this urban dynamo will host the America’s Cup and expects to...
Famously proud, culturally dynamic and economically self-sufficient, Barcelona behaves like a capital and even thinks it is one, much to the chagrin of Madrid! It boasts superb architectural...
This colourful and exciting city is Europe’s fourth largest. At 650 m (2,133 ft), it is also Europe’s tallest capital. Madrid is a cosmopolitan city with a great social and generational mix...
TIME DIFFERENCE
GMT +1 hour
FLYING TIME
Madrid: 2hr 30mins
Barcelona: 2hr 10mins
VISA REQUIREMENTS
With a valid British passport, no visa is required for upto 90 days.
YOUR HEALTH
Check that all your routine vaccinations are upto date before travel. There are no required vaccinations, however some may be recommended. Seek the advice of a health-care adviser before departure.
CLIMATE
Although Spain remains hot thorughout the year, central and northern Spain suffer with the extremes, very cold in winter and searing in the summer. The best times to visit are May, June and September, avoiding the extremely high temperatures of July and August.
