With almost 100 million tourists a year, Spain lives in an eternal dilemma: to take care of the travel industry and, therefore, the traveler—its main source of income—while at the same time ensuring overtourism is controlled, carbon footprints are minimized, and popular destinations aren’t turned into souvenirs stripped of authenticity and heritage.
Having said that, we love to be ambassadors of what is ours. Our gastronomy, which we unabashedly boast is the best in the world thanks to the variety of produce and age-old traditions spread between north and south, east and west—from splendid orchards and unparalleled fishing to traditional recipes. Our history, a melting pot of civilizations that has endowed each large city and each small village with a sublime architectural legacy. Our culture, whose clichés, although sometimes too many, fascinate us: the sobremesas and the siestas, eating lunch at 3 p.m. and dinner while the rest of the world sleeps, taking to the streets and “beberse la vida” (literally “drinking life,” a Spanish saying meaning living life to the fullest), going out for beers and not returning home until we have danced it all off. Rosalía and Almodóvar. Tapas and paella. Real Madrid and Carlos Alcaraz. Loewe and Zara. Goya and Picasso. Don Quixote and Lorca. All passion, all blood, sweat and tears. What more can we say?
We also argue that not everything in Spain is a cliché and not everything is sun and sand, however much the tourist brochures insist on it. The Balearic Islands beyond the summer, green, windy and so calm, are a paradise that George Sand already wrote about in A Winter in Majorca. The north of the country is a succession of high mountains, dramatic cliffs, and warming stews. Our inland plains boast seas of olive trees, rivers full of life, and villages where time stands still. The Canaries flood your eyes with wilderness and in January you can even ski in the Sierra Nevada, Europe’s most southerly ski resort, before ending the day with a swim on the Costa del Sol.
In the list of destinations we have prepared for this celebration of Spain in the off season—Ibiza, Madrid, Mallorca, Menorca, and Seville, all affirmed by their best ambassadors—you might miss Barcelona, which we wanted to preserve from an overtourism that knows no seasons. Also missing are the Canary Islands with their eternal spring. Places we hope you already have on your radar: Galicia, Asturias, and Cantabria, those idyllic areas in the north that follow the glittering Basque Country. Cities of Castilian austerity such as Burgos, Salamanca, and Zamora. The landscapes of Extremadura, so full of history. The quixotic windmills of La Mancha. Focal points already on everyone’s lips, such as Valencia, Málaga, Córdoba, and Granada. The snowy magic of the Aragonese Pyrenees. Landscapes of explosive nature such as the Sierra de Grazalema, the Arribes del Duero, the Irati forest, Picos de Europa, or Matarraña.
In spring, summer, autumn, winter… Spain never ends. Come and see us and take care of it. In return, we take care of you. We promise. —David Moralejo, head of editorial content, Condé Nast Traveler España
Our Recommendations of Where to Stay in Spain
