Category Archives: Spain holidays

Valencia tops surprising poll of travellers’ favourite coastal stays in Europe

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A new Which? survey reveals that visitors are starting to look beyond the old overcrowded favourites such as Barcelona and Málaga

Ask for a lineup of the most popular European coastal destinations and you might expect the usual suspects: Venice, Lisbon and Nice. Travellers from the era of the Grand Tour might have added Biarritz and Naples – but a survey of 3,500 readers by consumer organisation Which? suggests that visitors are starting to look beyond the old favourites and discover new destinations.

The Spanish Mediterranean port of Valencia was the surprising winner in a recent poll that looked at 12 separate criteria, including quality of the beaches, seafronts and marinas; attractiveness; food and drink; and value for money. Respondents cited the city’s history, futuristic architecture and gastronomy, but also its peace and quiet. With traditional favourites such as Barcelona struggling with overpopularity – numbers there are heading back towards the 2019 high of 13.9 million overnight visitors – that seems significant.

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A local’s guide to Cádiz, Spain: ancient sites, beach bars and great tapas

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Dancer Pilar Gil on where to eat, dance and take a sunset stroll in one of Europe’s oldest cities

The Mercado Central de Abastos is the heart of Cádiz and where we locals go to buy our fresh fish, seafood, fruit and vegetables. It also has a lot of cafes where you can order anything from fried fish to an empanada. My favourites are Lady Papa’s, which serves traditional tapas dishes, and a vegan stall called Las Niñas Veganas – it’s not easy to find vegan or gluten-free food in Cádiz, so this is special.

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Warriors, cathedrals and carnivals: Spain’s best smaller cities, chosen by readers

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Medieval plazas, fortresses like film sets and seafood straight out of the net feature in your pick of these lesser-known destinations

I stopped in Salamanca for lunch when driving from Madrid to Lisbon and ended up staying there for a week, caught up in the lovely atmosphere of the city. Its graceful red sandstone architecture, with two cathedrals and splendid university buildings dating from the 15th century, gives the city the quality of an alfresco cultural living room – where academics, students and locals live on a sort of dreamy, theatrical open-air film set. Street names are hand-painted in scarlet on signs and the youthful population creates a hedonistic vibe at night when darkness descends. By day, check out the Plaza Mayor and the lovely Doll Museum.
Yasmin Cox

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Balearic Islands to be added to England’s Covid amber list

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Change means some people will have to quarantine when arriving in England from Monday, as red and green lists also updated

Ministers have performed a U-turn on the Balearic Islands by removing the Spanish holiday destination from the UK’s quarantine-free “green list” after only two weeks, in a move which will force holidaymakers to cancel plans or self-isolate for up to 10 days upon return.

However, summer holidays to budget holiday destination Bulgaria looked more likely after it was upgraded to the green list alongside Hong Kong. Croatia and Taiwan will be placed on the green watchlist – designed to give people some notice a country might be downgraded.

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Spain to drop Covid restrictions on British visitors from 24 May

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Spanish PM says negative test not needed even as Boris Johnson warns against travel to amber list countries

Spain will allow British holidaymakers into the country without the need to provide a negative Covid test from 24 May.

In a move aimed at restarting the country’s battered tourist industry, the Spanish government has announced that visitors from the UK will be free to enter Spain “without restrictions and without health requirements”. The same applies to visitors from Japan. All arrivals are still required to fill out a health form.

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Walking around Menorca: my lockdown project is never staying still

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Having ‘washed up’ on the island due to travel restrictions, our writer finds joy in hiking the Camí de Cavalls coastal trail and swimming in secluded coves

I’m walking along a sandy path through a forest high above the flashing kingfisher-coloured coast. It smells of hot pine and wild rosemary. The sound of bells deep in the wood stops me in my tracks. Have I finally lost my mind, after months of piloting solo through the pandemic on this small island far from home?

From between the trees step a herd of cows, as if from a child’s picture book, caramel coloured, soft noses, liquid eyes and each with a collar from which a large bell swings. Mystery solved, I pick up my water bottle and keep going.

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A selfie set in stone: hidden portrait by cheeky mason found in Spain 900 years on

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A British art historian’s painstaking study of the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela uncovered a medieval prank

He is a medieval in-joke, a male figure carved in the early 12th century for one of the world’s greatest cathedrals, but no one has known of his existence until now. The figure has gone unnoticed by millions of worshippers who have made the long pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, north-western Spain over the centuries. He has looked down on them from the top of one of the many pillars that soar upwards, each decorated with carved foliage, among which he is concealed.

Now he has been discovered by a British art scholar who believes that he was actually never meant to be seen because he is a self-portrait of a stonemason who worked on the cathedral in the 12th century.

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Canary Islands added to UK travel corridor list

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Holidays to the Spanish islands will be on sale in time for half-term. The Maldives, Mykonos and Denmark also added to list

Last-minute holidays to the Canaries will be back on sale in time for a half-term getaway after the islands were added to the UK travel corridor list.

Holidaymakers will be able to visit any of the eight main islands in the archipelago without the need to quarantine for 14 days on their return. The move comes into effect from 4am on Sunday (25 October), the transport Grant Shapps confirmed on Twitter on Thursday.

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Spain or the UK: where are you safer from coronavirus?

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Spain has criticised the UK’s restrictions on the grounds parts of Spain have low infection rates. What do the figures say?

Sudden changes to travel guidelines between the UK and Spain have provoked criticism from the Spanish government and upended travel plans between the two countries for thousands of travellers. Here are some of the key figures that indicate how Covid-19 is being managed in the UK and Spain.

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All quiet in Ibiza as super-rich hide away and young Brits chill by the pool

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With its near-deserted streets and laid-back vibe, the Spanish island is a world away from its pre-pandemic party scene

On the first day of lockdown in Britain, 48 private planes flew into Ibiza. While the island has only officially been open to tourists since the beginning of July, following one of Europe’s strictest quarantines, the super-rich have been making the most of a Balearic summer that hasn’t been this quiet for decades. Actor Emma Watson has been spotted in town and musician James Blunt has been living permanently in his villa in Santa Gertrudis, dubbed the island’s Notting Hill.

Exclusive boutique hotels, luxury villas and the island’s most expensive restaurants have reported an unexpected boom in business. Many are already full for July and much of August and say that wealthy customers are staying longer and spending more than the same period last year.

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‘We need the Brits’: Benidorm banks on August tourist surge

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Spanish resort ‘like a ghost town’ as UK’s Covid-19 lockdown keeps its best customers away

There’ll be no craic at the Shamrock tonight, says Lisa Griffin, who has run the Irish pub in Benidorm for 25 years.

Griffin’s 15 staff, who include a four-piece band, are on furlough and no one knows what will happen when the Spanish government’s scheme comes to an end on 30 June.

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Barcelona without the tourists: ‘We’ve reclaimed our city but inherited a ghost town’

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Last year Barcelona received 30 million visitors – now there are none. Emerging from Europe’s strictest coronavirus lockdown, how do its tourist-weary residents feel about getting their city back?

For six weeks, the streets of Barcelona were deserted. Not a soul except the Deliveroo and Glovo riders and the occasional shopper, masked and gloved, making a foray to the nearest supermarket before scurrying back home. In a city with one of the highest population densities in Europe, there was no one to be seen.

Throughout this time, people here have shown an extraordinary and perhaps unexpected degree of discipline, stoicism and collective spirit in sticking to the rules of one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns.

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