The 12 Best Places in Spain (From Two Weeks on the Ground)
The best places I visited in Spain, ranked by what I'd go back for — Montserrat, the Caminito del Rey, Ronda, the Alhambra, Seville's Alcazar, Sagrada Familia and the Malaga waterfront.
This is my honest ranking of the best places I visited across two weeks in Spain, ordered by how quickly I'd go back to each one.
A word on how to read it. I've travelled a lot in Europe and I'm fairly hard to impress by a pretty old town at this point, so my top picks lean towards landscapes and the odd, singular places that don't have an equivalent anywhere else. But I've included the famous cities too, because leaving them out would be dishonest — they earn their reputations, and if it's your first trip to Spain you should absolutely see them. I've just been clear about which ones I'd return to and which ones I think you see once.
If you want these arranged into an actual route rather than a list, I've written up the full 2-week Spain itinerary that these all came from.
1. Caminito del Rey
A walkway pinned to the wall of a gorge in southern Spain, about an hour from Malaga. It was once considered one of the most dangerous paths in the world; it's since been rebuilt and is now completely safe, but it has lost none of the drama. You're on a boardwalk bolted to a vertical cliff with a river a long way below you, and for most of the walk there's nothing between you and the drop but a handrail and a lot of engineering.
The walk takes about two and a half hours end to end and it is one-way — this trips people up constantly, because it means the logistics matter more than they do anywhere else on this list.
Book in advance, and choose the guided option if the unguided slots have gone (they sell out first). We took the guided tour and the history of the place turned out to be as good as the views.
Why it's number one: there is nothing else like it in Europe, and it's a genuinely thrilling few hours rather than a scenic one.
Full logistics — access points, parking, the shuttle bus, guided vs unguided — in my complete Caminito del Rey guide.
2. Montserrat
Fifty minutes by train from Barcelona and one of the best days you can have in Catalonia. A monastery is built directly into a mountain of strange, rounded rock formations, and above it there's a full day of hiking.
You can buy a combined return ticket from Barcelona that covers the train out and your choice of cable car or rack railway to the top. The cable car takes 15 minutes and the views are extraordinary, though it's not the option to pick if you're afraid of heights. The rack railway takes about 45 minutes and is the gentler ride.
At the top, pay to go inside the monastery — the interior is stunning — and then hike up to Sant Jeroni, the highest point on the massif. It's around two hours up and genuinely demanding, with about five hours of walking in total if you do the full route.
Why it's this high: it's the rare day trip that gives you a world-class building and a serious mountain hike in the same afternoon.
Detailed version: Montserrat day trip from Barcelona.
3. Ronda
A small town between Seville and Malaga, built on both sides of a gorge with the Puente Nuevo bridge spanning the gap. Photographs genuinely undersell it — the scale only registers when you're standing under it.
The town itself is pleasant but the bridge is the reason you come. Walk through the old town to the top viewpoints first, then take the path down into the gorge, about 30 minutes on foot, for the view that everyone actually comes for.
One tip worth more than anything else I can tell you about Ronda: several of the viewpoints near the top are owned by cafés and will charge you if you don't buy something. Skip them. The best viewpoint is further down the path and it's free.
How long you need: two to three hours. It's a superb stop, not a full-day destination — pair it with the Caminito del Rey and you have one of the best days in Andalusia.
More detail: Ronda in half a day.
4. The Alhambra, Granada
The most famous fortress in Spain and the one place on this list where the booking is as important as the visit. Tickets need to go in your calendar at least two months ahead, and entry to the Nasrid Palaces runs on a timed slot that your ticket is void without.
What you get for that effort is enormous: palaces, fortifications, water gardens and long views back over Granada, spread across a hilltop that takes a full day to walk properly. The Nasrid Palaces are the highlight and the detail in the plasterwork is hard to believe up close.
Worth knowing: most people underestimate the site and end up rushing the gardens. Give it the whole day.
5. Malaga: the port and beachfront
Specifically the port and the beach area, not the sights. We used Malaga as our base for six days in southern Spain, and every single evening we walked from the old town down to the port.
There's live music, dancing, a cool breeze off the water and consistently excellent sunsets. The whole area comes alive after dark in a way I've only seen in two other places in Europe — Dubrovnik and Porto.
Why it made the list at all: nothing here is a "sight", and that's the point. It's the place from this trip I'd most like to sit still in for a week.
6. Sagrada Familia, Barcelona
One of the most remarkable churches in the world, and I don't say that lightly — I live in Germany and have spent a lot of time in Italy, so I have a high tolerance for impressive church architecture. This one still floored me. Each façade tells a different story and the interior light through the stained glass is unlike anything else.
Book two to three weeks ahead; it sells out. Skip the paid guided tour and use the free audio guide, which is excellent. The metro drops you at the door.
Even if you don't care about architecture, this one will land.
7. Royal Alcázar of Seville
The most visited sight in Seville and a serious rival to the Alhambra — Moorish palace architecture, tiled courtyards and gardens you can lose an hour in. Some of the Dorne scenes from Game of Thrones were shot here, which tells you something about how little set dressing it needed.
Allow at least three hours, and give the adjacent cathedral and the surrounding streets some time too. Parts of central Seville have a canal-side quality that reminded me of Venice.
8. Museo del Prado, Madrid
Consistently ranked in the world's top ten museums and the single best indoor thing I did in Spain. We spent four and a half hours and could have stayed longer.
The practical tip that matters: the Prado opens free for the last two hours of the day, and unlike the Royal Palace's free window, this one is open to everyone regardless of nationality. Get there before the window opens, because the queue forms early.
9. Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, Valencia
Calatrava's science city is a genuinely striking piece of architecture and it costs nothing to walk the grounds and the reflecting pools. Inside the complex, the Oceanogràfic is the largest aquarium in Europe — pricey, but enjoyable even as an adult, and worth about three hours.
One regret: we did Valencia as a day trip from Madrid, which meant four hours of trains for a city that deserved a night. Don't repeat my mistake — slot it between Barcelona and Madrid instead.
10. Park Güell, Barcelona
Gaudí's park on a hillside above Barcelona, and the best of his work outside the Sagrada Familia. It's a long way out of the centre — budget around 90 minutes of travel each way on public transport — and it needs a timed ticket booked a day ahead in peak season.
That combination makes it the one Barcelona sight I'd consider cutting if you're tight on time. But if it's your first trip to the city, don't. The mosaic work and the view back over Barcelona justify the journey.
11. Royal Palace of Madrid
Smaller than you'd expect in terms of what's actually open to the public — we finished in about an hour and a half — but the interiors are genuinely beautiful and it's an easy win in central Madrid.
Note the free-entry rule here is stricter than the Prado's: the final hours are free only for EU citizens and residents, and you'll be asked to prove it.
12. Colomares Castle
A small, deeply eccentric monument to Christopher Columbus about 30 minutes from Malaga, built in a mash-up of Byzantine, Roman, Gothic and Mudéjar styles that shouldn't work and somehow does.
It only needs half an hour, which is exactly why it's here — it's a perfect stop on the drive between Malaga and Marbella and almost nobody has it on their list.
What I'd cut if I were short on time
Being straight about this, since it's the question I get asked most.
Barcelona, Madrid, Seville and Granada are all worth seeing, and if this is your first trip to Spain you should see them — the sights in this list prove that. But after a lot of travelling in Europe, the cities themselves blurred into the general European city experience for me in a way that Ronda, the Caminito del Rey and Montserrat absolutely did not.
So: see the cities once, and give the time you save to the top three on this list. Those are the ones I'll be going back for.
Related reading
- 2 week Spain itinerary — how I fitted all of these into one trip
- 5 day Andalusia road trip from Malaga
- Caminito del Rey: complete guide
- Montserrat day trip from Barcelona
- Ronda in half a day
I hope you find this helpful, and I wish you a fantastic trip.