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Barcelona Spain

You must put Spain Barcelona on your vacation itinerary, you will be glad you did. The natural beauty of the country is stunning whether you approach it from the Mediterranean Sea or from the air. Divided into seventeen communities; Barcelona is in the community of Catalonia.

The Catalonian Community has its own autonomy. As a result, they have their own local government, police and they maintain control over their community which includes their capitol city Barcelona

When you travel there, you will find a city teeming with over 1.5 million people. They gracefully took world center stage in 1992 when they hosted the Olympic Games. The people of Barcelona speak Catalan and Castillian Spanish. Catalan is spoken throughout Catalonia.

The capitol city is historically and culturally a Mediterranean City that has somehow preserved its Gothic City Center. It has a large number of museums that proudly exhibit their art and history throughout the ages. Visiting the museums is a must because they enable you to get a better understanding and a greater appreciation for the unique culture.

Barcelona is deeply Catholic. One of the best times for a family visit is early Spring during Easter. They have plenty of processions, passion plays and pageantry. It is a great time to visit. Barcelona is known for its small romantic streets and quaint shops. They lure you in as you stroll about with your partner.

This place is definitely on for honeymooners. The beautiful coastline along the Mediterranean Sea is a magnet for tourists. It boasts 5,000 kilometers of coastline along with breathtaking beaches. This area has also provided an added boost to the economy of Spain.

At the end of last year tourism bosses were extremely concerned with the low number of European holidaymakers. The first quarter of this year has seen a marked increase in tourists. There has been somewhat of a visitor resurgence with over ten million holiday makers in the slow months of January, February and March. The vast majority of visitors came from the United Kingdom, followed closely by Germany.

Actually, the number of British arrivals showed a slight drop; while more than 6 per cent extra visitors from Germany ensured a good start for 2007. The Canary Islands turned out to be the most popular community. The Costa del Sol, is a yearly favorite of the British. They are generally looking to thaw out from their brutally cold winter. The warm Spanish sun afforded them a welcome sunny break and in turn gave a much needed boost in arrivals.
Article source: ContentLog.com

The Greatest Wine Making Regions In Spain

Spain is a unique country in the wine world. There are several factors that justify this assertion. Among them, the most striking are: small grape varieties, huge variety of wine types and two different climatic regions and dominant (coastal and inland).

Varieties such as Tempranillo, Garnacha and Macabei produce much of the existing wines. Spain produces excellent sparkling wines (Cavas) magnificent fortified wines (Jerez), including the delicious reds from Rioja and Ribera del Deuero. New wine regions are emerging internationally, among them, Penedes, Priorat and Navarre.

Main Spanish wine regions:

Rioja - Most famous region
Albariño, Galicia- Soft White Wine
Castela y Leon: Rueda, Toro and Ribera del Duero
Catalunya - Costers del Segre, Priorato and Penedés
Castilla La Mancha: Valdepeñas
Andalucia: Jerez and Montilla

Spain pictures of the country

A bounch of Spain Pictures:

 Barcelona Spain Gaudi parque Guel

Gaudi la Sagrada Familia

 Typical Spain landscape

Spain football team World cup 2010

Spain Primary Logo

 Spain flag

 Valencia

Madrid 

Costa Blanca Spain

The Costa Blanca Spain is one of the most popular tourist areas in the country. This area is located along the Mediterranean Sea and is well known for its beautiful beaches. The area has a typical Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and mild winters. While summer is the most popular time to visit, the climate is beautiful all year round.

The first step in planning your trip is to decide which areas you’d like to visit. Larger cities, such as Torrevieja, Benidorm and Alicante have a busy night life, theme parks and historical attractions as well as beautiful beaches. Smaller towns such as Denia and Altea offer a quiet place to relax and enjoy the weather. Consider what you would like to do when choosing your destination.

Travelling to and Around the Costa Blanca Spain

The majority of the visitors to the Costa Blanca enter through the Alicante airport. This is a large airport that offers several choices in discount airlines. You have more choices in flights at this airport than in many of the smaller airports in the region. To find the best deals, book your flight well in advance of your trip, particularly in the summer months.

The internet is one way to find discount flights. Keep in mind that not all discount carriers are listed on the major travel websites. To find these, you will need to track down the information and contact the airlines directly. This will take more time and effort, but you will save money.

Be prepared to give up a few conveniences in exchange for a lower fare. Many discount airlines don’t offer snacks, require you to check your bags after each layover and will require at least one layover during your trip. In addition, you may need to fly during off peak hours to save the most money.

Once you arrive on the Costa Blanca, you will need to decide how you will travel during your trip. You can either rely on public transportation or consider a car hire. Spain has a good train system and larger cities have good systems of public transportation. Buses and trains are available from the airport to the city and between cities. If you don’t plan to travel through the region extensively, you may rely on public transportation.

If you want to visit many different areas of the region, you may want to consider a car hire. You can rent a car at the airport or in the city after you arrive. A car gives you the freedom to move from place to place. In addition, you won’t need to schedule your travel by the public transportation schedule. You can come and go as you like.

Staying in the Costa Blanca Spain

You will need to make arrangements for accommodations on your vacation. You can either stay in a hotel or rent a property. Hotels are available in abundance all over the region. You can choose a large hotel or resort with many amenities and activities to keep you busy. Golf resorts have become very popular destinations in the area. There are also a variety of smaller, less expensive hotels in the area.

Some people prefer to rent a private property on vacation. Apartments are available in abundance in many of the large cities. You could also rent a villa in the smaller villages. Many rentals have amenities, such as community or private swimming pools. Some are in the center of the attractions, while others are a little off the beaten path for more privacy.

Renting a property has several advantages. For a longer stay, it can actually be cheaper than a hotel. You will have more privacy in a rented property. Most have kitchens, which gives you the option of cooking some of your meals. You can try out a few new local recipes in the kitchen.

You can find property rentals on the internet or through a travel agent. Be sure to look in advance, especially if you are travelling in the summer months. In large cities, such as Benidorm, properties get booked quickly. Some are booked as far as six months in advance.
Article source: ContentLog.com

Spain Beats Off 2007 Eastern Tourist Competition

Concerned tourism bosses in Spain are winning the battle for European holidaymakers, with an impressive 5 per cent rise in visitor numbers for 2007 so far.

The country welcomed over ten million holiday makers in January, February and March - normally viewed as off peak months.

The highest number of visitors came from the United Kingdom, followed closely by Germany.

It was mainly due to the Germans that the numbers were up, as the number of British arrivals actually showed a slight drop, while more than 6 per cent extra visitors from Germany ensured a good start for 2007 for Spain.

The Canary Islands were the most popular part of Spain. Lanzarote, Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura enjoy warm winters due to their geographical location near Africa, and have a strong appeal for Britons facing their winter.

The Costa del Sol, a perennial favourite of the British seeking a winter sunshine break enjoyed a boost in arrivals.

The Balearic Island also recorded a rise in visitors.

The Balearics consist of Menorca (the smallest island), Majorca and Ibiza. The small rise compared to the Canary Islands isn’t too much of a surprise as Menorca has a season that traditionally is at its peak early May to end September, but is now trying to extend that from mid April to mid October.

As part of the Balearic Islands, Mallorca has welcomed many visitors back to live full time on the island. Menorca property has proved popular too, for those looking for a gentler pace of life than big sister Mallorca.

Property prices in Mallorca are similar to Menorca property, with a range of apartments and villas in both rural and town locations, and with twenty golf courses plenty of golf course developments too on Mallorca.

Menorca has just the one golf course, recently extended to eighteen holes, and is located in Son Parc, which has a choice of hotels, apartments and villas for holiday makers.

The cost of flying to Mallorca has come down in recent years from most European countries due to low cost airlines, especially in the island’s core tourist areas of the United Kingdom and Germany, and last year easyJet started direct flights from London’s Gatwick Airport to the sister island of Menorca, as well as serving Mallorca itself.

Despite competition from other destinantions, Mallorca looks set to remain a favourite holiday spot for some time to come.

How the second quarter official figures go remains to be seen, but Spain could see a further drop in British arrivals compared to last year.

An unusually warm spell of weather for five weeks in April in the UK could mean that more Brits have booked summer holidays in their home country.

The warm weather, increased airport departure taxes, and environmentally aware travellers could shun an overseas holiday this year.

The new environment warnings of ‘carbon footprints’ is impacting the travel market, with news bulletins regularly reporting that taking a flight adds to global warming. If holidaymakers take heed Spain might also see a drop in visitors from Germany, Scandanavia and other European countries.
Article source: ContentLog.com

Spain Campaign Targets British Tourists

From the late 1950’s when overseas travel became available to the masses, Spain and her islands have consistently been the favourite destination for the British, Germans, Swedes and other Europeans.

Even when longer haul destinations in Europe like Cyprus, Malta and Greece became possible, and later holidays in Florida and even more recently Australia became economically viable for more people, Spain has maintained her popularity.

Part of the appeal of Spain is that it is just a short flight away from the UK, with Majorca and Menorca, two of the popular Spanish islands, taking under two hours from London’s Gatwick Airport. Fares have dropped dramatically in recent years with the advent of low cost airlines flying to Mallorca, Menorca and mainland Spain, making the possibility of more than one visit a year to the island by many tourists a reality.

Such was the appeal of Spain and the opportunity to holiday abroad in the 1960’s and 70’s parts of Spain saw a rapid hotel and holiday complex building programme, with some areas changing from quiet coastal villages to concrete jungles, but despite this the tourists still flocked in, later to consider other areas that hadn’t been developed as much. Emerging holiday destinations view the development of Spain in the early days of mass tourism with caution, and Spain itself has introduced tougher building and planning regulations to ensure their initial errors aren’t repeated by developers ever anxious to build a new hotel resort.

New competition from Eastern European countries is a threat to Spain’s holiday market dominance, and the decision has been made to spend some money on advertising the Balearics in particular to the British and German markets.

The three Balearic Islands of Menorca, Majorca and Ibiza might be close to each other, but they are all different in character and the type of tourist they typically attract, making the advertising campaign necessarily a diverse one to reach the different markets for the three different Balearic islands. A surprise for example is that the amount of time spent on Ibiza by each tourist is longer than on Menorca and Majorca - destroying the myth that Ibiza is primarily for long weekends or short trips for a couple of nights in the club.

But one thing does bind the three islands - the number of tourists from Germany, UK, and the Spanish mainland - which together make up over 80 per cent of their visitors.

The UK advertising campaign for Majorca includes a team distributing information at London’s Victoria Station. Trains from Victoria run several times an hour to London’s Gatwick Airport, allowing easy access to Mallorca for Londoners.

One spin-off from sustained tourism in Spain has been the number of Brits and Germans moving to the country and her islands, bringing with them the money they have made from selling their businesses and homes plus a pension, boosting the local economies further.

And the tourists who decide to call Spain home are becoming more involved with their new local governments and politics. Spain seems to be the new frontier for many weary inhabitants of the crowded towns and cities in the UK and Germany. While this trend bodes well for the Spanish economy, no one yet knows what sort of impact the influx of expatriates will do for Spain’s political destiny.

Today, in 2007, nearly one million former British citizens call Spain their new home, and nearly a quarter of those are eligible to vote in Spanish elections. While they are allowed to vote on national issues, they are still curtailed from voting in local or regional elections, but that may change in the near future as more immigrants arrive on the sun-soaked sands of islands like Majorca, where British voting trends have decided the results of some elections already.

The San Fulgencio area, located in the Alicante province of Spain, currently heads the lead in foreigners calling Spain home now, with three quarters of them being British. Majorca and Menorca continue to be the most popular destinations for many Britains looking for new homes, new horizons and new destinies, and only time will tell what this means overall for Spaniards.

For Spain, spending money on attracting tourists doesn’t just pay off with a two week holiday and spending spree - in many cases it’s a case of a much bigger prize as the tourists buy a home and convert from being a holiday maker to living there full time.
Article source: ContentLog.com