Mainland Spain is in the southwestern part of Europe. It is on the Iberian peninsula. It is also made up of two sets of islands. The Islas Baleares (Balearic Islands) are in the Mediterranean. Mallorca, the largest island, is just over 100 miles from the eastern coast. The Islas Canarias (Canary Islands), which are about 500 miles to the southwest and lie off the coast of Morocco in the Atlantic Ocean, is also in the Mediterranean. Melilla and Ceuta are two small Spanish towns in Morocco, which are in Africa.
Even though Spain is one of the most popular places for package vacations, there is more to this country than the beaches of the Costas and islands. The independent traveler will want to go to different parts of Spain to see what else it has to offer.
How to get there: On the mainland, there are 31 airports that serve the following cities and towns: A Coruna, Albacete, Alicante, Almeria, Asturias, Badajoz, Barcelona, Bilbao, Burgos, Cordoba, Girona, Granada, Jerez de la Frontera, Leon, Madrid, Malaga, Murcia, Pamplona, Reus, Sabadell, Salamanca, San Sebastian, Santander, Santiago, Sevilla, Valencia, Valladolid, Vigo and Zaragoza. El Hierro, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, La Gomera, Lanzarote, and Tenerife are all Canary Islands with airports. Ibiza, Menorca, and Mallorca are all the Balearic Islands with airports. The British colony of Gibraltar, which is at the southernmost tip of Spain, also has its own airport. British Airways and Monarch both fly to Gibraltar every day from different places in the UK, and Monarch has some of the best prices on seats. Major airlines have regular flights to Spain, but it is also a popular destination for low-cost airlines, which offer round-trip flights from other European cities for less than 100 Euros. You can also find cheap seats on the many charter flights that serve the tourism business. With the exception of a few low-cost airlines, it is expensive to fly within Spain.
Portugal, which is to the west, and France, which is to the northeast and borders Spain, are both easy to get to by car. The roads within the country can be different. Many of the roads aren't very good, but Spain has received billions of Euros in aid from the European Union. Much of this money has been used to improve the infrastructure, so you can also drive on some of the newest and best roads in Europe. There are a lot of bus companies in the country that connect the major towns and cities with fast services. There are also many bus routes in the area.
The train service is well developed, so people from Portugal and France can get to Spain easily, and people can get from one town or city in Spain to another quickly. Compared to some other big European countries, the prices are low. There are a lot of Metro (underground railway) lines in both Madrid and Barcelona.
In addition to the many services between islands, there are also ferries from the mainland to the island groups and the two Moroccan enclaves. A boat leaves from Cadiz to go to the Canary Islands. The trip takes about 48 hours, and the sea is often rough, so it can be hard to get there. It might be better to fly, but as we've already said, that can get expensive. From Tariffa and Algeciras, in the province of Cadiz in Andalusia, there are ferries to Tanger, in the country of Morocco. Ferries also go to Tariffa, Algeciras, and Malaga from the enclave of Cueta. The boats from Malaga and Almeria go to Melilla, which is the other island. There are services between the Balearic Islands and Barcelona, Valencia, and Denia.
