León

To enjoy a inland tourism in which you can visit the most wonderful historical monuments, the ideal is to stay a few days in the hotels in Leon; a two thousand year old, magical and endearing city located in the heart of Spain.

León has much to offer its visitors, from its great historical and cultural heritage to its Holy Week, declared of National Tourist Interest. In addition, it has a varied gastronomic culture and is a key piece of the Camino de Santiago.

Its history is written in each of its streets and in each stone. In every corner you can appreciate the glimpse of what once was: the capital of an ancient kingdom. Founded on a Roman military camp, it keeps a valuable monumental wealth that covers almost all artistic styles; from Romanesque through Gothic, Plateresque, Renaissance to Modernist.

León is a city of great historical relevance that has been able to adapt to the new times becoming a very cosmopolitan city, but keeping that tranquility of cities with history: it has wonderful rest areas, such as the promenade that accompanies the Bernesga River as it passes through the city.

There are many artistic treasures that León hides in its streets and that have forged its cultural identity over the centuries. This city preserves a historic center which is a real masterpiece, a constant succession of monuments, palaces and churches.

The cathedral of Leon, declared by Royal Order the first monument of Spain in 1844, also known as the Pulchra leonina, has the set of best preserved medieval stained glass windows in Europe, along with those of the cathedral of Chartres, Paris. It is an imposing work of Gothic style that rises in the middle of the road to Santiago and dazzles by the play of colors projected through its stained glass windows.

The Casa Botines, one of the three buildings by Antonio Gaudí that can be seen outside Catalonia. It is a neo-Gothic building whose facade resembles a fantasy palace with a trapezoidal base, with modernist influences which houses exhibitions on painting in the artist's century and on the history of the building.

The Palacio de Guzmanes, located in the heart of León, stands out for its main facade in which there is a decorated door of the sixteenth century flanked by Ionic columns and crowned with statues of two soldiers holding the family coat of arms.

The convent of San Marcos is one of the masterpieces of the Renaissance in Spain, it was built in the 16th century and currently holds the Parador Nacional de Turismo de León. A must-see is its incredible Gothic church, which houses the museum of San Marcos, where you can enjoy archaeological collections and other arts.

But León has many more monuments that cannot go unnoticed; its late Roman wall, an example of defensive construction after Roman times, or the Collegiate Church of San Isidoro, considered the Sistine Chapel of the Romanesque due to its incalculable beauty and destined to be a royal pantheon, is among the most important of its kind in the Iberian Peninsula.

One of the must-visits in the city is the famous Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MUSAC). Also known as the "Museum of the XXI century", its characteristic stained glass façade stands out to the visitor who approaches it. It is not for nothing that this design, like its single-story construction, received the Mies van der Rohe Architecture Prize 2007. Inaugurated in 2005, it was conceived as an experimental space in which international contemporary art flows through every pore of the building.  

The province of León is one of the regions with the greatest agricultural and livestock potential and its gastronomy is one of the most varied in Spain, characterized by the presence of pork, sausages and fish.

It is also the area with the most protected food in the country and it is common to find markets in the main square of the capital where you can taste a wide variety of local products, being the most famous the bollito and the black pudding of León.

Another obligatory stop in the city is the Barrio Húmedo, very close to the main square, where having a tapa of morcilla, chorizo or cecina is already a tradition. On the other hand, if what you want is to try a paella or seafood in Leon is advisable to go to Romanesque neighborhood, located in the area from Ancha Street to the Basilica of San Isidoro.

The province of León is one of the regions with the greatest agricultural and livestock potential and its gastronomy is one of the most varied in Spain, characterized by the presence of pork, sausages and fish.

It is also the area with the most protected food in the country and it is common to find markets in the main square of the capital where you can taste a wide variety of local products, being the most famous the bollito and the black pudding of León.

Another obligatory stop in the city is the Barrio Húmedo, very close to the main square, where having a tapa of morcilla, chorizo or cecina is already a tradition. On the other hand, if what you want is to try a paella or seafood in Leon is advisable to go to Romanesque neighborhood, located in the area from Ancha Street to the Basilica of San Isidoro.

The great city of León is only the starting point to know all the wonders that hides its province, being essential a visit to Ponferrada, home of one of the main Templar castles in Spain or Astorga, specifically the Episcopal Palace, the work of Antonio Gaudí.

The natural landscapes of the province of León are amazing and worth a visit. Among them are the Picos de Europa National Park, the Valdeporquero cave or what was considered the largest open-pit gold mine in the Roman Empire, Las Médulas, located in El Bierzo, next to the Sil river valley and northwest of the Aquilanos mountains.