Spain is a magnificent country and offers some of the best the world can offer in such a wide variety, you can certainly have a great time there.
• Barcelona is one of the most stunning cities in the world. Located on the Mediterranean and with the hills at it’s backdrop, it commands a beautiful location. The center of the city is the famous Gothic Quarter, which is a large rabbit warren of tiny, narrow (mostly) traffic free alley’s and ancient buildings. It is very easy to get lost here which is part of the fun. Many of the buildings date back several hundred years and is in complete contrast to the bordering “newer” part of the city called the Exiample, which is beautifully designed with grand avenues and Modernist architecture. Barcelona has great modern architecture as well, with some stunning new designs – a great mix of old and new.
• Madrid is the Nation’s capital and the largest city in Spain. Situated inland, it misses the beautiful coastal scenes of Barcelona, but makes up for this with a beautiful downtown city of once again, great historical buildings and cutting edge modern marvels. A city of great museums, incredible night life and amazing food. There are plenty of flights between Barcelona and Madrid (it is the busiest air route in the world), and from later this year, an ultra high speed rail service (up to 350km/h) will serve between the two.
• Valencia is much smaller than the other two, but still a fast growing and stunning city. A beautiful, dense historical heart, and like Barcelona, on the coast. Valencia has blown the architectural world apart with it’s modern City of Arts and Science district. It is also close to the famous (though tacky) Seaside resort of Benidorm, and the much more beautiful town of Calpe.
Spain is a wealthy country with a very fast growth rate, but because of the enormous amount of historical buildings, it can cost a lot to maintain these. You will find many look quite run down on the outside, but don’t think this automatically means you are in a bad neighborhood. The insides maybe lavishly modeled or renovated. This is particularly the case say in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. So many historical buildings are so expensive to do up. In my opinion though, this just adds to the character of the cities.
Spanish cities, especially Barcelona and Madrid have excellent public transport, to the point in Madrid’s case of almost being amazing. Getting around is easy, fast and cheap. Weather wise, in summer Spain is hot. In Barcelona and Valencia it can be very humid as well, whilst Madrid is often hotter but a drier heat. In Winter, Madrid is the coldest and Valencia the mildest.