Spanish holiday resorts are one of the most popular tourism destinations in the world, attracting more than 50 million visitors each year. Most vacations include booking cheap flights to the Spanish "costas" for a couple of weeks of sun, sand, sangria and certain other delights guaranteed along Spain's Mediterranean coastline. The few who travel beyond the main tourist traps will uncover a treasure trove of culture, of rich and varied landscapes in this huge country of many contrasts where your holidays can be whatever you want it to be.
The Spanish tourist industry took flight in the 1960s with the birth of package holiday deals offering an irresistible combination of cheap air tickets, accommodation and car hire all included in a price which Joe Public could afford for the first time.
Nearly half a century on, Spanish tourism is still going from strength to strength based on the same formula. The heady mix of guaranteed sunshine and some of the cheapest hotels in the Mediterranean ensures the masses keep flocking to the golden beaches of the Iberian Peninsula and its islands in their millions.
Even in high season, there are plenty of incredible holiday bargains to be had in popular resorts such as Benidorm on the Costa Blanca, Lloret de Mar on the Costa Brava and Torremolinos on the Costa del Sol.
These resorts - and many more like them - are big, brash and very British (some 12 million Brits visit the country every year and more than 300,000 British ex-patriates have made the country their home).
