Your visit to Spain cannot be complete unless you explore the unique things to do in Spain and do those things! Wondering what they might be? Don’t bother! We have a list ready for you! So, plunge in!
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Top 14 UNIQUE Things to Do in Spain
Underwater Sculpture Park
If snorkeling or scuba diving is your thing (and even if it is not), take a dip in the water to reach the Molinere Beauséjour Marine Protected Area where you can find the unique underwater sculpture park.
Located in Granada, it is the world’s first underwater sculpture park created by sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor. Submerged 3 to 5 meters underwater off the West Coast of Granada, the 75 sculptures are bolted with the seafloor and are made of steel and concrete.
Though the park was created only in 2006, the current state of the sculpture will fool you into believing that they have been there since antiquity!
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Walk the World’s Scariest Pathway
How about walking the world’s scariest pathway? It is not meant for the faint-hearted; of course, you need to be an adrenaline junkie to traverse the famous Caminito del Rey that claimed five lives in 1999 and 2000.
Built-in 1905, this scary footbridge hangs by a cliff at a height of 100 meters above the deadly gorge down below! While you may be thinking ‘what’s the big deal,’ think again! It is only a meter wide, and looking down can give you a scare that leads to acrophobia!
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Enjoy a Drink in the Only Ice Bar on the Beach
Located at El Somorrostro beach and overlooking the Mediterranean Sea’s calm waters, the famous Icebarcelona is something straight out of a fairy tale.
It is a bar, the interiors of which are made entirely of ice. It doesn’t matter if the temperature outside is enough to melt rocks. The interior of the Icebarcelona maintains an ambient temperature of -2 to -10 degrees Celsius.
You cannot miss a drink in this ice bar and if you miss, consider repacking your bags and traveling back to Spain! You really cannot miss this!
Are you planning your travels? Here’re my top travel resources!
I’m a serial planner both in life and in travel – I have bucket lists, things to do, see, and everything. So, I always love when my life is sorted easily using tools and resources that would make my general planning a little smoother and easier. Therefore, in my many years of traveling the world, I’ve seen myself returning to these travel resources repeatedly. And here I am, sharing my tips to make your life easy and breezy so you can stress less, travel heaps, and focus on the fun part of travel!
- Booking.com – I book all my hotels through this website and don’t honestly use anything else. They always have the best prices, in my opinion.
- Airbnb – If I’m traveling long-term to one destination, I book my flats through Airbnb.
- Skyscanner – The best place to find cheap flights on flexible dates. I use this a lot to score cheap flights within Europe!
- SafetyWing – Always travel insured! Never leave your home country without one. It is worth the extra money, I promise you!
- GetYourGuide – Hands-down, the best place to find cool and unique tours if you don’t feel like winging it, and go straight to a local expert. I use this a lot in new destinations to get acquainted with the area!
- My Pretty Wild World Travel Diary (coming soon) – A book you can write down your travel plans, create itineraries, track down your budget, and dot down memories along the way! A handy book you can keep and read later to revisit memory lane.
- Pretty Wild World Travel Planning Printables (coming soon) – Are you a nut like me when it comes to planning? Yes? Good. My travel planning resource in one zip file is an easy-to-use printable planner that comes with tips that helps you plan your travels during the planning stage, a pre-flight checklist, an itinerary planner, and so on.
Skate Park Church
A church that is now a skate park – this is difficult to digest, but yes, it exists! The Skate Park Church is located in northern Spain’s Santa Barbara, Llanera.
The church was a century-old façade, crumbling down gradually. It was then restored with community fundraising and Red Bull sponsorship. It is now a skate park and has its interiors decorated with some stunning graffiti work by Okuda San Miguel.
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Get Pelted with Tomatoes At La Tomatina
One of Spain’s most popular and unusual festivals is La Tomatina. Celebrated in Bunol every year, where a feast of Paella marks the beginning of the party.
What follows is sheer madness with thousands of people pelting tomatoes at each other! The streets red turn with blood – tomato blood! Juice, we mean! It is crazy and fun, to say the least!
Attend the Festival of the Near-Death Experience
If attending La Tomatina wasn’t crazy enough for you, head for the Near-Death Experience festival in Galicia’s Las Nieves town. It is a festival where the locals celebrate those who experienced a near-death experience the previous year.
It is a yearly festival in which those who experienced it are carried in coffins (while they play dead) up to the hilltop cemetery with an intermediate stop at Santa Marta de Ribarteme Church.
Did we mention that the town has some long-lasting ties with paganism and witchcraft?
Hold up! Have you thought about the importance of travel insurance?
Remember this: anything can happen. Travel is fun, but your health is more important; thus, I always, always, always recommend getting insured during the duration of your trip. I have benefitted from having one multiple times, and it has been covered for thousands of euros!
The latest one is not necessarily “health” related – it was during the peak of the unspeakable terrible C that consumed the world. I was living in Vietnam when I received an email from SafetyWing (my travel insurance) that if I want they’ll fly be back home to Finland as the world goes through a global emergency alert. I flew back fully covered, and dealing with SafetyWing was a breeze despite the roar of people in contact with them trying to get back home.
I can’t highly recommend them enough. Otherwise, I rarely get sick; hence I don’t always need to head to a hospital, but knowing that I have travel insurance makes me feel safe at the very least.
Read my post about why you should get travel insurance for more information. Otherwise, you can get a free quote from SafetyWing – they’re the best, in my opinion.
Watch Sculptures Burn at Las Fallas, Valencia
Be in Valencia from March 15 to March 19 to witness the Las Fallas festival. While there is much to say, we will skip beating around the bush. Be there to witness the burning of huge sculptures on the final day of the festival. These sculptures can be as tall as 20 feet!
The event starts with the burning of small sculptures of children at around 10 PM, and then the final ones are set ablaze at around 1 AM, marking what is known as the La Cremà.
It is one of those unique things to do in Spain that you surely do not want to miss!
What else can go on the list of unique things to do in Spain? Read on to find out!
Leave Spain By Zip-Line
Want to experience something thrilling? How about taking a zip line and crossing over to Portugal without showing any passport? Even better, when you land in Portugal, you will move forward because of the time difference between the two nations!
Yes, it is possible with Limite Zero which allows you to cross Spain and land in Portugal via a zip line that will take about a minute.
During these 60 seconds, you will cross over the Guadiana River, witnessing some mesmerizing scenic beauty!
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Go Whale Watching and Bath on the Black Sand
Head for Tenerife – the volcanic island and experience the dark beauty of the glittering black sands that sweep across the beaches.
This unique island, with its Caribbean-African vibe, will intoxicate you with much more than just black sands! The mysterious pyramids, the formidable mountains, and albeit the majestic whales that will come to say hello now and then!
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What are my favorite travel must-haves?
As a frequent traveler, I’ve learned a lot throughout my years of travel, and there are five items that I always carry with me regardless of where I go and how long the trip is. Here are my five travel must-haves!
- Warm packable jacket – I always carry a light jacket, even when heading to warm countries. There hasn’t been a time I never used it, especially in airports and planes.
- Transparent toiletry bag – I often bring a carry-on if I’m only traveling within Europe for a few days. Life is so much easier to go through security checks with a transparent toiletry bag.
- Kindle Paperwhite – I love a good read and always take my Kindle everywhere. It keeps me entertained during long flights and waiting times.
- Powerbank – I don’t know how I could travel without one! Having a power bank saved me a ton since I carry a lot of electronic devices with me.
- Travel Adapter – I never leave my luggage without a travel adapter! I carry one with me all the time. It is just one of that travel-must haves that doesn’t hurt to have in your bag at all times.
Sip Gin in the Balearics
Menorca and gin! Quite unbelievable, but yes, Menorca has a history with gin that first arrived with sailor-type British occupation. What the locals did was take that drink and made their improvements.
So, you have every reason to sip gin in the Balearics! The Xoriguer distillery in Mahon overlooking the harbor has quite some gin collection, and you taste right amid the swollen bronze equipment and juniper berry baskets!
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Charter a Boat and Sail Around Spain
If the sailor inside you is bothering you, go ahead and charter a boat and sail around Spain. The country’s coastlines are beautiful! The Natural boat rental company is an excellent place to start. They can help you plan a route, stuff your boat with all essential supplies, hand over a captain who knows stuff, and off you go!
There is so much to explore! Menorca, Majorca, Mallorca, Ibiza – these Balearic Islands are simply breathtaking. Relax on the sea or visit a hidden island that you can keep mostly to yourself – the experience is purely magical.
The sailor in you will be satiated!
Tilt at Don Quixote Windmills
Did you read the Don Quixote novel written by Miguel de Cervantes? The windmills featured in there are real, and all you need to do is to visit La Mancha to catch a glimpse of those age-old windmills that still stand there.
Most likely, just like the protagonist, you may, too, confuse those windmills as giants when you take a road trip across the picturesque countryside. It is something you cannot do, and you should not miss it!
Visit Palacio de Cristal
Originally designed to work as a greenhouse of exotic plants, the Palacio de Cristal is today an exhibition house for art sponsored by Reina Sofia.
The Palacio de Cristal is all iron and glass, and why wouldn’t it be? After all, the purpose was to create a greenhouse effect.
This majestic façade stands at 72 feet at its highest and boasts a beautiful pond next to it where ducks and geese swim around unmindful of the humans. The surrounding park is serene, and you can just enjoy a nice picnic there!
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Visit the Fountain of the Fallen Angel
One of the most unusual things to do in Spain and one of its points of interest is to visit the statue, which is a public tribute to Satan. Fuente del Ángel Caído (or the fountain of the fallen angel) in the Buen Retiro Park in Madrid is unusual because it is the only public tribute to Satan you can find anywhere in the world.
If you want to add a whole new angle to this public satanic tribute, you should know that the Fuente del Ángel Caído stands at 666 meters above sea level. Notice the number 666.
The whole environment can become dramatic when you try to click a picture with your camera, and the clouds in the background just add to the drama of the statue. Don’t be surprised if your camera suddenly fails! After all, it is satanic!
Planning a trip to Spain? Check out these posts!
- Itinerary examples: 10-days in Spain
- How to plan a trip to Spain? Here’s my guide on how to do it!
- When is the best places to visit Spain? Here’s my month-by-month guide!
- How much do you need to travel to Spain? Here’s my Spain budget guide.
- Here are two posts to help you save money: free things and budget-friendly things to do in Spain.
- Spain Points of Interests: Surfing Spots, Islands to visit, Beaches to chill at, National Parks to visit, UNESCO Sites, Camping spots, Hiking spots, Diving spots, Romantic destinations, Cities to visit, Places to visit, Tourist places bucket list, Attractions to check out, Unique things to do, Outdoorsy activities, Vacation spots, Castle hotels to stay at, Must not miss things to do, Off the beaten path, Unusual things to do, Spain at night, Adventurous things to do, Northern Spain, Castles to visit, Towns to visit, Educational things to do, Adventure sports, Southern Spain, and Beautiful hotels
- Spain by Season: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn
- Spain by Months: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December
- Spain Travel Tips: Cheapest city to fly into, What to avoid in Spain, Things you must NOT do in Spain, Packing list for Spain, Transportation guide, Things to know before visiting Spain, Basic Spanish Phrases, Souvenirs to take home, What to do when it rains, and Travel tips before visiting
- Unique Experiences: Christmas in Spain, Christmas markets, Festivals in Spain, Road trips to take, Beach resorts, Solo traveler guide, Must-not-miss Points of Interest, Must-do experiences, Fun activities to do, Honeymoon in Spain, New years in Spain, Easter celebrations, Semana Santa, Holy Week, Easter procession, Bucket list, Architecture to visit, Parades in Spain, and Party destinations
- Spain Culture Overview: Tipping guide, Famous Food to try, Supermarkets to get your groceries, Wines to try, What is Spain famous for, Facts about Spain, Culture guide, Short history of Spain, Traditions to know, Foods to try, What is Semana Santa, Dishes to try, Renowned artists, and Spanish celebrations
- Barcelona Travel Guides: Things to do, Day trips, and Gothic quarter
- Mallorca Travel Guides: Things to do and Day trips
- Seville Travel Guides: Seville Easter
Conclusion
So, what do you think about this list of unusual things to do in Spain? Do you think we should be adding something else? If you have a few more in mind, share them with us in the comments section.
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