Zamora Tourist Guides Association

Who they are

The Zamora Tourist Guides Association was founded in 1993 and brings together most of the professional guides working in Zamora. All are official guides licensed by the Junta de Castilla y León, each with their own registration number, and several also hold the civil architecture, sacred art and wine-tourism specialisms awarded by the same administration. The association acts as the interlocutor with local and regional tourism authorities and belongs to the Federation of Official Guides of Castilla y León, to CEFAPIT, to the European Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (FEG) and to the world federation WFTGA. Its office is at Plaza de la Puebla, 3, in the old town.

What tours they run

The fixed tour is Romanesque Zamora (Zamora románica), every day of the year at 11:00 (at 10:00 on Maundy Thursday), except 25 December and 1 and 6 January; some days there is also a session at 16:30, which is best confirmed by email. It leaves from Plaza de Viriato, in front of the sculpture, enters a Romanesque church depending on its opening hours, passes the Magdalena and San Ildefonso, the Troncoso viewpoint, the cathedral inside and out, the Puerta de la Lealtad and the castle. It lasts about two hours.

Essential Toro (Toro esencial) runs on Saturday afternoons from March to December, though not all of them, and on Wednesday mornings from July to September. It starts in the Plaza Mayor of Toro, in front of the town hall, at 16:30 in March and from October to December, at 17:00 from April to September and at 11:00 on summer Wednesdays. It covers the collegiate church, the Espolón, San Lorenzo el Real, the palaces of the Reja Dorada and the Counts of Requena, San Sebastián and the Clock Tower.

With the City Council's Equality Department they have designed Zamora in the feminine (Zamora en femenino), a walking route of an hour and a half to two hours on the role of women in the city's history, designed mainly for schools and women's groups, which ends at the Troncoso viewpoint. For groups they also prepare half-day or full-day routes around the province: Toro with a winery, Sanabria with the lake and San Martín de Castañeda, the Arribes with a cruise and Fermoselle, San Pedro de la Nave, Benavente, the Ruta de la Plata with Moreruela and the Villafáfila lagoons, Tierra de Campos or Aliste and the Sierra de la Culebra. These have no published price: they are requested by phone or email.

Prices, booking and cancellation

The two regular tours cost €12 per adult and €6 for ages 5 to 12; under-4s with an adult do not pay. The price includes the guide and a radio receiver so you can hear him or her well; they recommend bringing your own headphones. Tickets to the cathedral, the churches and the monuments of Toro are not included, although a reduced rate applies at the cathedral.

Booking is free and compulsory, from the page for each tour on its website; it can also be cancelled free. You pay the guide directly at the start. The route may change for reasons beyond the organisation's control, for example if a church does not open.

Languages and contact

The association's guides work in Spanish, French, English, Italian and Portuguese; the website does not say which language the daily tour is in, so if you need another, ask when you book. The phone is answered from 9:00 to 14:00 and from 17:00 to 19:00.