Boutique Hotels in Spain

Start with the rivalry that defines the country. Madrid and Barcelona are Spain's two poles, and choosing between them tells you what kind of trip you want. Madrid, high and landlocked on the meseta, is the grand, inward, quintessentially Spanish capital — the deepest art in Europe at the Prado, the latest nightlife, no sea and no apology for it. Barcelona faces outward to the Mediterranean and to Europe, Catalan in language and temper, with Gaudí's architecture and a beach in the city. The first is Spain looking at itself; the second, Spain looking out.

Then comes the divide most visitors never grasp: south versus north. The south is the Spain of the imagination — Andalusia, where Seville, Granada's Alhambra and Córdoba's Mezquita carry eight centuries of Moorish rule, and the Mediterranean coast runs west through Marbella in sun and golf. The north is its opposite: green, wet and cool, the Basque Country and San Sebastián plating some of the world's best food, La Rioja pouring its wine, Galicia ending at the pilgrim city of Santiago. And offshore lie the Balearics — Majorca with its mountains and its capital at Palma, Ibiza split between nightlife and a bohemian calm. The AVE trains stitch the mainland together fast: Madrid to Seville in two and a half hours, Madrid to Barcelona in under three.

To eat in Spain is to eat regionally, and the map changes with every few hundred kilometres: the tapas and jamón of the south; the rice dishes of the Valencian coast; the pintxos counters of the Basque north; the seafood of Galicia; and everywhere the late, sociable rhythm of small plates, sherry and wine taken standing and shared. Culture runs as deep and as divided: the painters of the Prado, the Moorish palaces of the south, Gaudí's Barcelona, flamenco below and Celtic pipes above, and a calendar so thick with festivals that something is being celebrated somewhere most weeks of the year.

For where to stay, the club's choices map that range. In the cities, design-led Only YOU in Madrid's Chueca, the waterfront Serras in Barcelona, and Corral del Rey in old Seville. On the Andalusian coast, the golf-and-spa estate of Finca Cortesín near Casares, west of Marbella. And in the Balearics, the art-filled Can Alomar in central Palma on Majorca, and the private-island retreat of Isla Sa Ferradura off Ibiza. City, coast or island — the country gives you several holidays in one.

Spain is a year-round country, but its size and climates make the timing worth getting right — and spring and autumn are the sweet spot almost everywhere. April to June and September to October bring warm, clear days, the great spring festivals and the autumn wine harvests, without the extremes; this is the best window for Madrid, Andalusia and the cities. High summer is for the coast and the islands, when the Mediterranean is warm and the resorts in full swing — but inland Andalusia turns brutal, with Seville and Córdoba passing forty degrees, and Madrid and Barcelona half-empty as locals flee. The green north is the summer refuge, cooler and quieter. Winter is mild in the south and on the islands, cold and bright inland, and the season for skiing the Pyrenees and Sierra Nevada. For most first trips, come in late spring or early autumn.