Something's happening on the Iberian Peninsula, and it isn't in Barcelona. It isn't in Lisbon either. Lately the places in Spain and Portugal our readers are looking up are smaller, stranger and better fed. They're the kind of towns where the bar shuts when the owner gets tired.
Wine towns in Rioja and the Douro Valley
Haro is Rioja's working capital, a town of bodegas built around a railway station, and in June it throws wine at itself. Down the road, Laguardia sits on its hill above cellars dug straight into the rock. Across the border, Pinhão is a single street on a bend of the Douro. That's where port starts its life, a long way from the Porto lodges that take the credit.
The appeal is simple: sleep where the wine is made, and don't drive anywhere after lunch.
Coastal fishing towns in the Algarve and Galicia
Tavira and Olhão are the eastern Algarve's quiet answer to the resort strip further west. Think whitewashed lanes, salt pans and a fish market that matters. Up in Galicia, O Grove is shellfish country, plain and simple, and A Coruña is the northern city people actually stay in.
Cliffs, canyons and the Basque border
Sagres sits at the end of Europe: cliffs, surf and a fortress facing nothing but ocean. Torla-Ordesa is the stone village at the mouth of the Ordesa canyon in the Pyrenees. Hondarribia looks across the bay at France and eats better than either side.
Old towns in Galicia, Andalusia, northern Portugal and the Balearics
Pontevedra banned most cars from its centre years ago, and the result is a granite old town you can hear yourself think in. Arcos de la Frontera hangs off a cliff in Andalusia's white-village country. Amarante has a bridge, a river and some serious convent pastries. Sóller and Ciutadella are the Balearics for people who skipped the beach clubs.
Why small towns, and why now
None of these towns is new. What's new is who's going. This looks like a second or third trip to Spain and Portugal: the capitals are done, and now it's about a long lunch in a place with one good restaurant and a view.
A Spain and Portugal itinerary built from small towns
Every town above has its own 1, 2 or 3 day itinerary, and they pair up well. Spend two days between Haro and Laguardia (20 minutes apart) for Rioja wine. Cross into northern Portugal for Amarante and a night in Pinhão on the Douro. Head up the coast to Pontevedra and O Grove (half an hour apart) for Galician seafood. Or go south: Tavira and Olhão are a short train ride apart, with Sagres at the far end of the Algarve.
Want to plan your own? You can string any of these places into one trip, or open a guide and build a day-by-day plan around food, wine, walking or the coast.
Based on what Nomadist readers have been exploring recently. More from The Trend Report