Above all else - and there is plenty - its great all the Moorish Monuments that compete for your attention in Andalucia, The moors, a mixed race of Berbers and Arabs who crossed into Spain from Morocco and North Africa, occupied andalucia for over 7 centuries.
These 3 cities have, of course, become major tourist destinations, but the smaller inland towns of Andalucia are often totally unspoiled. These is an amazing potential; Renaissence towns such as Ubeda, Baeza and Osuna Guadix with its caves, Moorish Carmona and the stark white hill towns around Ronda, are all easily accssible by local buses.
The area also takes in mountains, Sierra Nevada where you can ski in Febraury, and then drive down to the coast for a swim, the same day. Perhaps more compelling, though, are the opportunities for walking in the lower slopes, Las Alpujarras. Alternatively, there´s good trekking amongst the gentler hills of Sierra Morena.
Extending Málaga is the Costa del sol, Europe's most heavily developed resort region, with its beaches hidden behind a remorseless density of concrete hotels and apartment complexes. However, the province takes in two alternatives, much less developed and with some of the best beaches in all Spain. These are the cities between Tarifa and Cádiz on the Atlantic, and those around Almeria on the southeast corner of the Mediterranean. The Almerian beaches allow warm swimming through all but the winter months; those near Cádiz, more easily accesible, are fine from about June to September. Near Cádiz, too, is the Coto de Doñana national park.
Doñana National park, spain's largest and most important nature reserve.
Andalucia is also Spain at its most exuberant the home of flamenco and the bullfight, and those wild and extravagant cliches of the hundreds of annual fiestas, ferias and romerías. The best of them include the gigan April Feria in Sevilla, the ageless pilgrimage to El Rocio near Huelva in late May, and the dramatically moving Semana Santa (Easter) celebrations at Málaga, Granada, Sevilla Cordoba and Jerez.
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