Archie Arch

Festival, party, celebration, however you describe it the Spanish fiestas are a fantastic reason to visit Spain! The fiestas are extremely important to local residents, symbolising moments in a Spanish town's history and celebrating the local culture. With fiestas happening all through the year, holiday makers are bound to take part in at least one of them during their holidays.

With more and more people heading to the various music festivals over the year, Spain is slowly creeping up the list as the best destination for annual festivals. With a wide range of events catering for every type of music fan, a holiday to Spain is a lot more than sand and sun!

The Benicassim festival started in 1995 and takes place every summer on the Mediterranean coast.

With more and more people heading to the various music festivals over the year, Spain is slowly creeping up the list as the best destination for annual festivals. With a wide range of events catering for every type of music fan, a holiday to Spain is a lot more than sand and sun!

The Benicassim festival started in 1995 and takes place every summer on the Mediterranean coast.

Sharm El Sheikh has become one of the most popular holiday resorts, attracting tourists from all over the world. With a stunning mix of sun, sea and luxury, the resort is the perfect escape from everyday life. With the desert on its doorstep and miles of empty coastline, Sharm El Sheikh has grown into a large resort split into five areas, each offering a different environment.

Despite these intruders Gran Canaria today is a self governed island and is one of two capitals of the Canary Islands, its own capital is the resort of Las Palmas. The island is the most popular tourist destination of the Canary Islands.

Its weather is a strong draw for travellers and in summer time reach around 26 degrees Celsius, though with the island sitting of the northern coast of Africa it catches some of the winds blowing off the Sahara which can raise temperatures as high as 36 degrees.

Labelled a Martian land because of its volcanic scarred landscape this island and because of the weather it has managed to keep these features well preserved. Being of volcanic origin the popular holiday resort attracts a lot of curious sightseers and its home to the world's longest volcanic tunnel.

There has been no volcanic activity on the island since the early 1800's but it was considered minor compared to the major eruptions that occurred early 1700 which shape the land the way its seen today.

With filming targeted for August of 2010 names such as Al Pacino, Brad Pitt and Penelope Cruz will be in the region for the duration. In fact the Algarve is to become quite popular over the next couple of years with two other Hollywood films planning to use the south western tip of Europe bringing with them the likes of Richard Gere, Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Bacon.

Holiday makers heading to Tenerife this year may surprised to find half naked, grunting men climbing over rocks in their hotel courtyard. These men are not drunk tourists finding their way back to their room, they are actually local men and women dressed as Guanches, the first ever visitors to the Canary Islands. The Guanches settled on the Islands 2,000 years ago, long before the Spanish arrived in the fifteenth century.

The Canary Islands are one of the most popular holiday destinations in Spain, with great beaches, high quality accommodation and plenty of things to do it is no wonder tourists flock to these Spanish islands. However as some of the larger islands are starting to build up reputations as party zones, are the resorts still as welcoming towards family visitors? This article uncovers the activities available for families visiting the Canaries, from undersea adventures to mountain climbing, to see if the family friendly atmosphere is still going strong.

Cyprus expands to meet the demands of the ever growing tourism industry so the island country manages to keep up to date with consumer demands and offers more and more attractions.

The history of Cyprus is blessed with mixture of its own past and that of the old Greek empire. Admire the well preserve gothic Buffavento and Kantara castles, or take a trip the wonderfully intriguing archaeological site of Salamis and Kourion to see the remains of kingdoms gone.