Spain

I lived and worked in Spain for over a decade before settling in the UK — based in Madrid and also in Guadalajara, just outside the city. Madrid is the one I know top to bottom; it still feels like a second home. Beyond where I lived, I've spent time in Toledo, Nerja, Málaga, Granada, Islantilla, Valencia, Salou, Barcelona, Gijón, Bilbao, Puerto Banús, Roquetas de Mar, La Manga del Mar Menor, Águilas, all of the Canary Islands, and Ibiza. That's the lens everything below comes from: not a tourist board summary, but what we'd actually tell you if you asked us over a coffee.

Spain isn't one holiday — it's several, and they don't overlap as much as people expect. Mainland Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Valencia, the Costa del Sol) is where culture, cities and coastline sit close together. The Canary Islands, off the coast of Africa, run on a different rhythm entirely — volcanic landscapes, year-round warmth, better suited to those who want reliable sun outside the European summer window. The Balearics (Mallorca, Ibiza, Menorca) are their own thing again — each island has a genuinely different character, and lumping them together as "the Balearics" misses the point of choosing one over another.

We don't know the north as well as the rest of Spain, but Gijón is somewhere we really liked. The pace of life just felt right — enough going on that it's not boring, but nothing like the rush of a big city. And the history and old buildings sitting right next to the beach is something special. Bilbao we've also visited, though we can't speak for the rest of the north beyond those two yet.

If you're planning a cruise, Barcelona matters here too — it's one of the best gateway ports in Europe, and a fly-stay before or after a Mediterranean sailing is one of the things we know best.

Multi-centre trips — Madrid then Andalusia, for example — are worth considering if you don't want to choose just one region. But they only work well if the logistics are actually thought through, not just listed as a possibility.