Destination Spain

One-day Wine Tours of the Rioja are available from San Sebastián-Donostia, Bilbao and Pamplona starting at 300 EUR/person with a minimum group of 4. Please contact us at info@iberiantraveler.com for additional information or to book your tour.

This robust capital, in the center of the country and the Community of Madrid, kilometer zero, is a must stop on anyone's itinerary to Spain regardless of the time of year. It is an elegant city with broad avenues, large manicured parks and rich in art museums such as the big three, the Prado, Reina Sofia National Museum of Modern Art and Thyssen-Bornemisza, and many smaller museums with unique collections such as the Sorolla Museum, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Museo Lázaro Galdiano Foundation, Museo Cerralbo and Fundación Mapfre Recoletos. It's a city with an excellent public transportation system, and some of the countries top restaurants.

Stretching from the snow covered peaks of the Val d'Aran in the Catalan Pyrenees to the rugged wind-swept cliffs and secluded coves of Costa Brava on the Mediterranean Sea, Catalunya, the "land of castles", is a melting pot of cultures. It is also home to the wine growing regions of Penedès, Priorat (Priorato), Montsant, Conca de Barberá, Tarragona, Terra Alta, Costers del Segre, Alella and Empordà.

A land of multicultural diversity, home to flamenco and bullfighting, is where you will also find the great Sherry wines of Jerez and Montilla-Moriles wines, along with UNESCO world heritage sites such as the Great Mosque in Córdoba, Alhambra Palace in Granada and the Alcázar in Sevilla, along with Pescaíto Frito, fried fish from the ancient port cities of Cádiz and Málaga, and some of the worlds best Jamón Ibérico.

No adventure in Spain would be complete without a visit to Spain's oldest and best known wine region, considered the "benchmark" of Spanish winemaking. The Rioja is a stunning beautiful and ancient land inhabited since the Neolithic era where you'll find atmospheric fortress towns sitting upon a hill, some with their medieval wall still intact and filled with Noble homes displaying heraldic shields. There are enormous Gothic churches, each with its own amazing, ornately gilded Baroque altarpiece, but seldom seen as these chruches are kept tightly shut other that for mass. Ancient burial markers, dólenes, lay scattered about the fields and vineyards, intermixed with wineries; traditional, boutique and larger industrial bodegas. Here is where you'll also find a number of charming family run country inns, some 5-star botique hotels and superb Roijan and Basque cuisine. 

Sitting along the "Green Coast" on the Bay of Biscay in northwest Spain is a land of stunning landscapes and outstanding world-class cuisine. Considered the first Kingdom of Spain, the historic region's coast is scalloped with hundreds of small beaches and tree covered mountains, some of which run down to the sea. This autonomous region, which feels and looks different from other parts of Spain, became the cradle of Reconquista, where Christians led by Pelayo, founder of the Christian kingdom of Asturias, began the campaign to reclaim the country after nearly 800 years of Moorish rule. The Reconquista began with the Battle of Covadonga around 718 and ended in 1492 when Ferdinand II, King of Aragon, and Isabella, Queen of Castile, conquered Granada.