SPAIN
Vacations and Sightseeing

Basic information
Official language	Spanish
Capital	Madrid
Area	505.992 km²
Population	46,786,482  (2021)
Currency	euro  (EUR)
Web	.es
Code.	ESP
Tel.	+34

Cities in SPAIN

Barcelona	Benidorm	Bilbao
Blanes	Madrid	Nerja
Salou	Torremolinos	Valencia

Popular destinations SPAIN

Andalusia	Catalonia	Costa blanca
Costa brava	Costa del sol	El hierro
Formentera	Fuerteventura	Gran canaria
Ibiza	La gomera	La palma
Lanzarote	Mallorca	Menorca
	Tenerife

Vacations and Sightseeing

Nerja, Costa del Sol, Spain_{Photo: Tuxyso CC 3.0 Unportedno changes made}

The tourism industry is becoming increasingly important to the economy due to large employment opportunities and as a major foreign exchange source. There are approximately 1.5 million people working in the Spanish tourist sector. In 2000, Spain was visited by a record 48 million foreign tourists. Spain manages to book the most overnight stays in Europe every year. Nowadays, this does not only happen in the summer, but Spain is also increasingly chosen as a winter destination. Especially the Canary Islands are popular in the winter period.

Various regions are almost entirely dependent on tourism, especially holiday areas such as Catalonia, Andalusia, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands. Approx. 80% of foreign tourism takes place on the east coast, the famous Costas.

Most tourists come from France, Germany, the Netherlands, England and Italy.

Mosaic Dragon at the Entrance to Parc Güell Barcelona, Spain_{Photo: Alex Proimos CC 2.0 Generic no changes made}

Barcelona is the city with the most tourist visits in Spain. There are many sights related to the architect Gaudi, such as the Sagrada Familia and the park Güell. There are also interesting museums in Barcelona such as the Picasso museum and the Miro museum. TheWorldOfInfo has included a separate page dedicated to Barcelona.

Tapas bar in Madrid, Spain_{Photo: Brian Snelson CC 2.0 Generic no changes made}

Madrid is the capital of Spain and a fascinating city to visit. A visit to Museo del Prado is a must during a city trip to Madrid. This is one of the most famous museums in Europe with a collection of 8,600 paintings, not even including all drawings, coins and medals in the collection. The works of the greatest Spanish painters, such as Diego Velázquez, hang there. You can also find work by painters from other countries, including Jeroen Bosch, Rubens and Rembrandt. In Madrid you can really eat delicious food on every corner of the street, especially tapas. Tapa means lid and this name is derived from the lid on the glasses on which the tapas were once served. The lid on the glasses served as a protector against flies and other insects. You simply eat tapas at the bar with a nice glass of Spanish wine or a beer. Read more on the Madrid page of countries web.

Museum Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain_{Photo: Kennisland CC 2.0 Generic no changes made}

Bilbao is a beautiful city with several attractive sights that attract visitors. Bilbao has several museums such as the Guggenheim Museum. It is especially the titanium shell that makes Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum Bilbao special. The illuminated material is like a magnet to the eye and gives the building a unique place in architectural history. The graceful, sensual curves give the impression of ships that used to lie all along Bilbao's docks. In keeping with the maritime theme, the skylights of the main gallery (known as the Fish gallery) are designed to resemble the fins of a fish. Many parts of the building are purely decorative. The permanent collection is not very special, but the museum always has guest curators who often create fascinating temporary exhibitions. Often one also sees masterpieces from the other Guggenheim collections.

Absolutely worth a visit are also: Torremolinos, Salou, Nerja, Benidorm, Blanes, Valencia

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Sources

Grabowski, J.F. / Spain
Lucent Books

Spain
Lonely Planet

CIA - World Factbook

BBC - Country Profiles

Last updated November 2024
Copyright: Team The World of Info