Top 5: UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Spain

Spain is loaded with UNESCO World Heritage sites: 44 to be exact, with 27 more on the tentative list. It seems you can’t turn a corner without bumping into another important and impressive piece of human and natural history. Here are the five of the most impressive that aren’t the Alhambra or the Sagrada Familia.

Cathedral, Alcázar and Archivo de Indias, Seville

This incredible complex is perfectly representative of Andalusia; it is a blend of Islamic and European culture, one building of the other, in cultural syncretism — besides being the largest gothic building in Europe and the site of Christopher Columbus’s tomb.

La Cueva de Altamira © Jacinta Lluch Valero | Flickr

Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art

Northern Spain is home to some of the world’s oldest artwork. Seventeen total caves, including the famous Altamira, bear paintings preserved from weather in deep galleries from the Paleolithic age, from 35,000 to 11,000 BC.

Garajonay National Park

One of Spain’s three natural heritage sites, Garajonay is Europe’s answer to the Galapagos. Located on a tiny spit of land reachable only by boat from Tenerife in the Canary Islands, the park is home to 34 species of flora and about 100 species of bird that can’t be found anywhere else in the world.

Catedral Nueva Salamanca’s Old City © Siempreverde22 | Dreamstime

Old City of Salamanca

By 1250, Salamanca was already as one of the world’s premier universities; not much has changed since. The city has previously been ruled by the Carthaginians, the Romans and the Moors, absorbing bits of culture from each to make it a truly magnificent experience.

Monastery and Site of the Escurial

An easy day trip from Madrid, this fortress-like complex was built in the 15^th Century by Phillip II and served as the center of the Spanish kingdom’s formidable power at that time. It is also a museum of masterpieces of art and the crypt of the Spanish kings.