What do you think?
Rate this book
Lonely Planet Spain 12
Lonely Planet's Spain is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Marvel at Modernista masterpieces in Barcelona, enjoy beachside Basque cuisine in San Sebastian, and taste sherry and flamenco in Andalucia - all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Spain and begin your journey now! Inside Lonely Planet's Spain : The Perfect Lonely Planet's Spain is our most comprehensive guide to Spain, and is designed to immerse you in the culture and help you discover the best sights and get off the beaten track. Looking for destination highlights? Check out Pocket Barcelona ; Madrid ; Valencia ; Bilbao & San Sebastian or Ibiza , our handy-sized guides focused on the best sights and experiences for a short trip or weekend away. About Lonely Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, video, 14 languages, nine international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)
928 pages, Paperback
First published May 15, 1997
1488 people are currently reading
480 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
September 11, 2021
Muy completa
De gran ayuda para conocer la cultura española desde siglos atrás. Es una guía muy completa que incluye todo los aspectos necesarios para interpretar la historia con conocimientos básicos y planear rutas de viaje con mayor certeza.
De gran ayuda para conocer la cultura española desde siglos atrás. Es una guía muy completa que incluye todo los aspectos necesarios para interpretar la historia con conocimientos básicos y planear rutas de viaje con mayor certeza.
February 2, 2025
Whenever I travel abroad, I always buy a Lonely Planet, or Rough Guide to the place I'm visiting. This book almost ruined their reputation overnight. It is without down the WORST Lonely Planet guide I have ever read.
As an example, where are the places a Brit goes, when they go to Spain? Madrid and Barcelona maybe, but Ibiza, and Majorca have to be up there, don't they? If you're going to Ibiza, or Majorca, however, don't rely on this book. All the islands are covered in 2 page. You read that right. One of the most popular tourist places in Spain gets maybe half a page.
The sad thing is that I suspect that this is true of a lot of places. It all feels rather precised and rushed. If you go off the beaten track, even slightly, don't use this book. It'll be no use to you. The place you are probably won't be discussed.
To make matters worse, there's no index. So if you're looking for where you are, and you haven't already found it in the Kindle book, you're going to be out of luck, because you won't be able to find if it's listened anywhere, because there's no index to help you.
Now I know., you're thinking this book covers the whole country, it's going to be general. Bur let me tell you, there's general, and then there's so general and bland that things become meaningless. This book falls very much into the second category.
As an example, where are the places a Brit goes, when they go to Spain? Madrid and Barcelona maybe, but Ibiza, and Majorca have to be up there, don't they? If you're going to Ibiza, or Majorca, however, don't rely on this book. All the islands are covered in 2 page. You read that right. One of the most popular tourist places in Spain gets maybe half a page.
The sad thing is that I suspect that this is true of a lot of places. It all feels rather precised and rushed. If you go off the beaten track, even slightly, don't use this book. It'll be no use to you. The place you are probably won't be discussed.
To make matters worse, there's no index. So if you're looking for where you are, and you haven't already found it in the Kindle book, you're going to be out of luck, because you won't be able to find if it's listened anywhere, because there's no index to help you.
Now I know., you're thinking this book covers the whole country, it's going to be general. Bur let me tell you, there's general, and then there's so general and bland that things become meaningless. This book falls very much into the second category.
August 14, 2008
Lonely Planet Books are indispensable, I just wish they were better at referencing the map in the text, and the page ref from the map key.
July 16, 2019
I love travelling, and Lonely Planet is always my go-to travel guides when I go abroad. Their guide to Hungary was essential to my fiancee's and my trip to Budapest last December, and their Spain guide was the real MVP of our road trip around Spain that we came back from a couple weeks ago!
Sure, we did tons and tons of research on the internet leading up to this trip, but there's really no substitute for a good guidebook.
Because this was a road trip, we had the freedom to go off the beaten track a bit and visit a few places between our big destinations. Lemme tell you, THAT is where this book REALLY helped us out in a huge way. Without Lonely Planet, we wouldn't have known Morella even existed, much less driven on the narrow mountain roads that overlook beautiful landscapes on our way to have lunch in a small mountain city still surrounded by a medieval wall. Lonely Planet also told us about Cabo de Gata-Nihar, a national park in Andalusia with beautiful beaches and tall cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.
Of course, the food recommendations were all excellent, the advice, incredibly helpful, and the shopping recommendations, interesting and unique.
This was a special trip, regardless (my girl and I got engaged in Granada!) but having this travel guide made everything so much smoother!
Sure, we did tons and tons of research on the internet leading up to this trip, but there's really no substitute for a good guidebook.
Because this was a road trip, we had the freedom to go off the beaten track a bit and visit a few places between our big destinations. Lemme tell you, THAT is where this book REALLY helped us out in a huge way. Without Lonely Planet, we wouldn't have known Morella even existed, much less driven on the narrow mountain roads that overlook beautiful landscapes on our way to have lunch in a small mountain city still surrounded by a medieval wall. Lonely Planet also told us about Cabo de Gata-Nihar, a national park in Andalusia with beautiful beaches and tall cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.
Of course, the food recommendations were all excellent, the advice, incredibly helpful, and the shopping recommendations, interesting and unique.
This was a special trip, regardless (my girl and I got engaged in Granada!) but having this travel guide made everything so much smoother!
June 26, 2017
My family and I are long-time travelers around the globe, and have developed definite opinions of travel guides over the years. Along with planning travel over the internet, we've basically settled on two different guides to take with us as we go. The Eyewitness Travel Guides are my preference for advanced planning and reading on a particular destination. The Lonely Planet Guides are perfect for our travels while we are on the road. Lonely Planet fills in many of the details that Eyewitness leaves off the pages of their travel guides. Eyewitness gives us the visual for where we are heading, Lonely Planet gives us the filler. Between the two, we've settled on a routine that has suited us well for our travel purposes. Highly recommended!
May 14, 2023
I spent three months driving around Spain from December 2022, and had this book on my kindle and iphone. So, not the paper copy. I visited mainly historical sights, a few cities, and a few beaches.
This book summarises history and culture very neatly and then tells you what you need to know about Spain. My only gripe is that everything is hyped up to an unrealistic degree. Each town is the best this, or the most impressive that, or has the tastiest food or drink.
Having a book where you can search for words, and highlight things to plan your visit proved to be invaluable. I had to search for a lot of things on the internet, but I always came back to this book for a concise and simple explanation.
This book summarises history and culture very neatly and then tells you what you need to know about Spain. My only gripe is that everything is hyped up to an unrealistic degree. Each town is the best this, or the most impressive that, or has the tastiest food or drink.
Having a book where you can search for words, and highlight things to plan your visit proved to be invaluable. I had to search for a lot of things on the internet, but I always came back to this book for a concise and simple explanation.
February 26, 2026
Very well organized and a good source of information on all things Spain: history, architecture, art, museums, beaches (swimming sans clothing, snorkeling, diving), mountains (biking, hiking, skiing), national parks, and most importantly food (tapas!!!!), drinks (wine, vermouth, sherry). I really like the new updated organization of the most recent travel guides, and there seems to be a lot more information for au natural beach seekers.
May 19, 2018
Solid travel book delivered yet again by Lonely Planet. I found it very helpful in planning my trip to Northern Spain. I supplemented the book with some other sources, but it provided a good foundation.
However, I find the Kindle version really frustrating. Even though I was bookmarking pages and trying to refer back to them, I still like the hard copy better.
However, I find the Kindle version really frustrating. Even though I was bookmarking pages and trying to refer back to them, I still like the hard copy better.
March 15, 2024
Well, I love all the Lonely Planets. They aren't perfect and people often harp about some address being wrong or train route not updated. But these beautiful books give me what I need to wander around the globe feeling safe enough and endlessly free. And, no, I didn't read this whole book. Just the Catalonia part. Just the part I need.
September 5, 2017
Great, practical information to help me plan my trip. Will be bringing it with me!
May 28, 2018
Madrid and Granada - first time visit for MT
Highlights - Prado, Madrid; Alhambra, Granada.
Highlights - Prado, Madrid; Alhambra, Granada.
July 9, 2018
Very good book, it helped us in our trip around Spain, good advise.
November 29, 2018
Very helpful guide!
March 13, 2022
Like all of the Lonely Planet guidebooks the one for Spain offers a wealth of information geared to travellers.
June 12, 2022
Me ayudó a planear dos largos viajes a España, uno de varios libros
June 5, 2023
Read a lot of this book + other Spain travel books I got from the library, because I am going to Madrid soon! I really like Lonely Planet travel books...also just like reading travel books for fun!
April 6, 2025
Informative and very useful information.
August 3, 2021
It is impossible to give any shrimps to this fine travel book.
It is just a great travel book for anyone looking to visit this beautiful and diverse country.
It is just a great travel book for anyone looking to visit this beautiful and diverse country.
September 23, 2019
An informative travel book witha wealth of information for would be vistors to Spain. I enjoyed the historical information about the sites. I was not captivated by the description of Madrid though. Described as a city where everyone stays up very late - the city does not sleep. Not for me!
March 12, 2026
Didn’t have much for the Palma region which is where I’m headed. And what it did have I’d already found on google.
February 17, 2020
you are kidding me! change the title to spanish mainland only. missing ALL the spanish islands which is rather a BIG omission...mallorca, menorca, ibiza, ALL the canary isles (which are a hugely popular winter destination) and of course also excluding ceuta & melilla. guess the lonely planet feel we should dig into our pockets and buy 2 seperate island guides too. not even approaching the quality of "old" lonely planets. but who expects that these days?
June 9, 2023
Update after actual travel: My initial opinion is unchanged - this book has some useful information that is not in the Rick Steves guide, but overall I think Steves is better (but, if you don't want to spend money and have a Kindle Unlimited subscription, I think you can get by with just this book). The information in this book does seem to have been updated to 2018 - i.e. most of it is fairly current, but the costs data, given the sky high inflation of the last couple of years, is out of date.
This is a review of the Kindle edition, which is dated 2018 but is based on the 2013 12th edition - some of the text appears to have been updated to 2018, but how current it is I'll only know when I go (I'll update this review after I travel, which probably won't be until 2023).
I'm using this book (which I'm reading using a free trial of Kindle Unlimited) to draw up a rough itinerary for an extended trip, I will buy the Rick Steves guide before I start making bookings - in my experience Steves is generally better than LP, but he's highly opinionated and he only covers things he's interested in (so, not contemporary art or fine dining), so it's good to consult a 2nd guidebook, particularly for a long trip.
This book is very thorough, covering a wide variety of destinations, and of attractions in each destination (though, as other reviews note, it does not cover the islands!) - so, given the above, I'm satisfied with it. It doesn't give much detail on how to avoid queues, you have to go to Steves for that. It doesn't given much detail on trains either, you have to go to The Man in Seat 61 for that. There are very few photos, you have to go to Google or IG for them (or don't and be surprised).
The formatting of the Kindle edition is awful (large sections are simply unformatted), which makes the book hard to follow, as well as looking ugly. The links to Google Maps would be awesome if they worked properly, but often they don't (they often take you to the lat-long, rather than to the pin for the actual attraction). The links to websites do work and are very handy. The search function is very handy too. Kindle is the sensible way to carry a guidebook (who wants to lug a huge brick around the world?), so it's so sad that there are so many kinks in this Kindle edition, and that the newer edition isn't available on Kindle!
This is a review of the Kindle edition, which is dated 2018 but is based on the 2013 12th edition - some of the text appears to have been updated to 2018, but how current it is I'll only know when I go (I'll update this review after I travel, which probably won't be until 2023).
I'm using this book (which I'm reading using a free trial of Kindle Unlimited) to draw up a rough itinerary for an extended trip, I will buy the Rick Steves guide before I start making bookings - in my experience Steves is generally better than LP, but he's highly opinionated and he only covers things he's interested in (so, not contemporary art or fine dining), so it's good to consult a 2nd guidebook, particularly for a long trip.
This book is very thorough, covering a wide variety of destinations, and of attractions in each destination (though, as other reviews note, it does not cover the islands!) - so, given the above, I'm satisfied with it. It doesn't give much detail on how to avoid queues, you have to go to Steves for that. It doesn't given much detail on trains either, you have to go to The Man in Seat 61 for that. There are very few photos, you have to go to Google or IG for them (or don't and be surprised).
The formatting of the Kindle edition is awful (large sections are simply unformatted), which makes the book hard to follow, as well as looking ugly. The links to Google Maps would be awesome if they worked properly, but often they don't (they often take you to the lat-long, rather than to the pin for the actual attraction). The links to websites do work and are very handy. The search function is very handy too. Kindle is the sensible way to carry a guidebook (who wants to lug a huge brick around the world?), so it's so sad that there are so many kinks in this Kindle edition, and that the newer edition isn't available on Kindle!
February 13, 2013
Suuuuuuper thorough. I purchased this guide while living in Asturias and basically ripped it to shreds in rain and shine (Madrid downpour was not kind to the pages). There's something for every travel taste in here, and it covers every corner of Spain. I would love to see it go into more detail about the lesser known places (such as my beloved Asturias, or the corners of Galicia), but this is a great general travel book. If you want more in depth about regions or activities, I would suggest hiking/landscape books, or region specific books.
December 22, 2021
These Lonely Planet guides are excellent. I actually read a newer edition, not from beginning to end, but in spurts. I cannot over recommend these guides to read through before heading to the airport.
July 10, 2007
This was my bible while I lived in Spain for 8 months. It is helpful and informative.
November 22, 2007
this book was essentially useless while we were in spain.
December 9, 2009
a little dry, but useful.
Read
February 21, 2010Lonely Planet Spain (Spain, 3rd ed) by Damien Simonis (2001)
July 4, 2010
Used when I was in Spain, remembering it being a good travel guide.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews