Overall, spring, early summer and autumn are ideal times for a Spanish trip - though the weather varies enormously from region to region. The high central plains suffer from fierce extremes, stiflingly hot in summer, bitterly cold and swept by freezing winds in winter. The Atlantic coast, in contrast, has a tendency to damp and mist, and a relatively brief, humid summer. The Mediterranean south is warm virtually all year round, and in parts of Andalucía positively subtropical, warm enough to wear a T-shirt by day even in the winter months.

In high summer the other factor worth considering is tourism itself. Spain plays host to some thirty million tourists a year - almost one for every resident - and all the main beach and mountain resorts are packed in July and August, as are the major sights. August, Spain's how holiday month, sees the coast as its most crowded and the cities, by contrast, pretty sleepy