The Ultimate Travel Guide to Spain: History & Attractions

Passionate flamenco, sun-drenched beaches, world-class cuisine and stunning Moorish architecture — Spain is a feast for all the senses.

A Glimpse into History

Spain's history is one of Europe's most complex and dramatic — a story of conquest, religious upheaval, global empire, and artistic genius. The Iberian Peninsula was home to advanced Iberian and Celtic cultures before Carthaginian and then Roman conquest (from 218 BC), which gave the country Latin as a base for Spanish. The Visigoths arrived after Rome's fall, followed by the Umayyad Moorish invasion of 711 AD, which within seven years controlled almost all of the peninsula. The next 780 years — La Reconquista — were a slow Christian reconquest from the north, producing the extraordinary fusion of Islamic, Jewish, and Christian cultures called Al-Andalus, whose jewels were Córdoba (at one point Europe's largest city), the Alhambra of Granada, and the Great Mosque of Córdoba. The Reconquista ended in 1492 — the same year Columbus reached the Americas and the same year the Jews were expelled from Spain — a confluence of events that launched Spain into a global empire spanning the Americas, Philippines, and parts of Africa. 16th-century Spain was the world's superpower, its silver from the Americas funding Velázquez, Cervantes, and El Greco in a cultural Golden Age. Decline followed: the Armada's defeat in 1588, Napoleonic invasion, Latin American independence, and finally the devastating Civil War (1936–39) and Franco's 40-year dictatorship ended only in 1975. Spain's rapid democratisation and economic modernisation after 1975 and EU membership in 1986 completed one of the 20th century's most impressive national reinventions.

Top Attractions in Spain

Sagrada Família, Barcelona

Antoni Gaudí's unfinished masterpiece — begun in 1882 and still under construction — is the most visited building in Spain, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and arguably the most ambitious work of religious architecture ever attempted. Inside, Gaudí's forest of branching stone columns filtered by hundreds of stained glass windows creating shifting pools of colour is one of architecture's most transcendent spaces.

Alhambra Palace, Granada

The Nasrid Palace complex within the Alhambra is the pinnacle of Moorish architecture in Europe — a world of intricate arabesque plasterwork, geometric tile mosaics, wooden muqarnas ceilings, and garden courtyards with fountains designed to represent paradise. Built by the last Muslim rulers of Spain in the 14th century, it was so beautiful that the conquering Catholic monarchs refused to demolish it.

Park Güell, Barcelona

Gaudí's fantastical public park combines mosaic-covered terraces, gingerbread gatehouses, and a colonnaded market hall with views over Barcelona to the sea. Designed as a garden city for the wealthy but never completed as planned, it became a public park in 1926 and is now the best free architectural walk in Barcelona — though the monumental zone requires a ticket.

Royal Alcázar of Seville

The oldest royal palace still in use in Europe was built in 913 AD by the Moorish Caliph of Córdoba, expanded by successive Muslim and Christian kings, and still serves as an official royal residence for Spain's royal family today. The mix of Mudéjar, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque styles — and the extraordinary garden complex — make it one of Spain's most magnificent buildings.

Camino de Santiago

The Camino de Santiago (Way of St James) is the world's most famous pilgrimage route, with dozens of paths across Europe converging on the cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. The classic Camino Francés (790 km from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France) takes 30–35 days to walk and attracts over 300,000 pilgrims annually of all faiths and none.