Things to Do in Spain (2026)

Spain · ES

Ermita de Santa Maria del Solà o de Lloberola

Perched on a sunlit plateau above the Riera de Lloberola valley in the rural interior of Lleida province, the Ermita de Santa Maria del Solà is a compact Romanesque chapel whose 13th-century nave and semicircular apse have stood watch over Catalonia's countryside for nearly eight hundred years. Known locally both as Santa Maria del Solà — named for its position on the sunny side of the valley — and as Santa Maria de Lloberola after the nearby hamlet, it is one of two Romanesque monuments that anchor the heritage trail of Biosca. Visitors come for the architecture, the panoramic views across the valley, and the living tradition of the Easter Monday aplec, when local devotion to the Virgin of Solà draws a large gathering. The chapel itself is usually locked, but its setting alone rewards the short drive up from the village of Lloberola.

Tourist attraction

Spain · ES

Mirador del Embalse del Gorg Blau

The Mirador del Embalse del Gorg Blau is a roadside lookout in Escorca, high in Mallorca's Serra de Tramuntana, thrown open across a reservoir that seems improbably blue for a Mediterranean island. The lake sits boxed between rocky mountain walls, and in clear sunlight its water shifts through intense emerald and cobalt tones that make the brief pull-off one of the most rewarding stops on the island's great mountain road. What you are looking at is a working water supply, not a wild lake: the Gorg Blau dam was built in the early 1970s to gather rain and meltwater from the high Tramuntana and carry it down to tap the city of Palma's drinking water. That purpose shapes the visit—the colour and the calm mountain air are the draw, but the water itself is reserved, and swimming is not permitted.

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River

Spain · ES

Arroyo de la Verduga

The Arroyo de la Verduga is a small rural stream in the province of Córdoba, Andalusia, running through open countryside near Palma del Río and eventually giving up its waters to the broad Guadalquivir valley. It is the kind of quiet watercourse that rarely appears on tourist itineraries. What it offers instead is uncluttered Andalusian field scenery and an informal, long-standing appeal to local anglers — one fishing database notes mirror carp in these waters. There are no listed facilities, opening hours or a dedicated website: this is countryside to come across, not a managed attraction.

Public beach

Spain · ES

Praia de Barra

Barra Beach (Praia de Barra) is a long, low stretch of fine white sand at the western tip of the Morrazo peninsula, in the municipality of Cangas (Pontevedra), facing the mouth of the Ría de Vigo in Galicia. It is one of northwestern Spain's best-known naturist beaches and, because it sits inside a protected Red Natura 2000 coastal zone ringed by pine woods and dunes, it feels far wilder than its easy access suggests. About 750 m long and 30 m wide, Barra stays deliberately basic: no sunbed rentals, no jet skis, no big beach bars—just a windswept shore with moderate swell, cold clear water, and views out toward the Cíes Islands. That understated, family-friendly naturist atmosphere and the scent of the pine grove you walk through to reach the sand are exactly what draw a loyal following every summer.

Beach

Spain · ES

Playa del Arenosillo

Playa del Arenosillo is a 2.5-kilometre stretch of fine golden sand on Huelva's Costa de the Luz, tucked inside the Doñana Natural Park between the resort of Mazagón and the wilder shore toward Matalascañas. Backed by ancient fossil dunes and a dense pine forest, it feels worlds away from the crowded beach strips further along the coast. What sets this beach apart is its raw, untouched character. There are no chiringuitos, no sun-lounger rentals, and no built-up frontage — just ochre cliffs, wind-sculpted dunes, and a broad tidal flat where the Atlantic meets Andalusia. It's one of the best places on the Huelva coast to watch the sun drop into the sea without a single building breaking the horizon.

Beach

Spain · ES

Playa del Duque

Playa del Duque is the postcard beach of Costa Adeje on Tenerife's sheltered south coast — a long arc of pale golden sand, almost white in the sunlight, lapped by calm turquoise water and framed by an elegant seafront promenade. Roughly 390 metres long and 60 metres wide, this urban beach has earned the Blue Flag year after year for its water quality, facilities and polished setting, and it remains free and public like every beach in Spain. Tucked into the most exclusive corner of the resort, it sits among five-star hotels and designer shops, yet its real draw is simple: a wide sandy beach, an unusually gentle sea protected by breakwaters, and the least windy patch of coastline on the island. Add a beautiful promenade that links it to a string of neighbouring beaches and sunsets that glow toward the silhouetted shape of La Gomera, and it is easy to see why so many visitors make this their base for a beach day.

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Mountain peak

Spain · ES

Montes del Bustelo

Montes del Bustelo (Montes do Bustelo, or Bostelo in Galician) is a heather-clad mountain of the Muras uplands, rising to about 757 metres on the southern shoulders of the Serra do Xistral in the province of Lugo. It is not a famous summit or a manicured lookout, but a piece of the wild, thinly-populated high country that gives inland Galicia its moody, wind-scoured character—a place to drive up through mist and gorse, step out beside the wind turbines, and look across a vast, almost empty landscape of rounded ridges and river valleys. For travellers who like off-the-beaten-track Galicia, the appeal of the Bustelo country is its atmosphere more than any single monument: peat bogs and free-roaming livestock, the constant sweep of wet wind the locals call the 'xistra', and viewpoints strung along the wind farms of the Muras highlands. The name also belongs to a tiny, partly abandoned hamlet at the foot of the monte, a haunting reminder of how these mountains slowly emptied during the last century.

Chapel

Spain · ES

Ermita de San Antón

Perched on a hillside just two kilometres from the gateway village of Torla, the Ermita de San Antón is a tiny whitewashed hermitage built into the living rock of the mountain. Reached by a short uphill path from the road that leads into Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park, it rewards walkers with a quiet encounter with Pyrenean devotional life and sweeping views down the glacial valley. Dating to the 18th century, the chapel belongs to a constellation of six small hermitages that once ringed Torla like protective sentinels. Each has its own story of faith, farming and frontier life, and San Antón — with its remarkable rock shelter and hand-painted symbols — is one of the most atmospheric.

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A little more
of Spain.

Ermita de Santa Maria del Solà o de Lloberola

Mirador del Embalse del Gorg Blau

Arroyo de la Verduga

Praia de Barra

Playa del Arenosillo

Playa del Duque

Montes del Bustelo

Ermita de San Antón

Finding your next place…

A little more
of Spain.

Ermita de Santa Maria del Solà o de Lloberola

Mirador del Embalse del Gorg Blau

Arroyo de la Verduga

Praia de Barra

Playa del Arenosillo

Playa del Duque

Montes del Bustelo

Ermita de San Antón