What to visit in Spain ?

Spain runs on a timetable that most European travellers take several days to absorb: dinner before 9.30pm is the exception, the siesta isn't a myth in mid-sized towns, and social life plays out largely in the street. Each region claims a strong identity - Catalonia, the Basque Country, Andalusia or Galicia don't see themselves as mere variants of the same country.

Geographically, the territory splits into clearly distinct blocks: the arid central Meseta plateau around Madrid, the green and rainy Atlantic façade of Galicia and Asturias, the Mediterranean arc from Barcelona to Almería, and the Andalusian south with the Sierra Nevada in the background. The Canaries and Balearics add two further climatic logics, almost insular in every sense.