Salamanca

Introduction

Salamanca is the capital of its province in Castile and León, set on the northern half of the Meseta Central in western-central Spain, with the Tormes river running through the city. The University of Salamanca, founded in 1218, is one of the oldest in Western Europe, and the presence of its students shapes the city's daily life alongside the cultural tourists drawn to the Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Before you go

Salamanca sits on a plateau on the north bank of the River Tormes, and its history shapes what you'll see. Romans, Visigoths and Moors all held the city in turn before an era of re-population and church-building, and its university—founded in 1218 and among the first in the world—made it a cosmopolitan centre of learning that it remains today. It was in Salamanca that Columbus won support for his transatlantic voyage, and the city shared in Spain's golden age, when Renaissance buildings went up in local Villamayor sandstone that glows gold, orange and pink at sunrise and sunset. The new cathedral was built over the old, and the Plaza Mayor was laid out in the same period.

Expect a compact, walkable city where most employment is in services, tourism and education around the university, with industry kept further out. Tourist information is posted on the Salamanca Tourism website, and the main office is within City Hall at Plaza Mayor 32. As anywhere, beware traffic, safeguard your valuables and steer clear of drunks.

Getting there

Madrid Barajas is the nearest practical airport, well connected across Europe and beyond, but it sits a long way east of the city. Salamanca's own Matacan airport, east of town, sees only occasional summer flights, so most travellers arrive overland. By rail, Alvia trains from Madrid Chamartín run every couple of hours and take about an hour and forty minutes via Segovia Guiomar; slower services from Madrid Principe Pio, via El Escorial and Ávila, can take up to three hours. The main railway station is small but modern, a short distance northeast of the centre, with a couple of cafes and a car-rental office but no left luggage. From the street outside, Bus 1 runs to the old centre, while Bus 11 skirts it west along Paseo de San Vicente to the hospital and university medical campus. Slow trains continue a little further southwest to terminate at La Alamedilla, and you can ride through to shorten the walk into town, though you can't board the eastbound return there.

Monbus runs hourly from Madrid Estación Sur, taking about three hours via Madrid Moncloa and Ávila, with several departures a day starting from Madrid Airport. Avanza buses connect Valladolid every two hours in around ninety minutes. Long-distance Alsa services link Salamanca with Galicia and northern Spain and continue south toward Seville, Cádiz and Algeciras for ferries to Morocco, while another runs from Paris and on to Lisbon. The bus terminal lies northwest of the centre and has left luggage, cafes, toilets, ticket counters and ATMs. By road, fast toll autovias connect the city east to Ávila and Madrid, south to Cáceres and Seville, northeast to Valladolid, north to Zamora and León, and west into Portugal.

Getting around

Salamanca is compact, and its main attractions cluster closely together in and around the Old City, so for most of your sightseeing the simplest and most rewarding way to explore is on foot. If your focus is the historic centre and the university area, you can comfortably leave public transport for arrival and departure days.

For longer hops, the city has numerous bus routes with cheap tickets that you can buy directly from the driver on board. Bus 1 connects the train station with Plaza Poeta Iglesias, right next to Plaza Mayor, while Bus 11 runs west along Paseo de San Vicente toward the hospital and university medical campus. Long-distance coaches arrive at the Estación de Autobuses, about a kilometre northwest of the centre, which has left luggage facilities, cafes, toilets, ticket counters and ATMs. A few taxi ranks are found around the city, and you can also call a cab with the Pide Taxi app; passengers pay with cash at the conclusion of the ride.

Where to stay

Salamanca's accommodation clusters tightly around the Plaza Mayor, so you can sleep within a few minutes' walk of the old centre. Budget options include Los Angeles Plaza right on the Plaza Mayor, with very central but tiny and not especially comfortable rooms, and Hostal Plaza Mayor just south of the square at Plaza del Corrillo, which offers great value. Hostal Concejo sits a short walk northwest of the Plaza Mayor, and Hotel Nobis is a budget choice south of the Parador. If you want more comfort for a modest outlay, the mid-range hotels are also close to the centre: Hotel Rúa and Hotel Soho Boutique lie just south and southeast of the Plaza Mayor respectively, both praised for comfort, location and value; Microtel Placentinos is a comfy hotel near the city museum; Hotel Artheus Carmelitas is a boxy modern place with small rooms but friendly service; Sercotel Puerta de la Catedral is very central and comfy beside the cathedral; and NH Palacio de Castellanos is a chic central hotel with restaurant, bar and meeting rooms.

For a splurge, Hotel Rector is an outstanding stylish hotel by Casa Lis, while the Parador de Salamanca across the river is an upmarket option with an excellent restaurant, gym, pool, views of the old town and free guest parking, housed in a modern building that is spacious and comfortable within. Book well in advance if you hope to stay during Easter (Semana Santa) or the fiesta of the Virgen de la Vega. Note that a central inexpensive place will not have its own parking lot; you will likely be directed to a public lot some distance away, so factor in a hike with your bags through dark unfamiliar streets and a night's parking.

Food & drink

Meat dominates the local table, and you will find pork in many forms: ribs (costilla), sausage (chorizo), ham (jamón), bacon (panceta) and face (jeta). Pincho moruno is a skewer of pork marinated in paprika and garlic, while chanfaina is a spicy rice dish made with liver or blood. Tapas are served in bars everywhere, with a particular cluster of spots along Van Dyck, about a kilometre north of Plaza Mayor. If you want vegetables, several places make a decent veggie choice, and a few go further: El Laurel has many vegetarian options and a few vegan ones, El Rastrel is mostly a beer hall but serves vegan tapas, and Salamanca Magenta Cafe & Bar is a vegan and vegetarian counter-service restaurant. Vinodiario, across the plaza from San Esteban, offers plenty of vegetarian options alongside meat and has indoor and outdoor seating, with reservations recommended.

Around Plaza Mayor you are spoiled for choice. Mesón Cervantes is a traditional restaurant right on the plaza, Bambú is a cosy central spot for tapas and grills a short walk west, Zazu is an Italian bistro just northwest at Plaza Libertad, and El Pecado sits just south at Plaza del Poeta Iglesias. Casa Paca is also a short walk south, while Momo, further south on San Pablo, serves meaty tapas. El Bardo Centro, opposite La Clerecía, does excellent tapas and full meals, mostly meaty, and Mandala flanks La Clerecía at Serranos. Mesón Las Conchas, near the Casa de las Conchas, offers good traditional meaty fare, and Victor Gutierrez is an upscale place near the Palacio de Congresos. For drinking, bars and nightclubs are innumerable and all central, among them Camelot, Puerto de Chus, Submarino, Moderno, Cum Laude, Daniel's, Chupiteria, Paniagua, Potemkin, Capitan Haddock and Niebla. The Irish Theatre, despite the name, is just a pub, set by the House of Shells on Rúa Antigua. Salamanca is also near several domains in the Castile and León wine-growing region, so local wine is worth seeking out.

What to see and do

Salamanca's old centre is compact enough to explore on foot, and most of its highlights cluster around the Plaza Mayor and the cathedrals. The Plaza Mayor is the finest in Spain, laid out between 1730 and 1755, with plaques of monarchs and nobility gazing down from its arcades. On its south flank stands the Church of San Martín de Tour, founded in 1103 and rebuilt after the 1755 earthquake. A short walk east, the New and Old Cathedrals are joined as one building: you enter the New Cathedral from the north side and can admire the Puerta de Ramos, where the carvings include an astronaut and an imp clutching an ice-cream cone, before descending into the Romanesque Old Cathedral with its frescoes. Nearby is the old core of the university, constituted in 1254, where you can study the elaborate facade and, if you can, spot the frog unaided; inside, the library, the grand staircase and the Hall of Fray Luis de Leon are the highlights. The Unamuno House Museum sits within the university and is visitable by guided tour in Spanish only.

Beyond the centre, the House of Shells, built between 1493 and 1517, has a facade carved with hundreds of stone scallops and an elegant courtyard you can look into; La Clerecía faces it across the street and you can see the church and climb the tower. The Convento de San Esteban, a Dominican monastery built from 1524, has a striking facade, an impressive church interior and an exhibition on missionaries in the New World, while the Convento de las Dueñas just north has a cloister with strange beasts on its pillars. Other stops include the Palacio de Monterey, best admired from outside, the round 12th-century Church of San Marcos, and the Roman Bridge spanning the River Tormes, pedestrian-only since 1973, where boat hire is available at its south end. Museums range from the city's prehistory and history at the Museum of Salamanca to the Art Déco and Art Nouveau collections at Casa Lis, contemporary art in a former prison at Domus Artium 2002, and the Motorbike Museum in Santa Marta de Tormes. For entertainment, the Teatro Liceo is close to the Plaza Mayor, and the Fiesta of the Virgen de la Vega runs from 8 to 21 September.

When to go

Salamanca has a cold semi-arid climate, so what you pack depends heavily on the season. Winters are cool with frequent frosts, so plan for cold mornings and evenings and bring rain protection, since rain falls in this season as it does through most of the year.

Summers are warm to hot by day, but nights turn cool, so you'll want a layer for the evening. This is the driest part of the year, with less rain than the other seasons.

Three days in Salamanca

Day one: Start in the Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and get your bearings around the Plaza Mayor, with City Hall among the buildings facing the square. Take in the University, the heart of Renaissance Salamanca, and wander the streets of the centre at an easy pace before following the Paseo San Vicente down toward the River Tormes.

Day two: Cross the Tormes and look back at the city from the far bank, then return to the Old City to trace the layers of its past, from the Romans and Visigoths to the Moors. Spend the afternoon in the streets around the University and the Plaza Mayor, and keep an eye out for the warm stone of Villamayor that gives the centre its colour.

Day three: Slow down and take the city as it comes, with a walk along the Paseo San Vicente and time around La Alamedilla. If you are heading onward, Salamanca Tourism can point you toward connections, and the city sits within easy reach of Madrid and the towns of Castile and León across the Meseta Central.