Best Places to Visit in Spain: Islands, Costas and Cities

If you are weighing up good places to visit in Spain, follow where other travellers look first. The Canary Islands attract the most interest of any Spanish destination by a wide margin. The Balearic Islands come next, followed by the Costa Blanca and the Costa del Sol. Those four make up the core of the British beach holiday in Spain.

Barcelona leads among the cities. Seville and Madrid follow, and Valencia, Bilbao and Granada round out the list. Our island and costa guides go resort by resort, so use these names as your starting point.

The islands come first. The Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands each have their own region guide, with the resorts and things to do set out island by island. Anyone hunting for the nicest beaches in Spain usually starts with one of these two groups.

The mainland coast is split into named costas. The Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol are the best known. The Costa Dorada and Costa Brava are smaller, quieter choices. Each costa guide lists its towns, so you can compare nice beaches in Spain without guessing where one resort ends and the next begins.

For places to see in Spain beyond the beach, go to the city guides. They cover Barcelona, Seville, Madrid, Valencia, Bilbao and Granada. Many travellers pair a few city days with a week on the coast. Others plan a trip around just one of them.

Tours and tickets for these places can be booked from this page, and the live buttons show what is available as you plan. Hotel prices and car hire are here to compare too. That is handy if you want to drive between a costa and a nearby city.

Most British travellers book the islands and costas as a package holiday, with flight, hotel and transfers in one booking. You can compare Jet2holidays, TUI, loveholidays and On the Beach side by side here. Prices for any package tend to rise during the UK school holidays, so it pays to check a few dates.