Luxury holidays in Andalucia

When to go

Many of this region’s fiestas revolve around religious devotion and Catholic saints, but piety is not a pre-requisite. During festivals such as Semana Santa (held during Easter) and Moros Y Cristianos (held at various dates throughout the year depending which province you’re in), sherry is downed in copious amounts and food, dance, music and song are all integral parts of the celebrations.

Getting there

• Planes

  Each of the eight provinces in Andalucia have an airport, but Malaga – Costa Del Sol airport (www.aena-aeropuertos.es/csee/Satellite/Aeropuerto-Malaga/en) is the largest, with regular flights to destinations throughout Europe. Trans-Atlantic flights to Malaga stopover at Dublin and flights across the Pacific change at Rome or Paris.

• Boats

  FRS (www.frs.es) runs regular ferries from Tangier to Gibraltar. A one-way journey takes about 90 minutes to two hours.

• Trains

  Andalucia’s trains can be unreliable, especially outside the cities, but it is possible to get around using the Spain's high-speed AVE network (www.renfe.com), which connects Malaga, Cordoba and Seville to Madrid.

• Automobiles

  Andalucia is rife with road-trip worthy terrain, and while it may lack the romance of horse riding you’ll definitely cover more ground on four wheels. You’ll find hire car booths in major city airports.