Spain

Spain occupies most of the Iberian Peninsula and is the second-most-visited country in the world by international arrivals. For Georgian travelers it ranks high among Schengen destinations both for tourism to Madrid and Barcelona and for the Canary Islands as a winter sun escape. The country splits into very different regional cultures: Catalonia around Barcelona, the Basque Country around Bilbao and San Sebastian, Andalusia in the south with Seville and Granada, and the central plateau around Madrid. Each region has its own dialect, food, and in some cases a co-official language.

Madrid and Barcelona are the two anchor cities. Madrid, the capital, holds the Prado Museum with Velazquez and Goya, the Reina Sofia with Picasso's Guernica, the Royal Palace, Retiro Park and the tapas streets of La Latina and Cava Baja. Barcelona, four hours north by AVE high-speed train, is Gaudi territory: the still-unfinished Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, Casa Batllo and Casa Mila, plus the medieval Gothic Quarter and La Boqueria market. South of Madrid, Andalusia covers Seville with the Real Alcazar and Cathedral, Cordoba with the Mezquita, and Granada with the Alhambra palace complex. Valencia on the Mediterranean coast is the home of paella and holds the City of Arts and Sciences, while the Canary Islands (Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote) offer warm winter beaches off the African coast.

The best windows are April to June and September to November. July and August are very hot inland, with Seville and Cordoba regularly above 40 degrees, while December to February is mild on the Mediterranean coast and reliably warm in the Canaries.

The currency is the euro (EUR). Spanish is the working language across the country, with Catalan, Basque and Galician co-official in their regions. Spanish meal hours run late: lunch around 2 to 4pm, dinner from 9pm, and many shops close 2 to 5pm for siesta. AVE high-speed trains connect Madrid to Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and Malaga in 2 to 3 hours, and the Madrid Metro and Barcelona TMB cards cover urban transit cheaply.

Flying from Georgia, Wizz Air, Pegasus, Turkish Airlines, LOT and Iberia via codeshare connect Tbilisi (TBS) and Kutaisi (KUT) to Madrid (MAD), Barcelona (BCN), Malaga (AGP) and Tenerife South (TFS). All routes connect via Istanbul, Warsaw or Rome. Total travel time runs 6 to 10 hours including the layover. Round-trip fares from Georgia typically run 700 to 2,000 GEL, with the lowest fares appearing on Wizz Air Kutaisi to Barcelona via Milan or Warsaw.