Spain Travel Guide

The Iglesia de San Andrés stands in Toledo's historic centre as a parish church blending Mudéjar, Gothic and Baroque elements, protected under Spain's Bien de Interés Cultural listing and within the 1986 UNESCO World Heritage old town. Its main doorway is the only Almohad-style portal in Toledo, with rare green-glazed ceramic columns and Visigothic capitals, beside a small funerary pilaster that recalls its former mosque. Inside, a single nave keeps a timber roof and honeycomb palm-rib vaulting at the crossing, and houses an altarpiece of some thirty panels by Juan de Borgoña and Antonio de Comontes. The church is believed to have been rebuilt after Alfonso VI's 1085 reconquest on a former mosque site, layering several styles over the centuries—a quiet witness to Toledo's 'City of Three Cultures'. Most unusually, its crypt preserves about 60 naturally mummified bodies, from infants to nobility and nuns, open to the public and making this modest church one of Toledo's most memorable, least-known sights. A 17th-century Baroque remodelling added the final decorative layer, and recent restorations revealed Visigothic reliefs and pilasters; each 30 November, the feast of St Andrew still marks the church's unbroken religious life. Compared with the crowded Cathedral or San Juan de los Reyes, San Andrés feels restrained and quiet—yet it is exactly where one can savour Toledo's layered, multi-civilisation architecture at ease. Admission is only a few euros and the church is an easy, rewarding stop on any old-town walking route. Take a moment in the side nave, where the play of low light on the brick Mudéjar arches best reveals the building's quiet, centuries-old character.

The Iglesia de El Salvador (Sacra Capilla del Salvador) stands at the eastern end of Plaza Vázquez de Molina in the old town of Úbeda, Jaén, Andalusia — a pinnacle of Spanish Renaissance religious architecture. Commissioned in 1536 by Francisco de los Cobos, secretary of state to Emperor Charles V (Charles I of Spain), as a pantheon for the Cobos family, it was first designed by Diego de Siloé and with Andrés de Vandelvira taking over construction in 1540, who completed and consecrated it in 1559. The church has a triangular plan and a single tower capped by a Central European onion dome; its Plateresque main façade, designed by Esteban Jamete, frames the door with Roman gods, runs a frieze of Exodus scenes and carries the arms of the Cobos and Mendoza families — a programme built around death and memory. The great wooden altarpiece at the main altar, showing the Transfiguration, is by Alonso Berruguete and was damaged in the Civil War; the sacristy ranks among the finest of the Spanish Renaissance. In 2003 the church, the Palacio de los Cobos across the square and the neighbouring town of Baeza were inscribed together on the UNESCO World Heritage List as the Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda and Baeza.

Casa Batlló is a brilliantly fantastical building on Barcelona's Passeig de Gràcia—a mansion remodeled by the genius architect Gaudí and famed for its dreamlike, unique form like a sea creature or a fairy-tale castle. It is another masterpiece of Gaudí's architectural art, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a dreamlike building in Barcelona not to be missed. Casa Batlló was remodeled by Gaudí in the early 20th century for the textile magnate Batlló (a thorough, genius transformation of the original building). Gaudí pushed his boundless imagination and his worship of nature and color to the extreme, turning the mansion into a dreamlike architectural artwork. Its facade is brilliant and fantastical, covered with colorful, shimmering mosaic tiles and stained glass (like a rippling sea surface or an Impressionist painting), dotted with balconies like bones or masks, and a colorful roof undulating like dragon scales (said to draw its inspiration from the legend of Saint George, patron of Catalonia, slaying the dragon; the roof's dragon spine and the spire cross seemingly piercing the dragon's body are full of symbolism), full of a fantastical, lively beauty—so the building is often called the 'House of Bones' or the 'House of the Dragon'. Its interior is likewise full of Gaudí's unique, ocean- or nature-like fantastical design—flowing curves, a blue mosaic light well (like the deep sea), windows and doors like shells or water ripples, and clever lighting and ventilation, all full of imagination and beauty. Visiting Barcelona's Casa Batlló, marvelling at Gaudí's brilliant, fantastical creativity and dreamlike beauty, is a uniquely imaginative Barcelona experience.

Casa Milà (La Pedrera) is one of Gaudí's finest civil buildings. Built 1906-1912, it features wave-like stone facade, organic interiors and iconic rooftop chimneys — UNESCO World Heritage — essential Gaudí tour stop. Built 1906-1912; Gaudí's last civil building. Wave-like stone facade — no straight lines. Organic interiors — underwater feel. Rooftop chimneys like warriors — popular photo spot. UNESCO.

The Royal Palace of Madrid is among the largest royal palaces in Europe by floor area, built in the 18th-century Bourbon era on the site of a former Muslim alcázar. Nearly 3,000 rooms glitter with gilt, tapestries and master paintings, still used for state ceremonies. Wandering here reveals the splendour of the Spanish monarchy and two centuries of power.

The Picasso Museum stands in the artist's birthplace, Málaga, housed in a 16th-century Renaissance palace with over 200 of his works — from the Blue Period to late experiments. Courtyards, cloisters and white walls keep Andalusian calm, letting visitors grasp the source and evolution of the modern master in his native setting.