You are studying Spanish? Would you like to combine an island holiday with the opportunity to put your language skills into practice?
The Spanish Empire left a lasting legacy around the world, in terms of the sheer number of countries where its conquering language is still spoken.
Some of those countries are island nations themselves, and all make great vacation destinations.
There is Cuba, of course, which is the largest Spanish-speaking island in the world. It is attracting more and more tourists lately, although traveling there is still a bit difficult for most US citizens. Keep it on your list though, as the country could soon open up more to visitors from all over.
The Dominican Republic is the Spanish-speaking part of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (Haiti is the French-speaking Creole part). It is becoming internationally famous for its modern beach resorts.
Then there is Puerto Rico, another Caribbean island. It is not its own country but, rather, it is a territory of the Commonwealth of the United States. Still, it feels like a self-contained island nation, and Spanish is the official language (though you’ll hear a lot of English, too).
Don’t forget the many Spanish-speaking islands that are actually part of another continental country. For example, there is the island of Cozumel, famous among divers, off the coast of Yucatan in Mexico. The Bay Islands of Honduras, surrounded by blue Caribbean waters, are attractive to retirees from the US and Europe. The Galapagos Islands, in the far Pacific and made famous by Charles Darwin, are actually a possession of Ecuador.
No list of Spanish-speaking islands would be complete without mentioning the Canary Islands, governed as an autonomous region of Spain. These are an archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa; Tenerife is the most populated of them, followed by Gran Canaria.
Even closer to Spain are the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, you may have heard of some of the most famous individual islands: Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera. These attract tourists and partiers from all over Europe. Curiously, on these islands there are two co-official languages: Spanish and Catalan.
There are many smaller islands around the world where Spain’s linguistic heritage still thrives. These are just some of the most prominent. So you see, you have a wide variety of destinations if you long to vacation on islands where Spanish is spoken!