Spain—a land of vibrant colors, captivating traditions, incredible food, and a rhythm of life that can make you wonder why you were ever in such a hurry in the first place.
My introduction to Europe started in 2017 with my first solo trip to Spain: Granada. Years later, I returned to explore Madrid, and since then, Spain has become one of those destinations I seem to keep finding my way back to.
There are still so many places I want to experience, but looking back at those first trips, I can see exactly why Spain made such an impression on me. There were palaces and mountains, beaches and flamenco, spontaneous nights out, incredible food, and a sangria that set the bar way too high.
Granada: Where My Spain Story Began
Granada will always be special to me because it was where I took my first solo trip to Spain.
Located in Andalucía in southern Spain, Granada gave me a little bit of everything I hoped to experience: history, beautiful architecture, great food, nightlife, mountain views, and enough unexpected moments to make the trip memorable years later.
And naturally, one of the first things I did was get a sangria.
I went to La Bella y la Bestia, ordered one, and unknowingly made a terrible strategic decision: it was the best sangria I had during the entire trip. I should have saved it for the end!!! Everything afterward had to compete with that first glass, and nothing quite measured up. LOL
The Alhambra Was Even Better in Person
The Alhambra was one of the experiences I was most excited about in Granada, and seeing it in person did not disappoint.
Walking through the Alhambra and the Nasrid Palaces, I was fascinated by the amount of detail in the architecture. Some of my favorite features were the intricate Arabic inscriptions and decorative patterns covering the walls.
I’d learned about the centuries of Muslim rule in Spain, but standing inside a place where so much of that history was still physically surrounding me made it feel completely different from reading about it.
Then there were the views.
Granada itself is beautiful, but having the Sierra Nevada mountains rising behind the city makes the landscape even more dramatic. Spain may be famous for sunshine and Mediterranean beaches, but seeing snow-covered mountains from Granada was a reminder of just how varied the country really is.
A Little Literature Along the Way
My Granada trip wasn’t all palaces, sangria, and food.
I also visited Huerta de San Vicente, the former summer home of Federico García Lorca and his family that’s now a museum. I enjoy museums anyway, but this visit meant a little more because I’d learned about Lorca in school.
There’s something satisfying about encountering a person, place, or piece of history in real life after first discovering it in a classroom years earlier. It’s one of my favorite things about traveling: suddenly something you’ve read about isn’t quite so distant anymore.
A Beach Day in Almuñécar
One of my favorite breaks from exploring Granada was taking a day trip with friends to Almuñécar on Spain’s Mediterranean coast.
The change of scenery was perfect. One minute my trip was historic streets, palaces, and mountain views; the next it was blue water, sunshine, seafood, and a beach.
I even tried swordfish for the first time. Verdict? Pretty good! But one of my favorite memories from the day had absolutely nothing to do with sightseeing or food.
While my friends and I were sitting on the beach, a random dog walked over to us carrying a tennis ball. He dropped it in front of us and apparently decided that we were now responsible for entertaining him. LOL
No introductions. No discussion. Just: Here is my ball. You know what to do. Naturally, we played with him.
Sometimes the completely unplanned moments become the stories you remember most.
Granada Also Gave Me One Very Unexpected Reunion
Speaking of things I couldn’t have planned, I randomly ran into someone I knew from college while I was in Granada. Of all the places in the world.
We ended up going to a dance club together, turning what could have been an ordinary night into another one of those travel memories that still makes me laugh at how unlikely it was.
That’s something I’ve learned to appreciate about solo travel. You can make plans, build itineraries, book tours and research everything in advance, but you can never predict who you’re going to meet or what might happen once you actually get there.
Granada taught me that pretty early.
Returning to Spain: Madrid in 2023
Six years after that first trip to Granada, I found myself back in Spain but this time in Madrid. Madrid was a completely different experience.
Granada had felt intimate, historic and relaxed. Madrid gave me big-city energy: busy streets, rooftop views, beautiful plazas, nightlife, performances and plenty to explore on foot.
It also gave me a transportation mystery almost immediately. I had booked an Airbnb without realizing that I was staying near Real Madrid’s football stadium. One day I went to catch a bus…and waited for an extremely long time. No bus.
Eventually, a sweet older gentleman came over to the bus stop and explained what was happening. It was game day. Apparently everyone knew this except me. LOL
Travel has a wonderful way of reminding you that you are, in fact, not a local.
Seeing Madrid Through a Camera
One of my favorite things I did in Madrid was book a professional photoshoot through Airbnb Experiences.
We moved around the city taking pictures at different locations, including Plaza Mayor and Plaza de Callao. As a Money Heist (La Casa de Papel) fan, I loved learning that Callao was also one of the show’s filming locations, specifically the famous scene where money rains down over Madrid.
Instead of coming home with only quick phone pictures and selfies, I ended up with photographs that captured an entire day of exploring Madrid. It also gave me an excuse to slow down and pay attention to the city around me rather than racing from one attraction to another.
And considering how many of those pictures I still love years later, I’d say that experience was money well spent.
Rooftops, Flamenco and Madrid After Dark
Madrid got even better once the sun started going down.
I joined a rooftop bar crawl that gave me some incredible views over the city. There’s something about seeing a destination from above that completely changes your perspective on it.
But the night ended with my favorite part: a flamenco performance in an intimate cave-like venue.
The acoustics were incredible.
With the singing, guitar, clapping and dancing bouncing around such a small space, you didn’t just hear the performance, you felt it.
I’d seen flamenco before in videos and performances, but experiencing it in that setting was completely different. It’s one of those travel experiences where photos are nice, but they can’t really reproduce what it felt like to be sitting there.
Spain Taught Me to Leave Room for the Unexpected
Looking back, some of my favorite memories from Spain weren’t things I could have scheduled.
I didn’t plan to meet a dog on a beach who demanded a game of fetch. I definitely didn’t plan to randomly run into a college friend in Granada. And I certainly didn’t book my Madrid Airbnb thinking, I’d love to accidentally disrupt my transportation plans with a Real Madrid match.
But those stories are part of why I remember these trips so clearly.
Of course, the major attractions matter. I’m glad I visited the Alhambra. I’m glad I explored Madrid. I’m glad I saw flamenco, visited museums, ate seafood and spent time along the Mediterranean.
But travel gets a lot more interesting when you leave enough room for something unexpected to happen. If you’re planning your own trip, these free travel apps for solo travelers are some of my favorites for navigating, organizing reservations, and making travel a little easier.
Sun, Sangria, and Siestas: My Introduction to Spain
What started with my first solo trip to Spain in 2017 became the beginning of a much longer relationship with the country.
I’ve returned to the country since then, and every trip has shown me something different. That’s probably what keeps pulling me back.
Spain isn’t one experience. It’s watching the Sierra Nevada mountains rise behind Granada. It’s staring at Arabic calligraphy inside the Nasrid Palaces and the Alhambra. It’s drinking a sangria so good that you’ve accidentally ruined the rest of the trip’s sangria.
It’s a beach day with friends and a dog you’ve never met. It’s discovering Madrid from a rooftop, hearing flamenco echo through a cave, and standing at a bus stop wondering why absolutely no buses are coming.
Somewhere between the big landmarks and those tiny, ridiculous moments, Spain became more than somewhere I’d visited. It became somewhere I wanted to keep exploring.
And I wasn’t done yet…