Spain offers super variety for family travellers

Spain has been a popular destination for holidaymakers from Britain for many years now, with hoards of people visiting the country’s beautiful beaches and spectacular seaside resort towns. While many visitors simply want to soak up the sun during the day and party hard throughout the night, Spain has much more to offer than beach bars and club 18-30 type resort holidays.

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Variety and diversity

One particularly interesting and enticing thing about Spain is its sheer diversity. While many people probably think of it as one country, it is in fact a highly regionalised nation. Barcelona, one of the more famous cities in Europe, is the capital of Catalonia, while Bilbao and San Sebastian are in the Basque Region. Both these regions have their own languages and a tradition of opposition to the central control personified by the Madrid government.

Andalucia in the south is another region with its own proud traditions and this regional diversity means that no area and no city is ever the same. Spaniards are also fiercely proud of their own local traditions, which can vary from village to village. This cultural diversity means that visitors can return to the country, but to different cities or regions and never repeat the same experience.

Spain holidays always create lasting memories for this reason, but also because of the diversity of landscapes which is on offer. While many tourists will know about the beaches of Andalucia’s Costa del Sol, or Catalonia’s Costa Dorada, there is perhaps less knowledge about the rolling hills and mountain slopes of the Basque Country, or the sheer number of cultural and architectural highlights there are in Madrid.

From the movies to the wild ocean

Movie fans will also want to take a trip to Almeria, down in the southern reaches of Andalucia. Here, there are film studios and sets which were used in the making of many memorable spaghetti westerns, such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and For a Fistful of Dollars. Europe’s only desert makes for picturesque place for a touring holiday too.

Travellers can also head out into the Atlantic Ocean, with the Canary Islands a wonderful location for sun seekers, sailors and wildlife watchers. The black lava sands are a striking site on many of the beaches, while the island of Lanzarote has been designated as a UNESCO biosphere reserve . The island is also well known as one of the world’s top sailing venues.

From the green hills of Galicia to the Mediterranean beach resorts near Barcelona and Malaga, Spain has something for everyone. Visitors can learn new languages, see great buildings and enjoy beautiful days on the beach. Whether you are sampling tapas in a late night Madrid cafe, or fishing in the seas off Ibiza, Spain can leave you with great memories. It is a country with so much more to offer than package holidays to seaside resorts. A special place which visitors tend to keep in their hearts for years.

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