Spain Guidebook

In Rick Steves Spain you'll find in-depth Rick-tested information on:

• Barcelona and Nearby
  • Montserrat
  • Figueres and Cadaqués
  • Sitges
• Basque Country
  • San Sebastián
  • Bilbao and Guernica
  • Lequeitio and more villages on the Bay of Biscay
  • St-Jean-de-Luz, Bayonne, Biarritz, and French Basque villages
• Camino de Santiago and Nearby
  • ​St-Jean-Pied-de-Port (France)
  • Pamplona
  • Burgos
  • León
  • O Cebreiro
  • Lugo and Cantabrian detours
  • Santiago de Compostela
• Salamanca
• Madrid and Nearby
  • ​El Escorial and the Valley of the Fallen
  • Segovia
  • Ávila
• Toledo
• Granada
• Sevilla
• Córdoba
• Andalucía's White Hill Towns
  • Arcos de la Frontera
  • Ronda
  • Zahara and Grazalema
  • Jerez de la Frontera
• Spain's South Coast
  • Nerja
  • Gibraltar
  • Tarifa
• Tangier (Morocco)
• Practicalities
  • Self-guided walks and museum tours
  • Easy-to-follow maps (including color maps of Spain, central Barcelona, Madrid, Granada, and Sevilla)
  • ​Trip planning: When to go, pre-trip checklist, festivals and holidays, recommended books and movies
  • Recommended three-week itinerary and city-specific advice on planning your time and avoiding lines
  • Transportation: Trains, buses, city transit, and driving (including route tips)
  • Spanish history, culture, language, and cuisine
  • Handy Spanish survival phrases
  • Detailed advice on managing money, communicating, reserving rooms, handling emergencies, and other helpful hints

Also included: a 14½" x 19½" full-color foldout Planning Map that shows all of Spain and Portugal plus key driving distances/times, and, on the back, handy city close-ups (showing major sights) of Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, Toledo, Sevilla, and Lisbon. (Note: This is a slightly smaller version of Rick's stand-alone Spain & Portugal Planning Map.)

What's the difference between this Spain guidebook and Rick's Best of Spain guidebook?

Rick Steves Spain, the complete guide, offers more coverage of more destinations in a mostly black-and-white format, and is updated annually.

The shorter Rick Steves Best of Spain guidebook focuses on Spain's top destinations and sights, is in full color, and is updated every other year.

Both books are packed with hand-picked recommendations and Rick's travel advice and tips for saving time, money, and hassle.

Should I get the Barcelona guidebook (or Barcelona Pocket guide) in addition to the complete Spain guidebook?

If you're spending only a few days in Barcelona, Rick Steves Spain is all you're likely to need.

If, however, you're spending four days or more in Barcelona, the extra information in Rick Steves Barcelona can be worthwhile. It offers more in-depth sightseeing information, several additional self-guided city walks and museum/sight tours, and more specifics on shopping and nightlife, plus activities for kids. Other information is generally the same — the Barcelona chapter of Rick Steves Spain has nearly all the hotels, restaurants, and nitty-gritty practical advice for Barcelona that you'll find in the Rick Steves Barcelona guidebook.

It would make less sense to supplement Rick Steves Spain with the smaller Pocket Barcelona guide. While the Pocket guide has one walk and one cathedral tour that aren't included in the Barcelona chapter of Rick Steves Spain, it otherwise offers far more limited coverage of the city's sights, hotels, and restaurants.

Should I get any of the Snapshot guides for Spain in addition to the Spain guidebook?

No, because the various Snapshot guides for Spain are simply excerpted chapters taken directly from the complete Rick Steves Spain guidebook.

Latest updates: When we learn of critical changes to the information in our guidebooks on Spain, we post them. (Of course, it's still smart to reconfirm critical transportation and sightseeing details locally.) Armed with a Rick Steves guidebook and these late-breaking updates, you're set for a great trip!

Submit feedback: Once you've used this book in Europe, we'd love to hear your feedback — good or bad — about our advice on sights, hotels, restaurants, and travel tips. We're also interested in any tips or discoveries you made while in Europe. Your comments help us improve our guidebooks for future travelers.