Andalusia

Andalusia's hotels are shaped by their buildings. Seville and Córdoba keep their finest rooms inside converted palaces and convents, arranged around patios where the temperature drops the moment you step in from the street. On the Costa del Sol the grand resort still sets the tone, with golf, beach clubs and gardens that have matured over half a century. Inland, in the white villages of Cádiz and Grazalema, small country houses take dogs, stay quiet and serve breakfast under fig trees.

The season runs longer than most visitors assume. Spring and autumn are the months for the cities, when the orange trees are in blossom or the light has softened; July and August belong to the coast and to anyone who can sleep through a siesta. Regulars book the Atlantic side rather than the Mediterranean, choose a hotel with a rooftop over one with a lobby, and eat late, because the kitchens only warm up after nine.