The majority of Spain's peninsular region consists of the Meseta Central, a highland plateau rimmed and dissected by mountain ranges. To the north is the Cordillera Cantabrica that comprises the Picos de Europa (2.648 m), this Cordillera forms the northern side of the Meseta. Towards east, the limit of the Meseta is marked from Iberian System, a complex alignment of chains that exceed in several points 2,000 m, touching 2,313 m in the Sierra del Moncayo. At last the southern side of the Meseta, is indicated from the reliefs from the Sierra Morena (1,323 m) beyond which is the Andalusian plains with the river valley of the Guadalquivir that separates the Meseta from Betic System, that touches the highest heights in the Sierra Nevada, with peaks that exceed 3,000 m, here is the maximum summit of the Country (excluded the Canarian Islands), the mount Mulhacén (3,478 m). The Pyrenees reach also elevated altitudes (Pico de Aneto, 3,404 m), this chain forms the natural border in the north-eastern part of Spain for beyond 400 km from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. Other landforms include narrow coastal plains and some lowland river valleys, the most prominent of which is the Andalusian Plain in the southwest. The country can be divided into ten natural regions or subregions: the dominant Meseta Central, the Cordillera Cantabrica and the northwest region, the Ibérico region, the Pyrenees, the Penibético region in the southeast, the Andalusian Plain, the Ebro Basin, the coastal plains, the Balearic Islands, and the Canary Islands. The major rivers flowing westward through the Meseta Central include the Duero, the Tagus, the Guadiana, and the Guadalquivir. Most major rivers rise in the mountains rimming or dissecting the Meseta Central and flow westward across the plateau through Portugal to empty into the Atlantic Ocean. One significant exception is the river with the most abundant flow in Spain, the Ebro, which flows eastward to the Mediterranean.

The remaining regions of Spain are the Balearic and the Canary Islands, the former located in the Mediterranean Sea and the latter in the Atlantic Ocean. The Balearic Islands (Maiorca, Minorca, Ibiza, Formentera), encompassing a total area of 4,992 sqkm, 796,400 inhabitants, lie 80 kilometers off Spain's central eastern coast. The archipelago's highest points, which reach 1,400 meters, are in northwestern Majorca. The Canary Islands (Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Palma, Gomera, Hierro), a total area of 7,447 sqkm, 1,630,000 inhabitants, ninety kilometers off the west coast of Africa, are of volcanic origin. The large central islands, Gran Canaria and Tenerife, have the highest peaks; on Gran Canaria they rise to 1,950 meters and on Tenerife there is the highest peak in Spain, the Pico de Teide, a dormant volcano (3,710 meters).