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Attractively laid out on an undulating series of five hills at a bend in the river, this ancient town sports a Baroque tower and a handsome 15th-century bridge. Other sights include a good Museo Arqueológico Municipal and the eccentrically kitsch Casa de las Conchas, a shell-encrusted folly that the owner will be happy to show you around.

Down by the waterfront, the “Pier of the Caravels” is a great treat for kids. They’ll love the chance to climb aboard full-size replicas of Columbus’s ships Niña, Pinta and Santa María and imagine themselves setting sail to discover the New World. There’s also a re-creation of a 15th-century European village (see Sevilla and Huelva Provinces).

Sadly, the many depths of Granada’s talented native son – playwright, poet, artist, musician, impresario – were denied to the world when he was murdered at the age of 38 by Fascists at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. His birthplace, in a village near Granada, has been turned into a museum devoted to his memory (see Federico García Lorca).

The enormously powerful Dukes of Osuna get the credit for endowing this town with exceptional architecture. The massive bulk of the Renaissance church, the Colegiata de la Asunción, dominates the scene; inside, there’s an impressive painting of the Crucifixion by José de Ribera. The Universidad, also Renaissance, has tiled towers at its corners and a beautiful central courtyard. Elsewhere, fine mansions evoke the wealth of Spain’s most powerful families (see Palacio del Marqués de la Gomera, Osuna).

This place will save the day when what your children need most is to cool off. Five pools of various sizes, loads of undulating slides and tubes, as well as shaded areas.

Europe’s largest nature reserve includes important wetlands and shifting dunes that are gradually moving inland. The fragile ecosystem can only be visited on guided tours.

Primarily, this is a care station for the rehabilitation of injured animals, in particular indigenous endangered species. As a result, it can give children a close-up encounter with the wonderful Iberian lynx, which is extremely rare in the wild. There are also white tigers, red pandas and ibis.

The term “white villages” refers to the profusion of whitewashed hillside hamlets in the Serranía de Ronda, the mountainous territory around Ronda. Many of them are truly spectacular and it’s well worth spending several days driving from one to the other, and then striking out on foot to take in some of the views (see Drive from Ronda to Jerez). Towns not to miss include Grazalema, Zahara de la Sierra, Gaucín, Casares, Setenil, Jimena de Libár and Manilva. Villagers, who originally settled on these plains to protect themselves from potential bandits in the lowlands, have lived the same way of life for centuries, and retain a strong agricultural tradition. Between Grazalema and Zahara, you’ll go through Andalucía’s highest mountain pass, the breathtaking Puerto de las Palomas (The Pass of the Doves).