39 Best things to see & do in Andalusia

Spain’s most visited attraction is the stuff of dreams, filled with intricate mosaics and carvings, magical gardens and breathtaking views.

Madrid may have the biggest stars, but Andalusia was its birthplace, and the tradition of Flamenco pulses through Andalusia’s blood. Book in for a passionate night of guitars, singing, stamping steps and colourful, swirling dresses.

One of the world’s greatest buildings: a thousand-year-old love letter from the glory days of Moorish al-Andalus.

A Moorish Christian architectural gem, Europe’s oldest royal palace (recently seen in Game of Thrones) dates from 1360, with gardens of pure delight.

The biggest Gothic cathedral in the world and its mighty ex-minaret bell tower, La Giralda, the symbol of Seville.

One of the world’s most terrifying walkways, over sheer gorges in Malaga’s mountains. Vertigo-inducing and spectacular in equal measure.

Pack an outlandish costume to join in Spain’s most boisterous, extravagant and funniest carnival, in beautiful seaside Cadiz.

Teetering on sheer cliffs, the spectacular Andalusian town of Ronda is best known for it’s extraordinary bridge straddling the 150m deep Tajo Gorge. It’s also the gateway to the so-called White Villages (Pueblos Blancos).

The region of Spain famous for producing ‘sherry’. Discover the secrets of how it is made with fascinating tours and tastings at local bodegas (wine cellars).

Our summary of the typical foods, ingredients and flavours, cooking styles, dining scene and best foodie experiences in Andalusia.

Andalusia’s ancient Arabic hammams offer serenity, relaxation and a deep clean in an evocative candlelit atmosphere.

Holy Week in Andalusia is extravagant and full of intense, passionate and often spine-tingling emotions.

Spain’s most colourful festival involves traditional costumes, horses and carriages, and drinking, tapas and dancing until dawn in a specially-created fairground.

A big, week-long fiesta, featuring beautiful horses, traditional costumes, music and flamenco – and sherry.

Tour one of the world’s top riding academies, and watch noble Andalusian horses perform extraordinary equestrian ballet.

Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born in Malaga. The city’s Picasso Museum, set in a restored 16th-century Andalusian townhouse in Malaga’s historic centre, displays over 250 of his paintings, sculptures and ceramics spanning his entire career. Book an entrance ticket here and a private guided tour here.

Here Carmen Cervera, the Malaga-born wife of Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza, displays her prize collection of mainly Andalusian art, ranging from the mainly religious works of old masters to the colourful, luminous landscapes, portraits and street scenes from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Seville boasts the world´s largest wooden structure, a spectacular swirl nicknamed ‘Las Setas’ (mushrooms) designed by Jurgen Mayer in 2011. There’s a mirador walkway and steps winding over the roof, offering fabulous views, and Roman ruins in the museum underneath.

Malaga’s Arab shipyards were adapted in the 19th century to create this wonderland of fresh fruit and veg, meat and seafood. In fact, the entire neighbourhood is devoted to food – it’s a great place for a tapas crawl.

Next to La Mezquita, a small hammam in a traditional Andalusian brick, tiles and garden setting. The massages are excellent including the hot stone bed option; it’s so relaxing your two-hour slot will seem to fly by. Book online here.

Very professional Flamenco club founded back in the 1990s near La Mezquita with only 50 seats, but plenty of passion; several of its seven talented artists have won national prizes for their guitar-playing and dancing.

The right bank of the Guadalquivir estuary is a paradise for bird-watchers (half a million waterfowl winter here every year), amid dunes, beaches, pine forests and wet lands; you may even spot a rare Iberian lynx.

This gigantic, breath-taking stalactite show cave is open all year round, with possible night visits. Buy the ticket that includes the museum, with photos of the cave’s inaccessible art –possibly the oldest paintings in Europe, dating back to 42,000 BC.  

Andalusia’s first food court occupies a 19th-century forged iron building, where 20 stalls sell delicacies from around the world, along with local goodies (the seafood is exceptional); tables in the gardens wait for tasting them in-situ.

Europe’s third highest mountains and Spain’s biggest national park offer spectacular hiking, skiing, biking, canyoning and fascinating Alpujarra villages.

Empty, semi-arid bad lands where since the 1950s directors have filmed spaghetti Westerns, Lawrence of Arabia, and most recently, the sixth season of the Game of Thrones. Cheesy film sets/entertainment parks like Fort Bravo and Oasys offer ‘Wild West’ tours and shows.

An 18th-century mansion where can visit the half-French, half-Moorish garden and the extraordinary ‘water mine’ that supplied Ronda, 231 steps below the gardens to the Tajo river.

Not many people know Europe’s oldest and largest sturgeon farm is at Riofrio in the province of Granada. Tours and tastings are offered, accompanied by a glass of cava or vodka.

The partially excavated and reconstructed halls, mosque, gate, porticoes and gardens of a 112-hectare mysterious palace city. It was built in the 10th century by Abd-ar-Rahman III, the first Caliph of Cordoba; now a World Heritage Site.

This jewel of intricate, lace-like Isabelline Gothic architecture, built just after the end of the Reconquista between 1505-17, holds the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella, their daughter Joanna ‘the Mad’ and her husband Philip – parents of emperor Charles V.

Also known as the Mercado de la Artesania, this patio house in Calle Judio hosted the first handicraft shops in Spain. Come here to peruse the city’s traditional arts – leather, ceramics and silver – and watch silversmiths make delicate filigree.

The biggest citadel ever built by the Arabs in Spain, begun in 955, was remodelled by Ferdinand and Isabella; its impressive walls, gardens and views featured in Game of Thrones, Indiana Jones, and Wonder Woman 1984.

Every 3rd week in August, Malagans take to the streets for an exuberant week-long street party. Expect sevillanas street dancing, colourful flamenco-style dresses, castanet-clicking, an opening firework displays, concerts and plenty of sherry.

For two weeks in May, home-owners in Cordoba’s old neighbourhoods show off their gorgeous white-washed courtyards to the public, filled with flowers in a mind-bobbling explosion of colour and fragrance.

A well-preserved Moorish city fortress, built 11th century on a hill in the city centre. Adjacent to the entrance are the remains of a Roman theatre, dating back to the 1st century AD.

Ronda’s town museum is housed in the 14th-century royal palace of Moorish king Abomelic I, with its gardens, Moorish courtyards and views out over the Sierra de Grazalema. Exhibits cover the town’s history, and the nearby Pileta Cave.

Malaga’s Pompidou striking museum outpost – housed beneath the colourful Cubo – holds a permanent exhibition of several dozens of works of the impressionist collection of the XX and XXI centuries. It also hosts 2 or 3 temporary exhibitions each year, sourced from the parent collection and designed by its curators.

Plot your way strategically among the cork trees in one of the best golfing experiences in Europe. Immaculately maintained, beautifully designed and devilishly tricky without being overlong, Valderrama is everything a world-class parkland course should be.

A quirky museum housing the private collection of Joao Magalhaes, home to over 80 vintage and modern cars and displays of fashionable travel memorabilia.