Southern Spain: Come for the Sunshine, Stay for the Tapas

Warning: You may return home questioning all of your life choices.

Southern Spain has a problem. Once you go, you may spend an unreasonable amount of time wondering why you don't live there. This is because Southern Spain and Andalusia don't just give you beautiful cities and spectacular sights, they give you a completely different rhythm.

Dinner is late and patios are full. Wine appears in the afternoon but the streets stay lively long after sunset. Tiny tapas bars turn into unexpectedly great evenings. And somehow, nobody seems particularly concerned that you had somewhere else to be.

Welcome to Southern Spain!

Sunshine Is Just the Beginning

The weather is lovely because southern Spain gets plenty of sunshine, making it the kind of destination where much of your vacation happens outdoors while you're wandering historic streets, eating on terraces, stopping for drinks in plazas and discovering neighbourhoods you never intended to visit. However, Andalusia's biggest attraction might be its incredible mixture of cultures and history. Roman, Islamic, Jewish and Christian influences have all left their mark.

The result is a collection of cities that can feel dramatically different from one another, even though they're only a few hours apart.

Seville Is Spain Showing Off

If your mental picture of Southern Spain involves orange trees, tiled courtyards, flamenco, tapas and beautiful old streets, there's a good chance you're picturing Seville. You might spend your day exploring cathedrals, palaces and historic neighbourhoods but when the sun starts dropping Seville really comes alive.

The best advice is to find a tapas bar and order a few things. Then order a few more. Then, if you hear music coming from somewhere, follow it. One of the best things to do in Seville is occasionally forget about your list of things to do and just go with the flow.

Granada Has One Very Famous Showstopper

You've seen the photographs. It's the Alhambra. But know that the photos just don't do it justice.

Palaces, intricate carvings, gardens, courtyards, fountains and incredible views combine to create one of those rare tourist attractions that genuinely deserves the hype.

And Granada overall is great for exploring. Its old streets, hillside neighbourhoods and tapas culture give it an entirely different atmosphere from Seville.

Then There Are Those Ridiculously Pretty White Villages

A Southern Spain road trip isn't just about the famous cities. Drive through Andalusia and suddenly entire villages appear on hillsides with clusters of whitewashed buildings surrounded by mountains beneath intensely blue skies. These pueblos blancos are the kind of places where you stop “just for lunch” and somehow spend the afternoon.

If you're like us, you'll take approximately 400 photographs of white buildings with colourful flowerpots. This is normal.

Tapas Is Basically the Perfect Vacation Food

Instead of committing to one meal, tapas lets you try everything. A little jamón, some cheese, croquettes, patatas bravas. Maybe something involving seafood that you weren't entirely sure you ordered. And (of course) another glass of wine because apparently dinner doesn't start for another three hours.

Southern Spain has an uncanny ability to make you stop rushing. It makes you realize that sitting in a plaza with a drink isn't taking time away from sightseeing. It is part of the sightseeing.

Oh, and There Are Beaches Too

As if Andalusia hadn't already done enough, we encourage you to head toward the coast and historic cities give way to Mediterranean beaches, seaside towns and resort areas. Combining inland Andalusia with Spain's southern coast gives you the best of both worlds with culture, architecture and history followed by some completely unapologetic vacation time.

This Is the Spain People Dream About

Flamenco. Tapas. Moorish palaces. Whitewashed villages. Late-night plazas. Mediterranean sunshine. Southern Spain manages to feel exciting and relaxing at exactly the same time.

The only problem really is just figuring out how to fit it all in. Luckily, we've already done that part for you!

Explore our complete Southern Spain itinerary and start planning your escape:
https://planyourvacay.com/southernspain

Want to hear more about Southern Spain and aprticularily about the trip I did? Read about it here!