After decades of being pointedly ignored, particularly by tourists to the coastal resorts, revitalised Málaga is now the Andalucian city everyone is talking about. Its 30-odd museums and edgy urban art scene are well matched by contemporary-chic dining choices, a stash of new boutique hotels and a shopping street voted one of the most stylish in Spain.

Nowhere encapsulates the exotic drama of Andalucía’s past to more gripping effect than Granada. The provincial capital is home to Spain’s single greatest Islamic building, the Alhambra, and it retains a distinct Moorish air with its shadowy teterías (teahouses), winding alleyways and whitewashed cármenes (mansions with walled gardens, from the Arabic karm for garden).

For anyone who loves culture, nature, history or good food, this relatively little-visited province turns out to be one magical combination. Endless lines of pale-green olive trees – producing one-sixth of all the world's olive oil – carpet much of the landscape.

This part of the region is where most visitors spend their time, drawn by the allure and Renaissance architecture of the Unesco World Heritage towns of Baeza and Úbeda, and the picturesque villages, mountains and hiking trails of the Parque Natural Sieras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas, Spain's biggest protected area, for which Cazorla town makes a great starting point.