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Welcome to Spain

Over 45 million tourists visit Spain each year, making it one of the most three most visited countries in the world. To travel to Spain is to experience sun, superb food, hospitality and joie de vivre, and yet it is also to discover the country's rich heritage of monuments and sights.

The imprint of different civilizations that once made it their home, or to journey through its singular and breathtaking countryside and delight in the stunning, starkly contrasting scenery, study the customs of its peoples and towns, and share in their local fiestas and traditions.

To travel to Spain is to opt for diversity, to be the central character in what is sure to be a truly unforgettable trip, this is what makes Spain a prized destination worldwide, and why the vast majority of those who visit it once, return ... in order to share in the enjoyment of a climate, countryside and culture which embody a rather special way of life.

Spain straddles the greater part of the Iberian Peninsula that juts out at the southwestern tip of Europe. With a surface area of 505,955 sq kms, it ranks as the third largest country in continental Europe, after Russia and France. Most of this surface area (493,484 sq km) consists of mainland Spain, to which must be added the island groups of the Balearies to the east (4,992 sq km) and the Canaries (7,447 sq km), lying over 1,000 kms to the south, just off North Africa's Atlantic coast. Lastly, there are the two city enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, perched on the shores of North Africa itself.

Seen within a European context, the position of the Iberian Peninsula gives in a certain closeness to Africa, from which it is separated by a mere 14 kms, and -- on the Atlantic side -- to America, thus leading it a special strategic value.

This explains why it has been such a crucial crossroads in the history of cultures and civilizations. Spain is therefore an integral part both of the southern European mainland and, in a somewhat special way, of the Mediterranean world.

With 40 million inhabitants, Spain has an average population density of around 80 inhabitants per sq km, a figure under the EU mean. The uneven distribution of the population has created an imbalance between regions, which register different and widely contrasting density levels.

Major cities excepted, there is a growing trend towards concentration along the coastal strip and depopulation of inland areas, as a consequence of the twin processes of industrialization and urbanization.

The best developed sea-and-sun tourists areas are Andalusia, Murcia, the Valencian Regiona and Catalonia, which are endowed with a wide range of top-quality facilities, while other regions of Inland Spain, such as Aragon, Castile and Leon, Castile-La Mancha and Extremadura, hold out the promise of historic cities -- many of which are officially designated World Heritage sites -- artistic and monumental treasures, delicious food and settings of great natural beauty.
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