Country book · Europe

Spain

Late dinners, long festivals and fierce regional pride

Spain lives on its own clock — lunch at three, dinner at ten, and fiestas that run all night. Moorish palaces, Basque cuisine and Catalan architecture sit inside one country that never quite agrees on what unites it.

Myths

What's true, what isn't

Actually true

Dinner really is eaten late
Restaurants often don't fill up until 9 or 10pm, and nightlife can run until sunrise.
Regional identity runs deep
Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia have their own languages, flags and strong independence movements.
Festivals are taken extremely seriously
La Tomatina, Running of the Bulls and Semana Santa processions are organised with centuries of ritual.
The siesta shaped the working day
Many small towns still close shops for a few hours in the afternoon heat, even if the modern nap is rarer.

Commonly believed, wrong

"All of Spain does flamenco and bullfighting"
Both are strongly associated with Andalusia specifically, not the whole country — many regions have neither tradition.
"Spanish and Mexican food are basically the same"
Spanish cuisine rarely uses chilli heat and leans on olive oil, seafood and cured pork instead.
"It's always hot and sunny"
Northern Spain — Galicia, Asturias, the Basque Country — is green, rainy and cool much of the year.
"Everyone naps every afternoon"
The traditional siesta has largely disappeared from cities with modern working hours.

Highlights

The best of Spain

The Alhambra

A Moorish palace and fortress of intricate tilework above Granada.

Gaudí's Barcelona

The Sagrada Família and Park Güell define the city's skyline.

The Camino de Santiago

A centuries-old pilgrimage route across northern Spain.

Andalusian white villages

Whitewashed pueblos blancos clinging to hillsides in the south.

Culture

Cultural riches

Flamenco

Passionate guitar, singing and dance born in Andalusia's Roma communities.

Football rivalry

Real Madrid vs Barcelona is one of sport's fiercest ongoing rivalries.

Tapas culture

Small plates and bar-hopping turn dinner into a social crawl.

Moorish architecture

Eight centuries of Islamic rule left palaces, mosques and courtyards across the south.

Food

What to eat

Paella

Saffron rice with seafood or rabbit and chicken, cooked in a wide pan in Valencia.

Jamón ibérico

Acorn-fed cured ham, sliced paper-thin and treated with reverence.

Tortilla española

A thick potato and egg omelette served at any time of day.

Pintxos

Basque bar snacks skewered onto bread, eaten standing with wine.

Gazpacho

Chilled tomato soup that cools down brutal Andalusian summers.

Music

World-famous voices

Rosalía

Flamenco reinvented for the streaming age.

Enrique Iglesias

The best-selling Spanish-language pop artist.

Alejandro Sanz

Latin Grammy record holder.

Paco de Lucía

The flamenco guitarist everyone else measures against.

Julio Iglesias

300 million records worldwide.

History

Important people in history

Isabella I of Castile

1451 — 1504

Co-monarch who unified Spain and funded Columbus's voyages to the Americas.

Francisco Franco

1892 — 1975

Dictator who ruled Spain for nearly four decades after the Civil War.

Juan Carlos I

born 1938

King who steered Spain's transition to democracy after Franco's death.

Cities