Edmund Burke called Spain "a whale stranded upon the coast of Europe." Quite witty, but it makes you wonder if he ever visited a country that, to our minds, offers such a flawless blend of history, hospitality and hedonism – all with a silent H.

For a group of former college friends with the luxury of time, we crafted a three-week itinerary that saw them biking and walking, wining and dining, sightseeing and siesta-ing right across the peninsula. Meeting in Barcelona, they discovered the city with a professor from the school of fine arts, then headed off biking along quiet roads through the Catalan countryside, stopping at a pair of renowned Relais & Châteaux hotels, Torre del Remei and Mas de Torrent. A perfect day on an America's Cup yacht followed an otherworldly evening at chef Ferran Adrià's elBulli, holder of three Michelin stars and consistently ranked one of the finest restaurants in the world.

A chartered jet from Girona brought the friends to San Sebastian, where they explored the Rioja vineyards on foot. After lunch at Pedro Subijana's Akelare and a visit to Frank Gehry's spectacular Guggenheim in Bilbao, home for the night was the hotel Gehry designed for the Marques de Riscal winery. (Rumour has it he was only persuaded to take the assignment when, over lunch, the owner opened a bottle from the year of the architect's birth.)

It was time to shift the cultural gears in a more Moorish direction. After a short flight south to Andalucía, the group enjoyed superb biking all the way from Córdoba to Seville, and from elBulli Hotel Hacienda Benazuza to the outstanding Finca La Bobadilla. Stops along the way in Carmona, Palma del Rio and Ecija provided further encounters with the hospitable people of this region. Indeed, the group felt incredibly welcome everywhere they journeyed, learning from the experts how one awakes from each siesta ready to party another night away.