A Winning Guide to Spain

After defeating Argentina 1-0 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, Spain is taking its well-deserved victory lap. But beyond the pitch and its trailblazing La Roja team, Spain boasts culturally rich art, soulful gastronomy, picturesque landscapes, and an enduring preservation of the heritage stories etched into its historic cities that make the country entirely unmissable.

Below, travel from Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, to Mallorca, Marbella, and Madrid as we revisit all the best that Spain has to offer in celebration of a summer of Spanish excellence.

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How to Spend a Weekend in Barcelona

Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia and Spain’s second-largest city, has a rich history, architectural masterpieces, fantastic food, and a beautiful coastline. It would be easy to just wander the streets of the city’s many barrios, from the medieval Gothic Quarter with its narrow, winding lanes to Eixample, with its wide boulevards and stately buildings, but with so many attractions to visit and fantastic restaurants and bars competing for your time, you’ll have to prioritize. Laura Itzkowitz

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Marbella in Colour: Kimpton Los Monteros Reimagines Mediterranean Glamour

On Spain’s sparkling Costa del Sol, in the vibrant and storied beach city of Marbella, where the elite have gone to relax for decades and luxury is a given, a five-star hotel brings an extra splash of elegant colour to the Mediterranean. Originally opened in 1962 and revitalized under the Kimpton brand after a major renovation, Kimpton Los Monteros captures the vibrant soul of Marbella across the rooms, restaurants, and vast public areas, a bright and bold embodiment of the Mediterranean ethos that takes cues from the region’s lifestyle and the city’s golden years in the 1970s. Elia Essen

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Sousa foie gras prepared at Villa Serbelloni. Photo courtesy of Villa Serbelloni.

Cruelty-free Foie Gras From a Spanish Family’s Farm

Despite foie gras being strongly associated with French cuisine, a Spanish farmer by the name of Eduardo Sousa is proudly producing sustainable and humane foie gras. Located southwest of Madrid toward Badajoz, Sousa’s farm is one of a few producers in the world making natural foie gras. Rather than force-feeding his birds, Sousa uses a tradition he says dates back more than 500 years. Michelle Tchea

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Puente Romano Beach Resort

A few kilometres west of Marbella’s old town, where the remnants of a Moorish fort anchor more traditionally Spanish architecture, there’s a reminder of another ancient civilization: a Roman bridge more than 2,000 years old sits at the heart of the five-star Puente Romano Beach Resort. From the bridge, over 55,000 square metres of verdant tropical flora, luxurious suites in low-slung buildings, azure pools, and restaurants funnel down toward the Mediterranean Sea, a pristine beach, and views of Morocco and Gibraltar. John Clegg

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Photo by Luis Beltran.

Miami Art Deco Meets Modern Design in a Barcelona Gelato Shop

The Barcelona shop Amiko Gelato strives to stimulate the senses and capture the essence of ice cream within its walls, creating a space that is fun and magical with curving volumes, colourful tiles, and built-in planters. Sweets seekers enter the parlour just off a major shopping street, Passeig de Gràcia, steps from Gaudí’s Casa Batlló, beneath a pastel-striped sign. Elia Essen

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Photo courtesy of Hospitality Builders/Alexia Delpouve.

A Legendary Address in Spain

There is an ineffably opulent quality to the Marbella Club that is tied more to its history than to its subtropical gardens and upscale restaurants. Founded by the German Spanish Prince Alfonso von Hohenlohe-Langenburg in 1954, the Marbella Club was among the first luxury properties to crop up on the then-spartan Costa del Sol, helping establish Marbella as the retreat of note amongst the world’s elite. Since then, celebrities such as Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant, diplomats, business tycoons, and all manner of prominent individuals have vacationed at the sprawling 128-key resort overlooking the Mediterranean, with the shores of Morocco and Gibraltar visible in the distance. John Clegg

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Photo by Salva López.

 

Curly Lab Pays Homage to Barcelona’s Historic Building Designs

Inside a storied 700-square-foot terra cotta storefront, Curly Lab, a hair salon dedicated to caring for curls, is a testament to the harmony that can happen when old meets new. Designed by the local studio Miriam Barrio, the triangular space is on the ground level of a historic gothic and modernist building on a tree-lined street in Barcelona, a few blocks from Gaudí’s Casa Batlló and Casa Milà. Wanting to honour the history of Curly Lab’s location, the designers took inspiration from the building itself for the salon, adding curving organic volumes and a terra cotta colour palette. Elia Essen

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Photo by Jorge Peiró.

A Madrid Photography Lab Takes Cues From the Camera Obscura

Analogue is far from dead at Carmencita Film Lab, and in Madrid, designed by Valencia firm Paloma Beau, the shop takes inspiration from the camera obscura, an old system of projecting an image onto a wall using a dark room with a small hole on one side. Specializing in developing and digitizing analogue photographs, Carmencita opened its first shop, also created in collaboration with Paloma Beau, in Valencia in 2015 and now has locations across Spain and in Portugal, Dubai, Japan, and Germany. The 860-square-foot store, washed in white, muted orange, and wood, marks the brand’s first foray into Madrid. Elia Essen

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Inside Son Net: Mallorca’s Most Beloved Palacio Is Born Again

At Grand Hotel Son Net, the 21st century feels far away. In an ivy-cloaked, old-world abode dating back to 1672, plights of modern life are swapped for simple, timeless pleasures: sipping citrus-bright malvasia wine in the hotel’s own vineyards, snoozing poolside—in the shade of the royal palms and moss-green parasols—or watching the sun slip behind the Tramuntana mountains. Son Net is a full renovation and rebrand of the much-loved (but well-worn) historic hotel of the same name. Nicole Trilivas

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