Alicante is one of the main European holiday hubs, renowned for its long sandy beaches, mild and pleasant climate, vibrant festivals and lively nightlife.

This thoroughly Spanish city has a truly Mediterranean air; its wide esplanades, such as the Rambla de Mendez Nuñez and the Avenida Alfonso el Sabio, and its seafront promenades, full of terrace cafés, are perfect for relaxation.

Alicante also has a distinctly African flavour, with women clad in caftans and hawkers selling African carvings along the waterfront and esplanades. The historical central quarter, though, is filled with baroque buildings, bearing testimony to the city’s past when it was a major seaport.

Neatly framed by the Mediterranean and the hills of Montjuïc and Tibidabo, Barcelona is not only Spain’s most vibrant metropolis, but also, arguably, Europe’s most popular and rewarding short break destination.

Where else can offer historic cobbled streets that ooze Mediterranean atmosphere; bars and restaurants with real local character; charming individual shops; world-class museums and galleries; eye-popping architecture; golden beaches a short stroll from superlative street theatre, vibrant year-round nightlife and splendid performing arts venues; and, of course, an infectious dose of football fever?

Barcelona is a city of great beauty, to be admired from any one of a dozen different viewpoints – from hilltops, cable cars, funiculars and cathedral spires.

Barcelona is also a showcase of art nouveau architecture, including the famous works of Antoni Gaudí. His masterpiece is the unfinished Sagrada Familia cathedral, but his work can be seen all over town, even in the lampposts and fountains of Plaça Reial.

Set on the curves of the River Nervión and surrounded by green hills, Bilbao is a striking city and the star of Spain’s Basque region, with its cultural treasures and gastronomic riches. Basque cuisine is among the best in Spain, and Bilbao boasts some of the region’s leading restaurants. 

Bilbao is also home to some world-famous architectural wonders, such as the celebrated Guggenheim Museum and Euskalduna Palace. The wonderful Old Town is another must see, with its bustling streets lined with ancient mansions, small boutiques and bars, and a gothic cathedral.

The last redoubt of Moorish culture in Spain, Granada is fabled for its exquisite palace-fortress, the Alhambra, one of the earth's architectural wonders and the biggest surviving medieval Islamic palace in the world.

The Alhambra well symbolises Granada's story and significance, having been brought to its peak of elegance and splendour in the 14th and 15th centuries when Granada was the flourishing capital of the last Moorish kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula.

Finally, in 1492, the Christian Reconquest reached here too, led by Spain's ‘Catholic Monarchs', Isabel and Fernando, and bringing with it the churches, monasteries and other monuments that also contribute to the city's beauty and atmosphere today.

From their medieval heyday Granada and the Alhambra slipped into centuries of decline, which only started to be reversed by the interest taken in them by 19th-century Romantics such as American writer Washington Irving, author of the celebrated Tales of the Alhambra. The Romantics' interest sparked early tourism here.

Today tourism has grown to the extent that it is a major bulwark of Granada's economy. But the city is also very much a cultural capital in its own right, with a prestigious university, a large student population (including many foreign students studying Spanish) and a buzzing entertainment and nightlife scene.

This blending of contrasts (ancient with young, traditional with creative, Christian with Islamic, narrow, dark, secretive streets with expansive, open vistas) weaves a unique magic that makes Granada quite unlike any other city in Spain, or indeed on the planet.

Europe’s third largest city is Spain’s financial and political core, home to the Royal Family, as well as the extraordinary cultural riches of the Golden Triangle – the Prado, Reina Sofía and Thyssen-Bornemisza art museums. 

The repression and torpor of the Franco era (1939-75) are now all but forgotten by Madrileños who, perhaps more than any other Spaniards, are determined to vivir a tope (live life to the full). The craving for conspicuous enjoyment, not to mention the 2,800 hours of annual sunshine, turn the streets into bustling centres of public display.

While the Comunidad de Madrid (Madrid Province) stretches over 8,000 sq km (3,090 sq miles), the city’s historic heart is easily explored on foot. The narrow, labyrinthine streets of the medieval quarter contrast with the grand boulevards, laid out in the 18th and 19th centuries – the period when Madrid began to take on the trappings of a modern capital.

Each barrio has its own distinctive atmosphere – Lavapiés, Malasaña and Chueca being the oldest and most interesting. Many visitors first get to know the central area, known as the Madrid of the Austrias (a reference to the Hapsburg era), situated roughly between the Palacio Real and the Puerta del Sol, Madrid’s ‘mile zero’. It is only a short walk from here to the city’s main street, the Gran Vía, lined with shops, banks, offices, bars and cinemas.

At the far (northern) end of the Paseo de la Castellana are the ‘leaning towers’ of the Puerta de Europa (Gateway of Europe), a daring display of architecture symbolising the city’s confidence in its future.

The best times to visit Madrid are between March and June and then from September to October. July in Madrid must be avoided at all costs because it is when the heat will be at its most extreme. August, still a very hot month, is when most locals will take their holidays and the resulting exodus to the seaside resorts leaves Madrid rather empty.

Majestically located on the broad, beautiful Bay of Palma, the city of Palma is the economic, political and commercial capital of the Balearic Islands, and home to nearly half of the inhabitants of Mallorca.

In recent years, Palma has become a popular holiday venue in its own right, rather than simply a stop-over for package holidaymakers en route to the island's many beach resorts.

Over the past decade, it has shed its image of dusty provincialism, thanks to its increasingly cosmopolitan atmosphere, its magnificent palaces, avant-garde galleries and museums, a thriving cultural scene and an ever-growing number of chic boutiques, designer hotels and trendy bars, nightclubs and restaurants.

Yet at the same time, this vibrant, youthful city has carefully maintained the balance between traditional and modern.

The city has retained much of its ancient charm: there are still plenty of traditional restaurants, locals' bars and pavement cafes in which to while away the hours; the fishermen still mend their nets by hand on the harbour's edge; the traditional island crafts of glass-blowing, lace-making and olive-wood carving still exist in the small specialist shops of the backstreets; and it is still easy to get lost in the maze of beautiful ancient alleyways and hidden sun-baked squares of the old town. There is no denying, Palma offers something for everyone, and its future looks bright indeed.

One of the most beautiful of all Spanish cities, Santiago de Compostela has been a travellers' destination for so long that it boasts the oldest hotel in the world – the Hostal dos Reis Católicos.

The city is also the subject of the first guidebook in history, the early-12th-century Codex Calixtinus, part of which details the famous pilgrim route, the Camino de Santiago (Way of St James).

The city's importance in the history of Christianity is such that it is the third holiest site in Christendom, after Jerusalem and Rome. Santiago de Compostela is a national monument, and its artistic and historical importance was confirmed when, in 1993, the entire city was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This was further corroborated when it became a European city of culture for the year 2000.

Today, Santiago de Compostela remains an exquisitely preserved medieval cathedral town, centred on the shrine of the apostle James, after whom the city is named. The winding narrow streets of the Old Quarter are built from local granite and on clear days, the warm and golden stone glows in the sunlight. Even on the more frequent rainy days, the facades glisten beguilingly – the Praza do Obradoiro, with the great baroque facade of the cathedral, is especially glorious. The entire Old Quarter is a honeycomb of architectural charm, perfect for exploring on foot.

Santiago de Compostela is almost entirely Romanesque and baroque – the city's 18th-century ecclesiastical patrons lavished so much wealth on this particular architectonic approach that it evolved into a style known as Galician baroque.

The city is far more than a mere stone relic. The Way of St James is still an enormously popular pilgrim's route, drawing thousands of people every year from around the world to the cathedral – as, indeed, it has for the whole of the last millennium. The 730km (454-mile) walk from Roncevalles culminates in the Pilgrim's Mass, at noon each day, with the great botafumeiro (incense burner) swinging above the heads of worshippers in the cathedral transept, dispensing clouds of sweet-smelling incense.

The image of Santiago (St James) in the form of the scallop shell is evident around the city, an important symbol since the 11th century. While its origin is a mystery, it continues to be worn by pilgrims today.

Situated in the very northwest of the country, some 40km (25 miles) from the coast, Santiago de Compostela is one of the wettest places in Spain. The damp climate means that it is wet in winter and humid in summers, while evenings can be chilly.

As the capital of the region, the city has a key role within the province of Galicia. The region itself is strongly defined, with a distinct Celtic strain and a self-conscious and aggressively self-promoting regional identity.

While its writers may hymn the Celtic mysteries of the characteristic Galician forests and misty groves, Santiago de Compostela is also the focus of modern broadcasting, press and publishing enterprises designed to reinforce Galego (Galician) as a language and a unifying cultural force.

Santiago de Compostela's famous university attracts a large number of students, which guarantees the city a youthful ambience. The university (founded in 1501) has long given a lively buzz of activity to the city's bars, cafes and restaurants. Santiago de Compostela revels in this continuously refreshed influx of youthful energy and inventiveness that treats the grand stone edifices as the most superb of stage sets.

Seville is quintessential Spain. Although the architecture is a layered blend of Christian and Moorish styles, those clichés that are most associated with Spain are all to be found huddled in Andalucia’s compact capital. From flamenco to fiestas and tapas to bullfights, here you’ll find the biggest and the best.

‘Romantic’, ‘flamboyant’, ‘intriguing’ and ‘embracing’ – these are all words that have been used to describe Seville, but so have ‘wild’ (think bullfights and frenzied flamenco), ‘reserved’, ‘conspicuous’ and ‘insular’.

Such is the city, a hybrid of contrasts visible at every turn. The merciless bullring looms over romantic walkways whilst shark-fin bridges over the Rio Guadalquivir poke ominously through a terracotta skyline and mournful laments drift lazily through the cobbled alleyways of one of Europe’s most upbeat cities.

Seville is a city for all seasons. Party with the in-crowd at Plaza Alfalfa or Calle Betis or soak up the solitude within the Parque de Maria Luisa. Culture vultures swoop on the numerous museums and megalithic monuments of a time gone by, whilst eagle-eyed visitors find new fascination in every small detail.

Frequently touted as the ‘New Barcelona’, Valencia is now one of the hottest tickets in the European city break market. A short hop from the resorts of the Costa Blanca to the south and serviced by a large number of low-cost airlines, Valencia’s transformation has been led by two huge projects. 

The first is the architectural tour de force La Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (The City of Arts and Sciences) housing an eclectic range of visitor attractions. The second project was the America’s Cup, the world’s biggest and most prestigious yachting event, which was staged in and around Valencia in 2007, turning Valencia’s port into a world-class yachting centre.

Spain’s third largest metropolis also boasts an atmospheric old town that is the equal of any of the country’s centros históricos. By night this hosts a throbbing nightlife and as a bonus there’s a very good beach just a five-minute ride from the centre – ideal for chilling out the morning after.