León

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

León has a lot to offer its visitors, from its great historical and cultural heritage to its Holy Week, declared of National Tourist Interest. It also has a varied gastronomic culture and is a key piece of the Way of St James.

Its history is written in each of its streets and in each stone. Everywhere you look there is a glimpse of what once was the capital of an ancient kingdom. Founded on the site of a Roman military camp, it is home to a host of valuable monuments that cover almost all artistic styles, from Romanesque to Gothic, Plateresque, Renaissance and Art Nouveau.

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

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

The cathedral of León, declared by Royal Order the first monument of Spain in 1844, also known as the Pulchra leonina, is home to the best preserved set of medieval stained glass windows in Europe, along with those of the cathedral of Chartres, Paris. It is an imposing Gothic-style building that stands in the middle of the Way of St James and dazzles with the play of colours projected through its stained glass windows.

León is also home to Casa Botines, one of the three buildings by Antonio Gaudí that can be seen outside Catalonia. It is a neo-Gothic building whose façade 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 right in the centre of León, stands out due to its main façade which features a decorated 16th century doorway flanked by Ionic columns and crowned with statues of two soldiers bearing the family coat of arms.

The San Marcos convent is one of the masterpieces of the Renaissance in Spain. It was built in the 16th century and currently houses the Parador Nacional de Turismo de León. Its incredible Gothic church is a must.see. It houses the museum of San Marcos, where you can enjoy archaeological collections and other art collections.

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.

The famous Contemporary Art Museum (MUSAC in Spanish) is another must-see in the city. Also known as the "Museum of the 21st century", its characteristic stained glass façade stands out those who approach it. It's no wonder that this design, like its single-story construction, was awarded the Mies van der Rohe Architecture Prize in 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, characterised 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 capital's main square where you can taste a wide variety of local products, the most famous being bollito rolls and local black pudding.

Another obligatory stop in the city is Barrio Húmedo, a neighbourhood very close to the main square, where having a tapa of black pudding, chorizo or cecina (cured meat) is already a tradition. On the other hand, if you want to try a paella or seafood in Leon, you should visit the Romanesque neighbourhood, located in the area from calle Ancha 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, characterised 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 capital's main square where you can taste a wide variety of local products, the most famous being bollito rolls and local black pudding.

Another obligatory stop in the city is Barrio Húmedo, a neighbourhood very close to the main square, where having a tapa of black pudding, chorizo or cecina (cured meat) is already a tradition. On the other hand, if you want to try a paella or seafood in Leon, you should visit the Romanesque neighbourhood, located in the area from calle Ancha to the Basilica of San Isidoro.

The great city of León is just the starting point to discover all the wonders that its province is home to, a visit to Ponferrada being a must, home to 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 north-west of the Aquilanos mountains.