43.36° N · 5.85° W
The capital, for a rainy day or an evening in the cider houses. Everything can be done on foot.
Part of Camino del NorteCantabrian CoastPicos de Europa
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Visit · Gothic cathedral, Cámara Santa and cloister · €8 · Tower extra, with booking · No visits on Sunday
Guided visit · Two 9th-century pre-Romanesque monuments on Mount Naranco · €5 · Free on Monday mornings, without a guide
Visit · The largest pre-Romanesque church in Spain, 9th century, with wall paintings · €4 · Free on the first Monday of the month in the morning
Itineraries
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
Getaways from Oviedo
Plan the trip
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
Any month: it is the getaway for when it rains on the coast. May, June, September and October are the most pleasant for walking; in autumn there is an opera season and the Princess of Asturias Awards.
How you travel
Choose how you're travelling and we'll tell you where to stay, how to get around, where to eat and which services you'll need. We only show the ways of travelling that make sense here.
Oviedo is the city in Asturias that works best without a car: you arrive by AVE from Madrid in a little over three hours or by bus from the airport, the centre is pedestrianised and the city bus goes up to Naranco. From here, too, trains leave for Gijón and Avilés and buses to the coast.
By car you arrive on the A-66 from León and the A-8 from the coast. Once in Oviedo, the car is surplus: the centre is pedestrianised. Use it to get out: Gijón and Avilés are less than half an hour away and Cudillero about 45 minutes.
Asturias airport is about 45 minutes from Oviedo by car, with direct flights from Madrid, Barcelona and other Spanish cities. For Oviedo you do not need to hire a car: the Alsa bus drops you at the bus station and the centre is done on foot.
Who you're with
A trip with a toddler is not the same as one with a teenager. Pick yours to see what works and what to bear in mind.
The centre of Oviedo is pedestrianised and almost flat, so it goes well with a pushchair. The visits are short and the cathedral is free for under-12s with an adult.
Teenagers get more hooked on the cathedral tower and a 9th-century king's palace on a hill than on a museum. Give them a map and let them guide you around the old town.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Why we like it: A five-star hotel in Oviedo's former 18th-century Provincial Hospice, with covered courtyards and a Ventura Rodríguez chapel, five minutes from the station.
Why we like it: Three-star hotel on calle Jovellanos, a few steps from the cathedral, the Fontán and the Campoamor theatre, with 52 rooms.
Services for this trip
Where to eat
From set lunch menus to Michelin stars. We mark the price level and what to order at each place.
What to order: fried monkfish, oven-roasted ribs or corn cakes with xata roxa, and the smoked Pría cheese tart
What to order: the fabada with its compango or the pixín with cider sauce; to try the whole house, the seasonal tasting menu, and the CasadiellesFermín for dessert
What to order: the fresh fried line-caught squid, to share, and the fried monkfish, the speciality; for a spoon dish, the fabada
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
43.56° N · 6.15° W
By carBy plane
43.48° N · 5.44° W
By car
43.09° N · 6.26° W
By car
43.06° N · 5.39° W
By car
Tips
Santa María del Naranco and San Miguel de Lillo don't charge admission that day. If it is also the first Monday of the month, Santullano is free in the morning.
Groups are of 20 people and there are few slots a day. It is bought separately from the cathedral ticket.
At lunchtime, a cider house; in the evening, a stroll around the Fontán and the squares before dinner.
If you arrive by car from the coast, park on arrival and forget about it until you leave.
Walking up to the Naranco along the road. It is about 3 km uphill: take bus A2, which stops at Prerrománico, and save your legs for the visit.
Oviedo is seen on foot and in a day, with two stops that need a watch: the cathedral in the morning and the pre-Romanesque of Naranco in the afternoon. In between, the old town and lunch on Calle Gascona.
The Cathedral of San Salvador is in the middle of the old town. It was built over the basilica that Alfonso II the Chaste had built, whose first altar was consecrated on 13 October 821, and what you see today is mostly 15th-century, in flamboyant Gothic. The ticket to the complex includes the Cámara Santa, the Gothic cloister and the diocesan museum; children under 12 with an adult go in free, and the last visit is an hour before closing. The tower is climbed separately, by reservation: 184 steps in three flights, in groups of 20 people, Monday to Saturday, on a one-hour visit with panels and QR codes.
The old town takes a couple of hours: the Fontán market, Plaza de la Constitución with the town hall, the convent of the Pelayas and the pre-Romanesque Foncalada fountain, from the time of Alfonso II. Next to the old town, the Campo de San Francisco is the city's big park, beside Calle Uría, the shopping street.
For lunch, Calle Gascona, the so-called cider boulevard, is full of cider houses and restaurants. It is the place to pour cider the traditional way and order things to share.
Oviedo has five pre-Romanesque monuments declared World Heritage in 1985 and 1998, within the Monuments of Oviedo and the Kingdom of Asturias. They date from the 8th and 9th centuries, from the reigns of Alfonso II and Ramiro I.
If you don't have much time, do the Naranco: the building and the views over the city justify it.
Oviedo is the rainy-day plan for Asturias. The Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias and the Museo Arqueológico de Asturias are free, the cathedral is covered and the old town has arcades and plenty of cider houses. With one rainy day and one sunny day, leave the rainy one for Oviedo and the other for the coast.
Two very different plans half an hour away by car. To the south-west, the Senda del Oso by bike, the greenway on the old mining railway, is ridden in a gentle descent with a hire bike and a van to the start, from €28 with transfer. To the east, at San Martín del Rey Aurelio, the Pozo Sotón goes down in the cage to a real coal mine, at 386 metres, on a four-to-five-hour visit for €48, from age 16. In the city, and free, the Archaeological Museum, next to the cathedral, completes the pre-Romanesque day.
By train, Oviedo is the best gateway to Asturias without a car. Since the Pajares bypass, the AVE from Madrid takes from 3 h 12 min. The Estación del Norte, on Calle Uría, also receives long- and medium-distance trains and Cercanías, and from it you walk to the old town along Calle Uría itself.
By plane, Asturias airport is about 45 minutes away by car, with a bus to Oviedo bus station, on Calle Empresario Pepe Cosmen.
By car, you arrive via the A-66 from León and the plateau, and the A-8 from the coast. Gijón is 28 km away and Avilés 29: Oviedo works as a base for all three cities. Once in, leave the car: the centre is done on foot and for the Naranco you have the bus.
Without a car, from Oviedo there are buses to the coastal villages, such as Cudillero, and Cercanías trains to Gijón and Avilés.
Questions
One day for the cathedral, the old town and the Naranco. Two if you want museums, Santullano and lunch and dinner without rushing.
Santa María del Naranco and San Miguel de Lillo, €5 together, with a guided visit and free on Mondays. Santullano, €4, free on the first Monday of each month in the morning.
The Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias and the Museo Arqueológico de Asturias are free.
Yes, by reservation, Monday to Saturday: 184 steps on a one-hour visit, separate from the cathedral ticket.
No. You arrive by AVE or by bus from the airport, the centre is seen on foot and the city bus goes to the Naranco.
Oviedo to see monuments and get around by train and bus; Gijón if you want a beach. They are 28 km apart.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/spain/asturias/oviedo
