Where is Spain

More about the Geography of Spain

Bordered by three seas, Spain lies to the south west of Europe with a dry land area of some 499,542 square kms. To the north of Spain is the Bay of Biscay which is renowned for being one of the most dangerous stretches of ocean in the world. For this reason, ferries do not operate during the rougher winter months. The Mediterranean is the main sea that borders Spain from the north / north east of Spain right down to the most southerly point by Gibraltar. From this point, round the coast up to Portugal is the Atlantic Ocean where you will see long white sandy beaches, although this stretch (the Costa del la Luz), is much windier than the rest of Spain.

Being mainland Europe, other countries border Spain as well as some small islands just off the coast. To the north is France and Andorra, and to the west is Portugal. Off of the east coast of Spain are the Balearic Islands which include the famous holiday resorts of Mallorca (Majorca), Menorca (Minorca), Cabera, Ibiza and Formentera. Off of the sounthern coast of Spain is Africa and at its nearest point around Tarifa it is just a short boat trip away. Off of the south western coast of Spain are the Canary Islands which include Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Tenerife and the lesser known Gomera and La Palma.

The main northern towns of Spain are Bilbao and San Sebastian which are also the main ports for ferries that cross from the UK. The most southerly town in Spain is La Linea de la Concepcion.

Getting to Spain and how Spain is split up geographically

There are many airports in Spain but the main ones are Girona Airport (GRO), Valencia Airport, Alicante Airport, Madrid Barajas Airport, Barcelona Airport, Granada Airport, Malaga (AGP) Airport and Seville Airport. Some smaller airports that are becoming more and more popular are Murcia Airport, Almeria Airport and Jerez Airport. Another airport often used for access to southern Spain is Gibraltar Airport, although you have to cross the border into Spain, something which in the height of summer can take a long time.

Spain itself is split up into different communities known as "autonomous communities". These comprise of 19 different areas although most maps show 17 as they exlude Ceuta and Melila. These are called Andalucia, Aragon, Asturias, Baleares, Ceuta, the Canaries, Cantabria, Castilla la Mancha, Castilla y Leon, Cataluna, Valencia (Communidad Valencia), Extremadura, Galicia, La Rioja, Madrid (the capital), Melilla, Murcia, Navarra and the Basque Country (Pais Vasco).

The communities are further split up into 50 different provinces, those being:

Albacete, Alcaláde Henares, Alcorcón, Alicante, Almería, Badajoz, Badalona ,Barcelona, Bilbao, Burgos, Cádiz, Cartagena, Castellón de la Plana, Córdoba, Elche, Fuenlabrada, Getafe, Gijón, Granada, Hospital et de Llobregat, Huelva, Jérez de la Frontera, La Coruña, La Laguna, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Leganés, León, Lleida, Logroño, Madrid, Málaga, Móstoles, Murcia, Oviedo, Palma de Mallorca, Pamplona, Sabadell, Salamanca, San Sebastián, Santa Coloma de Gramanet, Santa Cruzde (Tenerife), Santander, Sevilla, Tarragona, Tarrasa, Valladolid, Vigo, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Zaragoza

The capital city of Spain is Madrid and is situated just about in the centre of the country. It can be accessed from many international airports directly and is linked to all regions of Spain via road or rail (RENFE rail network).