More than 40 million foreigners go to Spain each year, drawn by the good climate, relaxed people, sandy beaches, historic towns and good food and drink.

Spain is still relatively cheap. As a general guide, 14 nights in Minorca in June, flying from Gatwick costs around £459, and a return flight from Heathrow to Madrid in June costs from £160.

A three-night spring break to Barcelona with flights and hotel is from £350 and a seven-night package with flights and self-catering accommodation in Benidorm on the Costa Blanca is from £245.

For a basic double room in Ibiza expect to pay around £30 per night, and £40 in a mid-range hotel in Madrid. All these prices may vary considerably depend on the season and availability. Car hire costs about £10 a day.

Ideal months are May, June and September (April and October in the south where it stays warmer longer), but there's decent weather most of the year round.

July and August are the busy months, when temperatures in the south can be sweltering.

The best festivals are mostly concentrated between Semana Santa (Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter Sunday) and September/October.

*Feeling inspired? Book a break to Spain.

Spain is amazingly diverse. Geographically, all of the regions are different. In Andalucia, for example, you could ski in the Sierra Nevada and later the same day recline on a Mediterranean beach or traverse the deserts of Almeria.

There are tracts of beautiful mountains to explore and some spectacularly rugged stretches of coast between the beaches.

Culturally, the entire country is littered with superb old buildings, from Roman aqueducts and Islamic palaces to Gothic cathedrals. And almost every second village has a medieval castle.

Include the Balearic Islands and the picture varies still further.

The capital, Madrid, is a largely modern city. The medieval city of Toledo bristles with monumental splendour; Gaudi's Barcelona is cosmopolitan and forward-looking; and Santiago de Compostela is a splendid pilgrimage.

Seville (home of the flamenco) is exciting; Granada is the gateway to Andalucia with its stunning Alhambra palace. The tourist resorts of the Costas are, well, tourist resorts.

Festivals take place year-round and though some are religion-based, they are all colourful, noisy, crowded and fun. Even small villages have at least one. Semana Santa parades happen nationwide, but are biggest in Seville, Malaga, Cordoba and Toledo.

In April the Moros and Cristianos parades in Alcoy near Alicante and surrounding areas stage "battles" between the Muslims and Christians.

The festival for which Spain is best-known is the Sanfermines in Pamplona in July, with the running of the bulls through the streets.

With large tracts of wilderness, Spain is brilliant walking country. Some wonderful areas are easily accessible for both short walks and long treks.

Outstanding mountain areas for trekking are the Pyrenees in Aragon and Cataluna, the Picos de Europa, the Sierra Nevada and Alpujarras valleys in Andalucia and the Serra de Tramuntana on Majorca.

Take your pick! Spain has some of the best nightlife in Europe, with wild and very late nights (some Spaniards don't even think about going out until midnight), especially on Fridays and Saturdays.

Even the smaller cities have very lively scenes. Ibiza is, of course, renowned for being one of the clubbing capitals of the world. Rave on!

With rich seafood and plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, you'll always eat well in Spain.

Tapas is the ideal way to eat for people who like different tastes. Order a small dish of whatever grabs your fancy - boquerones (pickled anchovies), tortilla (Spanish omelette) and almejas (baby clams) to name but just a few.

At restaurants, paella, bacalao (cod), and fabada (bean stew) are all worth trying. Veggies are less-well provided for, but Spanish fruit and veg are wonderfully fresh year-round, so salads are a good bet.

Spain produces attractive and reasonably priced handicrafts sold at craft shops, weekly or daily markets in villages and towns, and excellent flea markets (rastros).

Pottery has many regional variations and is cheap; rugs, blankets and clothes are plentiful; leather goods are rising in price but you can still find a bargain. Gold, silver, wood and basketwork are all worth buying.

Apart from the beach, there are plenty of playgrounds in the towns, and in many places you can find excellent special attractions.

These include amusement parks (two to mention are Catalunya's Port Aventura and Seville's Isla Magica), aquaparks, boat and train rides, child-friendly museums, zoos and aquariums.

In Almeria province, north of Benahadux, kids will enjoy the three Wild West town sets which are open as tourist attractions, including Mini Hollywood, which also features a deer reserve.

Spanish National Tourist Office, 22-23 Manchester Square, London W1M 5AP. Tel. 020 7486 8077. Brochure line: 09063 640630 (60p per minute).

Antoni Gaudi, Spain's most famous architect and the brains behind Barcelona's eye-catching Sagrada Familia church and Parc Guell, was born in 1852 in Reus, Catalonia.

Catalan, although everyone speaks Castilian Spanish too.

Not required for UK citizens.

Direct scheduled flights to Catalonia's capital Barcelona and budget flights to Girona near the region's Costa Brava.

Two hours.

Buses are good and often cheaper than the train, though less regular in country areas. There is a good network of coach routes in Spain. They are generally comfortable and also cheaper than trains. Pre-book at weekends.

Euro.

Prices vary greatly, but as a rough guide: bottle of beer 75p, bottle of local wine from the supermarket £2-£4, a 24-exposure film for your camera £3.50, moderate three-course restaurant meal £6-£8, litre of petrol 60p, short taxi ride (about 3kms) £2-£3.

May to early October are pleasant just about everywhere along the region's Mediterranean coast. July and August are the hottest months with daily averages of 28C/82F. The wettest months are September and October.

One hour ahead of the UK.

00 34.

220V AC.

Large supermarkets and department stores Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm; other shops and businesses 9am-2pm and then 4.30/5-8pm. Banks Monday-Friday 8.30am-2pm, Saturdays 9am-1pm (some not on Saturday in summer).

Spain has a reciprocal health agreement with the UK. Make sure you have an EHIC health form (from post offices).

The fierce heat in Spain's cities can reach 35C (95F), so drink plenty of water and be sensible about exposure to the sun.

Very occasionally, people may attempt to short-change you so, without being paranoid, keep an eye on your transactions.

Police, Tel. 091. British Embassy, Calle de Fernando el Santo 16, 28010 Madrid, tel (34 91) 7008200

Drinks after dark are as popular as tapas before lunch.

You may bring your pet to and from Spain provided you have the correct documentation under the Pet Travel Scheme. This takes some time to set up, so see your vet.

Service charge is included in restaurants, so tipping is a personal choice: 5% is plenty, or odd change in cafes and bars.

Spanish National Tourist Office, 22-23 Manchester Square, London W1M 5AP. Tel 020 7486 8077; brochure line, 09063 640630 (60p per minute).

More than 60 million foreigners a year visit Spain.

Castilian Spanish throughout; Catalan, Basque and Galician in some regions.

Not required for UK citizens.

Direct scheduled flights to the capital Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga and Palma de Majorca; charters to other destinations.

Two hours

Internal flights are expensive. Buses are good and often cheaper than the train, though less regular in country areas. There is a good network of coach routes in Spain. They are generally comfortable and also cheaper than trains. Pre-book at weekends.

Euro

Bottle of beer 75p, a film for your camera £2.50, moderate meal £5-£8, litre of petrol 45p, short taxi ride £5.50. All prices are approximate.

Averages 15-36C (59-97F) in the south, 5-28C (48-84F) elsewhere. Spain has a very diverse climate - Galicia is cool and damp, for example, while Andalucia is hot and dry. In general, you can rely on pleasant to scorchingly hot temperatures everywhere from April to early November. Snow in the mountains starts as early as October.

One hour ahead of GMT

00 34

220V AC

Large supermarkets and department stores Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm; other shops and businesses 9am-2pm and then 4.30/5-8pm. Banks Monday-Friday 8.30am-2pm, Saturdays 9am-1pm (some not on Saturday in summer).

Spain has a reciprocal health agreement with the UK. Make sure you have an EHIC card (from post offices).

The fierce heat in Spain's cities can reach 35C (95F) - so drink plenty of water and be sensible about exposure to the sun.

Very occasionally, people may attempt to short-change you so, without being paranoid, keep an eye on your transactions.

Police, Tel. 091. British Embassy, Calle de Fernando el Santo 16, 28010 Madrid, Tel. (34 91) 7008200

Drinks after dark are as popular as tapas before lunch. In summer, many city dwellers make trips to the taverns in the villages just outside the city, known as ventanas sevillanas.

You may bring your pet to and from Spain provided you have the correct documentation under the Pet Travel Scheme. This takes some time to set up, so see your vet.

Service charge is included in restaurants, so tipping is a personal choice: 5% is plenty, or odd change in cafes and bars.

Spanish National Tourist Office, 22-23 Manchester Square, London W1M 5AP. Tel. 020 7486 8077; brochure line, 09063 640630 (60p per minute).

There is only one meal that makes a trip to Spain complete: paella. As far as the British are concerned, this mixture of rice, chicken and seafood, with the odd bit of veg thrown in, is Spain's national dish. more...

Forgive me if I spend the next few paragraphs out of breath. more...

Los Cristianos is a small town in which you can have a relaxing peaceful holiday or a lively one. There are plenty of cheap, good-quality restaurants and bars where you can pay as little as £3.50 for a three-course meal. more...

Well, after returning from two weeks in Tenerife, it make me wonder. more...

Having been to Puerto de la Cruz about 30 years ago, I was disappointed to see how tacky it's become. A last-minute booking had turned up a self-catering deal in Las Galletas, which was quiet but unremarkable. more...

This is it: I'm going to meet a horrible end. The car lurches around hairpin bends, its wheels inches from the edge. The sky and sea revolve like a three-dimensional Cubist painting, whirling and dizzying. If I'd have been doing anything other than driving, I'd have closed my eyes and prayed. more...

The wind is the first thing that strikes you about Tarifa, a tiny city a few miles west of Gibraltar. It never seems to stop blowing. Day or night, rain or shine, the wind howls across the city like a banshee. more...

State-owned hotel chain. Four words guaranteed to strike fear into the heart of any holidaymaker. With good reason, too. more...

Cruzcampo, San Miguel, Estrella Damm. It's not a long list, but it's as far as many people get in a Spanish bar. More's the pity, because whatever the merits of a cold beer on a hot summer's day, Spain's range of drinks - alcoholic or otherwise - is varied and worthy of exploration. more...

What a difference 1,000 miles makes. I was sitting in a flamenco bar in Spain crowded with young people, all drinking ... sherry. more...

The notice in my hotel room was a little disconcerting. 'In San Sebastian it's more than likely you will need an umbrella,' it read. 'Ask for one at the reception desk.' more...

The idea of taking 14 families who have never met, and putting them together in a group of apartments that share the same swimming pool, tennis court and play area for a week sounds like a potential recipe for disaster. more...

Tapas are those little plates of edible goodies, to be enjoyed along with a glass of wine or an ice-cold beer. more...

Nettle and sphagnum moss soup?' asked Manuel. I gave him a vaguely affirmative prehistorical grunt and took a sip. It was almost edible . . . if you had no sense of smell and pretended that your taste buds hadn't evolved yet. more...

The fact that Spain remains by far the most popular destination for British holidaymakers is not surprising: it has the coast, character and climate, it's excellent value, and is only a couple of hours away by plane. In fact, the main problem with Spain is that it is such a familiar destination that it's sometimes too easy to fall back on the obvious choices - the Majorcan resorts, Benidorm or the Costa del Sol. more...

Hot tips more...

Spain is a classic holiday destination - with good reason. Paul Richardson comes up with some suggestions for your type of holiday. more...

Guaranteed sunshine and good value - these are the things that prompt British holidaymakers to charge off in such huge numbers to Spain every year. more...

We live by the seaside, so our idea of a real holiday is somewhere well away from the cawing of gulls and the drone of waves. more...

Lola, a Spanish, sooty-eyed seven-year-old, adjusted her acid green feather boa and gyrated self-consciously through the main square in the pretty Spanish seaside town of Sitges, just south of Barcelona. Behind her marched a troupe of pre-school 'devils', red horns stitched into black berets, the youngest happily prodding Lola's behind with his felt-covered pitchfork. more...

We passed through Seville on our way back from Portugal, by which time it was too late to stay any longer than a single night. What bad planning! more...

My girlfriend, a woman of principle, would come to Seville only on one condition. 'You promise not to take me to a bullfight,' she said. more...

Giggling, deep male voices were coming up fast behind me. I turned to see a gang of twenty-something Spanish men wearing polka-dotted, flamenco-frilled aprons over jeans and T-shirts. more...

My heart skipped a beat as the ambulance pulled up alongside our motorhome on the desolate road to Portomarin in northern Spain. And my worst fears were confirmed as the driver lifted out the bicycle on which my wife had ridden away minutes earlier. Oh no, she had had an accident. more...

I went to Salou in September last year and I thoroughly enjoyed it. more...

For very many years I used to indulge myself in a Walter Mitty dream that one day I would take a year off to go to Salamanca University, to read Don Quixote and perfect my Spanish. more...

Get this. My sister Steph and I were lounging by the hotel pool and I was just remarking that the guy strolling on the rose terrace looked like Kevin Costner and - oh, my God! - it was Kevin Costner - We whipped off our nose shields, switched on our brightest smiles and for the next three hours held our stomachs in and our chests out in the hope he'd glance our way. He didn't. more...

You don't actually ride anywhere on the new Temple of Fire ride at the Port Aventura theme park. But in this custom-made Spanish resort you do get quality for your cash. more...

Say you're off to Majorca and most people imagine packed beaches, roasting bodies and late-night congas round the streets of some of the liveliest resorts in the Mediterranean. But you don't have to travel far inland to find a different side to Europe's most popular holiday destination. A few miles from some of the biggest resorts is a tranquil landscape of twisted olive groves, centuries-old pine forest and dramatic mountains. more...

The telephone pealed on my 75th birthday. A friend was ringing to invite me on a walking holiday. 'Me, walk?' I exploded. 'Where?' 'The Picos de Europa,' she replied, 'a long rugged range of mountains in northern Spain.' These dramatic mountains, with their deep river canyons, rise steeply from the Atlantic coast, where we would end the walk. more...

Minorca makes Majorca and Ibiza look like Blackpool on a dreary day, A brilliant place for a holiday! more...

If you like peace and quiet, this is for you. Lovely beaches. We went in August and this is our third time. We've stayed in the north and the south, both are nice, but maybe the south has a slight edge as it's nearer to places, but that's all. It's easy to drive on the island, too. more...

Until recently, Marbella came pretty near the top of my list of places to avoid, along with pubs boasting giant-screen TV, restaurants where the owners harass you at your table, nightclubs with red rope barriers and so-called 'boutique' hotels. more...

In our celebrity-obsessed world it's only natural to ask: What have Boris Becker and Elle MacPherson got in common? Both seek peace in Mallorca. more...

As a little treat for myself, I fancied a few days in the sun. Not too far away. A couple of days in a nice quiet hotel by the seaside, followed by a couple of days in a town, ending up with the treat itself. I was going on my own, so I could be totally self-indulgent. more...

You say My-orca, and he says M e e -y o r c a. Meanwhile, I must be the last man alive to still insist on calling it Madge-orca. more...

My history with Mallorca goes back a long way. I used to go there to visit Lynne Franks, the Empress of PR. more...

Birds do it, bees do it, I'm not sure about educated fleas, but one thing is certain - my sister won't do it. Fly, that is. Trying for years to persuade her that air travel is safer than driving to Safeways has been useless. She's still a one-woman no-fly zone. more...

The British love affair with this Balearic island shows no sign of wilting- more than a million of us will holiday there this summer. Yet for many who visit - and for plenty who decline to do so - Majorca means little more than crowded beaches and English bars. TONY KELLY has been visiting the island in summer and winter for several years and has written or contributed to several guidebooks to Majorca (which the Spanish call Mallorca). Here he shares with us some of his personal recommendations for how to get the best out of a Majorcan holiday. more...

Best hotels more...

Best restaurants more...

Best family resort more...

Quiet beaches more...

Biggest surprise more...

As I sat on our villa terrace on the outskirts of town, there didn't appear to be any other houses, just hills stacked up behind me. And yet, from nowhere, children's voices echoed, one squealing more excitedly than the rest, as if riding a rollercoaster. I looked out over the citrus orchard and opened another bottle of Cava. more...

Madrid is the highest, greenest and sunniest capital city in Europe. If that's not temptation enough for a long weekend, it also boasts a greater concentration of bars than any other city in Spain. more...

Madrid is more probably the cultural capital of Spain than Seville, if there is such a thing. more...

Myself and five other friends aged between 17 and 21 partied the nights away in the main holiday resort of Puerto Del Carmen and it was the best two weeks of holidays I have every experienced. more...

For good-value winter sun it's hard to beat the Canaries, and harder still to beat Lanzarote. It might not have quite the nightlife of Tenerife or Gran Canaria, and there's no doubt the harsh volcanic landscape is not to everyone's taste, but Lanzarote's beaches, resorts and atmosphere make it my pick of the Canary Islands. more...

This was more of an experiment than a holiday. Taking a sulky teenage daughter away with her demanding four-year-old brother would be difficult enough. But for this family, the tensions resulting from our daughter Maria's four-year battle with anorexia have been known to go off the dial. Where could we go for a relaxing, safe, family break? The island of La Palma in the Canaries provided the answer. more...

Night-clubbing is a risky business. You spend years hunting the 'it' place of 'now', only to find afterwards that you paid a fortune getting into 'that' dump of 'then'. more...

The announcement of my imminent departure to Ibiza engendered a number of responses. Most took the form of mild disdain. 'Why on earth do you want to go there? It's supposed to be awful.' Others cracked lame jokes about 'doing' drugs and dancing the night away in a trawl of the clubs that have made this island so notorious. more...

Our apartments in Playa d'en Bossa were fantastic value for money - the location for the family perfect, set right on the beach. Lots of activities for the kids and adults alike - beach volley ball, jet skis etc. Lovely clean pools and, although within close location to the shops and bars, it wasn't noisy at night. The small town has lots going on at night, fun bars for the kids - street artists and spray painters like you've never seen before. more...

Spanish tinned food is not something you would want to write home about. Nor Spanish beds. Nor Spanish road signs, for that matter. But we did have a good walk, my wife and I - about 60 miles in all through the Andalucian mountains. more...

No sooner had I pointed out the Plaza de Toros than a uniformed man on a moped pulled alongside the car, flipped up his helmet visor and gesticulated for us to wind down the window. more...

It's mid-December in Europe. When you get off the plane you brace yourself for that chill wind, and the best bit is... it doesn't hit you. more...

There is a white Andalucian village in the Ronda hills where our four children will be forever teenagers. It has no disco, no nightclub or even a piano bar. more...

The beach I'm standing on is somewhere on the wild, wave-bashed Costa da Morte. more...

If you thought the Costa Blanca offers nothing more than tawdry towerblock hotels and egg and chips culture, think again. more...

When you first land at Lanzarote airport, you could be forgiven for thinking the pilot got rather ambitious, and diverted to the moon. The landscape of this Canary Island is unique, a skyline stuffed with volcanoes. more...

There is something almost unbearably melancholy about the Costa del Sol in the winter, when the brilliant blue of the summer sky turns pewter and winter drizzle dampens the palm trees. more...

As well as the 'Costa' (a strong pound has made property very affordable) and the 'Sol' (reputedly 350 days a year), the other big attraction of southern Spain for the Brits is now golf. The signs on the N340, which runs from Gibraltar to Malaga, have been amended accordingly: below Costa del Sol they have added Costa del Golf. This just in case you hadn't noticed the dozens of courses, which have become part of the landscape like remnants of green carpet thrown down in a desert. more...

Well it's certainly nothing like Trafalgar Square,' muttered the stout lady from Sevenoaks. Joan and her husband Bill were looking out to Cape Trafalgar - the rocky headland that juts into the Atlantic Ocean off the southern coast of Spain. more...

Long derided as the spiritual home of the straw donkey and bucket-and-spade brigade, the Costa Brava, that stretch of fading resorts between Barcelona and the French border, is in danger of becoming fashionable again. more...

At 9pm, the Costa Brava's Tamariu beach was still busy with children playing volleyball or careering after each other into the sea. more...

My wife Linda and I have been on several walking holidays, so we knew what we had signed up for with this trip. more...

Spain has always been a good destination for holiday romance. I had my first one on the Costa Brava at the age of 14. Now aged 40, I had not expected to repeat the experience. more...

To begin at the beginning: 11,000 years ago the last and biggest Catalonian volcano erupted in the heart of the unstable Garroxta region in north-eastern Spain. more...

The sound of water splashing over stone woke me. In the courtyard of the Castillo de Siguenza, a fountain gurgled in the early morning light. From my room - tiled floors, dark-stained wood and heavy linen drapes - I could see the terracotta roofs of medieval Siguenza beyond the castle walls. more...

By the time the massive 2,000-passenger ferry, the Val de Loire, slipped out of Plymouth Sound accompanied by half a dozen playful porpoises, I was feeling distinctly uneasy. more...

GRAN CANARIA more...

Not the biggest of the Canaries; it just feels that way when you try to negotiate some of the busiest streets of the capital, Las Palmas. more...

LANZAROTE more...

FUERTEVENTURA more...

Cadiz is used to insurgents, though it's a safe bet that this is the first time an invasion has been led by the world's most stylish secret agent and a beautiful woman clad in a stunning bikini. more...

What did your last holiday in Majorca sound like? The tinkle of empty lager cans on concrete? The raucous cries of squabbling families on the beach? Night choruses of Y Viva Espana? more...

A name can make all the difference. That's why Spain's small hotels are unlucky, as far as British visitors are concerned, to be classed officially as 'hostales'. more...

Not so long ago, the prospect of a weekend in Bilbao would hardly set the pulse racing. more...

Excellent holiday June in Benidorm. My wife and I can thoroughly recommend the Hotel Victoria. First class service, superb food, immaculate standard and within easy reach of all amenities. more...

In November 2000 my husband and I booked a seven-night HB holiday to Benidorm. We had never previously been there and were rather dubious, as Benidorm seems to have a reputation for noise, loud discos, mob trouble etc. We stayed in a hotel named The Gala Placidia. more...

We have been to Benidorm for the last three years. The best way to visit Benidorm is to firstly get a good hotel. We recommend The Diplomatic, the food is very good but it is not for the younger end. more...

There's plenty to do in Benidorm for all ages. more...

Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca once described Las Ramblas as 'the only street in the world that I wish would never end.' more...

Surprisingly, Barcelona doesn't make a lot of what must be its most internationally renowned former resident - Pablo Picasso. more...

So, what are we going to do in Barcelona, then? It's just a city, isn't it?' It was the question I had been dreading, posed as only a 13-year-old can - with an implacable sulkiness that in international diplomacy would amount to a declaration of war. more...

Funny how you can overlook a whole lump of Europe. I knew virtually nothing about Asturias. Who does? A rugged little principality on the north coast of Spain, it looks not at the gentle Mediterranean or the blue Atlantic but northward at Biscay and throws steep, spiky mountains up from its heart into a troubled, eagle-haunted sky. more...

They call Asturias 'Green Spain', and now I know why. Or so I told myself as our car wrapped itself queasily round the last mountain bend and I caught sight of my face in the driver's mirror. It was the colour of cabrales, the best local cheese. more...

When Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston made a grand tour of Andalucia some months ago, they had a dozen people in tow. more...

The minute you land in the Basque country, it's clear that Spain's northernmost tip has its own distinct personality. more...

Jane MacDonald, bingo, ballroom dancing and glasses of warm sherry all flashed through my mind as I packed for my 10-day Mediterranean cruise. more...

The one question on my mind as the airport-bound bus pulled out of San Sebastian into the misty Basque mountains was, with this being my umpteenth trip to Spain, just why hadn't I made it here before? more...

Cheap airfares are steadily opening up more regions of Spain, in addition to old favourites like Andalucia, the Costas, the Canaries and Balearics. more...