Spain

The Land of Passion

Spain lives with its whole heart. You hear it in the stamp of a flamenco dancer's heels, see it in the brushstrokes of Velázquez, Goya and Picasso, and feel it at a table where dinner starts at nine and the conversation lingers long after the last plate.

Few countries hold so many landscapes in one. Misty green valleys and Atlantic coves in the north, snowy peaks in the Pyrenees and the Sierra Nevada, a sea of olive groves across Jaén, the sunlit countryside of Andalusia, and a chain of volcanic islands off the coast of Africa.

Spain is also our home base. We've led our own groups along these roads, from the palace gardens of Seville and Córdoba to the mountain villages of the Alpujarras and the beaches of the Costa Tropical, and every Spanish journey we design begins with that first-hand knowledge.

Where we wander: Barcelona & the Costa Brava Madrid Toledo Seville Córdoba Granada Málaga Ronda & the White Villages The Costa Tropical Nerja & Frigiliana The Alpujarras The Sierra Nevada Jaén Santiago de Compostela & Galicia The Basque Country The Pyrenees The Canary Islands

The Sagrada Família's interior glowing in rainbow light from the stained-glass windows

Barcelona & the Costa Brava

The Sagrada Família Park Güell Casa Batlló the Gothic Quarter the Costa Brava

A city of art by the sea, shaped by the genius of Antoni Gaudí. Stand beneath the forest of stone columns inside the Sagrada Família as light pours through its stained glass, wander the mosaic terraces of Park Güell and the medieval lanes of the Gothic Quarter, then follow the coast north to the coves and fishing villages of the Costa Brava. Picasso and Miró left their mark here too.

Madrid

The Prado the Royal Palace Retiro Park Plaza Mayor

The majestic capital of an empire that once stretched around the globe. Along the Paseo del Prado, honored by UNESCO, hang some of the world's greatest paintings: Velázquez and Goya at the Prado, Picasso's Guernica at the Reina Sofía. Tour the Royal Palace and its more than 3,000 rooms, row a boat across the Retiro lake, and end the evening beneath the arcades of the Plaza Mayor.

Toledo

The Cathedral the synagogues El Greco the Tagus gorge

The old imperial city crowns a hilltop wrapped by the Tagus River. Known as the City of Three Cultures, it holds a soaring Gothic cathedral, medieval synagogues and a small jewel of a mosque within a few streets of each other. See El Greco's masterpieces in the city he made his home, and watch artisans inlay threads of gold into steel by hand.

The Real Alcázar's Courtyard of the Maidens, its long pool framed by carved arches

Seville

The Cathedral & the Giralda the Real Alcázar Santa Cruz Plaza de España

The heart of Andalusia, perfumed by orange blossom each spring. Climb the Giralda beside the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, where Columbus lies at rest, and wander the tiled halls and gardens of the Real Alcázar, still used by Spain's royal family. Step inside private palaces like Las Dueñas, and in the evening, let a flamenco show in a small tablao bring the city's soul to life.

The red-and-white striped arches inside the Mezquita

Córdoba

The Mezquita the patios Palacio de Viana the Roman bridge

A thousand years ago, Córdoba was one of the largest and most learned cities in Europe, and it still glows with a quiet golden light. Step into the Mezquita-Cathedral's forest of red-and-white arches, cross the Roman bridge over the Guadalquivir, and wander the flower-filled courtyards of the Palacio de Viana. In May, the city opens its private patios for its famous Patio Festival.

The Court of the Myrtles in the Alhambra, its long pool reflecting the Comares Tower

Granada & the Alhambra

The Alhambra the Generalife the Albaicín Sacromonte

The last Moorish kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula left behind its crowning jewel: the Alhambra, a palace of carved stucco, tiled courtyards and murmuring fountains set against the snowy Sierra Nevada. Walk the Generalife gardens, climb the whitewashed lanes of the Albaicín for mint tea in a tea house, and spend an evening of flamenco in the caves of Sacromonte.

Málaga

Museo Picasso the Alcazaba Gibralfaro the Caminito del Rey

Picasso's birthplace has blossomed into one of Spain's liveliest art cities, home to the Museo Picasso and the Carmen Thyssen Museum. Climb to the Moorish Alcazaba and Gibralfaro Castle for views across the bay, or head inland to walk the Caminito del Rey, a cliffside path high above a gorge. Málaga is also the gateway to our home on the Costa Tropical, about an hour along the coast.

Pilgrims arriving in the Praza do Obradoiro before the cathedral's baroque façade

Santiago de Compostela & Galicia

The Cathedral the Camino the Rías Baixas Finisterre

For more than a thousand years, pilgrims have walked to Santiago de Compostela, where tradition says the apostle St. James rests. Walk the final miles of the Camino into the city, embrace the saint's statue in the cathedral, and on special days watch the giant botafumeiro censer swing incense high above the congregation. There is a quiet sacredness here that every traveler feels. Continue to Finisterre, the cape the Romans called the end of the earth.

San Sebastián's shell-shaped La Concha bay and Santa Clara Island seen from above in summer sun.

The Basque Country

San Sebastián Bilbao Getaria San Juan de Gaztelugatxe

Emerald hills roll down to the Bay of Biscay, and every harbor town looks painted for a postcard. In San Sebastián, belle époque promenades curve around the golden, shell-shaped bay of La Concha, and each evening the old town fills with friends hopping from bar to bar for pintxos. In Bilbao, Frank Gehry's shimmering titanium Guggenheim rises beside the river. Toast with cider poured from a height, hear Euskara spoken in the village squares, and climb the winding stone steps to the island hermitage of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, high above the Atlantic waves.

Our Home on the Costa Tropical

Between the snowy Sierra Nevada and the Mediterranean lies a stretch of coast with a climate all its own. The mountains shelter it from cold northern winds, so mangoes, avocados and custard apples flourish here, one of the very few places in Europe where they grow. This is where we feel most at home, and where our groups come to slow down, settle in and stay a while.