Warm destinations in Spain

The Spanish mainland and the Balearics keep a classic Mediterranean calendar, baking from June and softening into a long golden autumn. The Canary Islands, parked off the Moroccan coast, sit outside it entirely: shorts-warm in February, while the rest of Europe shivers. The trick is matching the month to the coast: the week that is perfect in Seville is a sweatbox by August.

Where to go

Most first trips land in Barcelona: Gaudí, a city beach, and Catalan cooking in a single weekend. It is also the most crowded and the most pickpocket-prone, so come in May or September rather than August. For the south at its most Andalusian, Seville has the orange trees and the flamenco, but turns ferociously hot by midsummer. Valencia is the easier-going coastal alternative, with the paella to prove it and far fewer tour groups, while Madrid anchors the landlocked centre and rewards late spring or autumn.

For winter sun without leaving Europe, the Canaries are the answer: Tenerife for variety, Lanzarote for its black-lava strangeness and quieter beaches. In the Balearics, Palma gives you a genuine city alongside the coastline. Worth building into a trip even though we don't cover them yet: Granada for the Alhambra, San Sebastián for the Basque seafood, Málaga as the Costa del Sol's one genuinely good city. Skip the resort sprawl of Benidorm and Torremolinos unless that is precisely the holiday you want.

When to go

The mainland's sweet spots are May, June, September and October, when the south sits in the high 20s without the July and August furnace (Seville and Córdoba regularly clear 40°C at the peak, and inland Madrid is not far behind). The coasts hold swimmable sea well into October. The Canaries invert the whole calendar: their best stretch runs roughly November to April, daytime highs in the low 20s, which is exactly when the mainland turns cool and wet. If you want warm Spain in deep winter, fly to the islands, not the Costa.

Getting around

High-speed AVE trains make the mainland easy: Madrid to Seville in two and a half hours, Madrid to Barcelona in under three, from about €30 if you book ahead. The islands need either a flight from the mainland or a hop between them, and a hire car earns its keep on Tenerife and Lanzarote where the good beaches are spread out. One rhythm to plan around: lunch runs late, from 2pm, and many kitchens shut until a 9pm dinner. August is holiday month for Spaniards too, so cities can feel half-shut while the coast is at its fullest.