# Ávila

The complete medieval wall that you walk along the top, the fortress cathedral and San Vicente, an hour and a half from Madrid: opening hours, prices, where to eat and sleep.

Fuente: https://www.geocalia.com/en/spain/castile-and-leon/avila · Revisado: 2026-11-12

Ávila is the city of the wall. Its medieval enclosure, 2,516 metres long with 87 towers, is complete and you can walk along the top for a good part of its perimeter. Inside are the cathedral, which is both temple and bastion, granite palaces and the places of Saint Teresa; outside, the Romanesque basilica of San Vicente and the monastery of Santo Tomás. It is a compact visit, an hour and a half from Madrid, which can be done in a day and is better with a night, because the wall lit up from Los Cuatro Postes is the image everyone comes looking for.

## How do I get there from Madrid?

By car, along the AP-6 and AP-51: it is 113 km according to Ávila Turismo and around an hour and a half of travel. From Segovia it is 81 km along the N-110, one hour; from Salamanca, 96 km along the A-50, about 75 minutes, and from Valladolid, 140 km. Without a car, Ávila has a train station on Paseo de la Estación and a bus station on Avenida de Madrid, both a walk from the old town.

## Where do I park?

The walled old town is narrow and almost everything is done on foot: leave the car outside. If you sleep at the Parador or the Palacio de los Velada, they have their own parking with limited spaces. For motorhomes, Aparkarea, at the foot of the north stretch of wall, has 40 spaces with water and electricity five minutes from the centre.

## How much time do I need?

A day covers the wall-walk, the cathedral, San Vicente and lunch, and going up to Los Cuatro Postes at dusk if you head back late. With a night you add Santo Tomás and the Teresian convents without rushing, and stroll the empty city. Ávila combines well with Segovia, an hour away, or with the Sierra de Gredos, to the south.

## What to see

City wall. Four access points to the wall-walk. €8; in winter, Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00.

Cathedral. The first Gothic cathedral in Spain, with the apse built into the wall.

Basilica of San Vicente. The great Romanesque of Ávila, next to the gate of the same name.

Los Cuatro Postes. The viewpoint across the Adaja. Free.

Santo Tomás. Three cloisters and the tomb of Prince Juan.

## What is there to eat?

Ávila cooking is spoon dishes and the grill: beans from El Barco, Ávila beef chuletón, suckling pig and, for dessert, Santa Teresa egg-yolk sweets. The Parador has them all on its menu; inside the wall, the Hostería Las Cancelas serves in a 15th-century courtyard and the Puerta del Alcázar is at the foot of the wall-walk. None publishes its hours: call first, especially on Sunday.

## When should I go?

Ávila is one of the highest capitals in Spain and it shows: in winter it is cold with the odd snowfall, and in summer the evenings call for a jacket. Spring and autumn are the best times to walk the wall. From late October to late March the wall is closed on Mondays; in summer it is open every day until late and some stretches until 22:00.

## Dónde está
- Zonas: The Central System
- Cerca: San Lorenzo de El Escorial (a 47.2 km), Sierra de Gredos (a 52.6 km), Segovia (a 58.7 km), Navacerrada Pass and Cercedilla (a 60.3 km)

## Qué hacer
- **Walking the Wall Walkway of Ávila** (1 h 30 · Everyone; there are steps · Desde 8 € per person): You can walk along the top of Ávila's city wall, on the wall walkway, for much of its perimeter. It is 2,516 metres long, with 87 towers (it had 88; one was demolished in the 16th century to build the chapel of San Segundo) and encloses 33 hectares. Excavations show an enclosure with the same layout since the 1st century; what you are walking on is the wall rebuilt under Alfonso VI and reinforced by Alfonso VIII, with sections about 3 metres thick and 12 high on average on the east side, with a tower roughly every 20 metres. It became a National Monument in 1884, and in 1985 UNESCO declared the old city and its churches outside the walls a World Heritage Site.
Four stretches and three ways up
The wall walkway is not a closed circuit: you walk it in stretches. The open stretches are Puerta del Alcázar, Carnicerías, Arco del Carmen and Puente del Adaja, and you climb up via the Casa de las Carnicerías, the Puerta del Alcázar or the Puerta del Puente. The Alcázar stretch, on the east side, is the cathedral one and the closest to Plaza de Santa Teresa; the Puente one is on the west side, over the River Adaja.
Allow an hour and a half to walk the stretches without hurrying. You go up by steps and the walkway has uneven levels: with small children, hold their hands and leave the pushchair behind.
Hours: summer, winter and Mondays

27 March to 24 October: every day from 10:00 to 20:00. In July and August some entrances stay open later: Carnicerías and El Carmen until 22:00 and the Puerta del Puente until 21:00, except Wednesdays and Thursdays, which close at 20:00.
25 October to 26 March: from 10:00 to 18:00, and closed on Mondays, except some bank holiday or long-weekend Mondays.
Christmas: 24 and 31 December, from 10:00 to 15:00; closed on 25 December and on 1 and 6 January.

The last entry is 45 minutes before closing; at the Puerta del Alcázar, 30.
Admission and audioguide
General admission costs €8 and the reduced rate €5. You buy it on the wall ticket website, at the entrances themselves or at the Visitor Reception Centre at Avenida de Madrid, 39. It is also included in the ÁvilaCard, which is valid for 48 hours and gives one entry per monument. There is an audioguide in seven languages and a version designed for children.
Before and after the walkway
On coming down at the Puerta del Alcázar you have the cathedral in front of you, whose apse is also a tower of the wall. For the photo of the whole wall, cross the Adaja to the Cuatro Postes. And for a meal without going far, the Puerta del Alcázar restaurant is next to the gate of the same name.
- **Cuatro Postes Viewpoint** (30 min · Everyone · Free): On the left bank of the River Adaja, facing the city, stands the humilladero (wayside shrine) of San Sebastián, which everyone knows as the Cuatro Postes. It is Ávila's viewpoint par excellence: from here you see the whole wall, with its towers, from one end to the other. Access is open and free.
What it is
A humilladero is a small chapel or cross at the edge of a town. This one was built in 1566 and consists of four monolithic Doric columns joined by an architrave bearing the city's coat of arms, with a granite cross in the centre. Some authors argue it was raised where there was a small temple in Roman times. Another tradition links it to Saint Teresa: here, the story goes, her uncle Francisco de Cepeda found the girl and her brother Rodrigo when they had run away from home to go to the land of the Moors and suffer martyrdom.
What you have in front of you is one of the best-preserved medieval walled enclosures: 2,516 metres of perimeter, 87 towers and 33 hectares enclosed, with walls about 3 metres thick and 12 high on average. The apse of the cathedral, the cimorro, is part of that same stretch, on the east side.
When to go
The best time is dusk, when day gives way to night and the wall is lit up. The blue hour, just after the sun sets, leaves the wall glowing with still some light in the sky. It is also worth it by day, above all if you have walked along the wall walkway and want to see from outside the route you have taken. Allow half an hour, enough time to look, take photos and walk back down.
Getting there
You can get there by car or on foot. On foot, leave the old town by the Adaja bridge, cross the river and climb the hill along the Salamanca road. Dogs are no problem, because it is a public space; keep yours on a lead along the road.
What to combine it with
The most rounded plan is to walk the wall walkway, which has one of its entrances at the Adaja bridge, in the morning or afternoon, and finish the day here. Before or after, the Basilica of San Vicente and the cathedral are on the east side, at the other end of the wall.
For dinner afterwards inside the old town, there is the Hostería Las Cancelas, between the cathedral and Plaza de Santa Teresa, or the Parador restaurant, by the Puerta del Carmen, on the north side. If you are travelling by motorhome, the Aparkarea area is at the foot of the north stretch of the wall.
- **Ávila Cathedral** (1 h · Everyone · Desde 10 € per person): Ávila Cathedral, considered the first Gothic cathedral in Spain, was designed as a church and fortress at once: its apse, the cimorro, is built into the wall and is the sturdiest tower on the eastern stretch. It rises on the remains of an earlier church dedicated to the Saviour. In 1172 Alfonso VIII decided to enlarge it and entrusted the work to the French master Fruchel.
How it was built
Fruchel began in a style of transition from Romanesque to Gothic: the cimorro, the ambulatory, which keeps its Romanesque windows, the first section of the transept and the foundations are his. Look at the stone: that first phase uses granito caleño, reddish and mottled; after his death the work continued in Gothic with ashlar of grey granite. The plan is a Latin cross, with three aisles, a transept and a semicircular east end with a double ambulatory, and two towers at the west end, one unfinished and the other topped with battlements. The stained glass was damaged in the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 and had to be replaced. In the second half of the 15th century, Juan Guas made the new west front and the old Apostles' door was moved to the north wall. It has been a National Monument since 1914.
What to look at inside
The altarpiece of the high altar (1499–1512), by Pedro Berruguete, Santa Cruz and Borgoña. The retrochoir, with Plateresque reliefs of biblical scenes by Juan Rodríguez and Lucas Giraldo, commissioned in 1531. The choir stalls, from 1536 to 1547. In the ambulatory, the tomb of El Tostado, by Vasco de la Zarza, an essential work of the Spanish Renaissance. And the altars of San Segundo, with reliefs by Isidro Villoldo from 1547, and of Santa Catalina, completed in 1529. The cathedral website suggests an audioguide route with 26 stops and has children's audioguides in four languages.
Hours and tickets
It is open Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 18:00 and on Sunday from 12:30 to 18:00; the last entry is half an hour before closing and there are no visits during services. General admission costs €10; over-65s, unemployed people and large families, €9; ages 13 to 17 with an adult, youth card holders, university students up to 25 and people with a disability of between 33 and 64%, €7; groups of more than 20, €6. It is free for under-12s, people from Ávila and people with a disability of more than 64%, and for everyone on non-holiday Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 8:30 to 9:30. Tickets are bought on its website, with a QR code. The tower climb, which is paid separately, is suspended because of restoration work. Phone: 920 211 641 and, for the tourist visit, 678 952 984. It is at Plaza de la Catedral, 8.
How to combine it
Allow an hour. The stretch of city wall from the Puerta del Alcázar is the closest, and very near, outside the wall, is the Basilica of San Vicente. To sleep on the same square, the Hotel Palacio de los Velada; to eat nearby, the Hostería Las Cancelas or the Puerta del Alcázar restaurant.
- **Basilica of San Vicente** (45 min · Everyone · Desde 3 € per person): Just outside the Puerta de San Vicente, on the east side of the city wall, the basilica stands where tradition places the martyrdom and burial of the siblings Vicente, Sabina and Cristeta. It is the great model of Romanesque architecture in Ávila: it took influences from elsewhere and from the work on the cathedral, and in turn spread the style through the city. It is built of granito caleño, the reddish, mottled stone of Ávila's earliest buildings.
History and architecture
Work began around 1120 on the main body of the church, as far as the west door. Between 1150 and 1170 the towers and the entrance narthex were raised, and the aisles were roofed, the side ones with quarter-barrel vaults and the central one with ribbed vaults that already herald the Gothic. The crossing tower was closed in the mid-13th century with an octagonal vault, and the porticoed gallery on the south side dates from the 15th century.
The plan is a Latin cross, with three aisles of six bays and a transept, and it has one rarity: a Gothic triforium above the side aisles. The east end, with three apses, rests on a crypt. San Vicente was also the first Spanish building restored on historicist principles: between the mid-19th century and the first quarter of the 20th, Hernández Callejo, Vicente Miranda and, above all, Repullés y Vargas worked on it. It has been a National Monument since 1923.
What to look at
The best thing is the sculpture. First, the west doorway, beneath the narthex, and the cornice on the south side. Inside, the historiated capitals of the main chapel and, above all, the cenotaph of the saints, the work of Master Fruchel from the mid-12th century, which tells in relief the arrest, sentencing and martyrdom of the three siblings. In the crypt is the 15th-century Virgin of the Soterraña, to whom Saint Teresa prayed.
Hours and tickets
According to the timetable sheet from the Junta tourist office in Ávila, valid from 3 November 2026, it is open Thursday to Saturday from 10:00 to 18:30; Monday and Tuesday, from 10:00 to 13:30 and from 16:00 to 18:30; on Wednesdays it closes at midday and reopens in the afternoon, and on Sundays and religious holidays it is open from 14:00 to 18:00. The closing times on the sheet are those of last entry, and there are no visits during services. General admission costs €3, with reduced rates for pensioners, young people up to 18, students up to 25 and people with a disability of between 33 and 64%. It is free for children up to 12, people from Ávila and people with a disability of more than 65%. Phone: 920 255 230. It can be visited with the Ávila Card.
How to combine it
Allow 45 minutes. The Visitor Reception Centre, where you buy tickets for the city wall and the Ávila Card, is a few steps away, on Avenida de Madrid. From here you enter the old town through the Puerta de San Vicente and are very close to the cathedral and the walk along the wall walkway. At the end of the day, the best place to see the wall lit up is the Cuatro Postes, on the other side of the city.
- **Royal Monastery of Santo Tomás** (1 h 15 · Everyone · Desde 6 € per person): The Royal Monastery of Santo Tomás is outside the wall, to the south-east of the old town, and is one of the most complete visits in Ávila: three cloisters, a Gothic church with the tomb of the Catholic Monarchs' son and two museums in the former royal palace. It is worth leaving the walled enclosure to see it.
History
It was built between 1482 and 1493 with the patronage of Hernando Núñez de Arnalte, treasurer to the Catholic Monarchs, his wife, María Dávila, the inquisitor Friar Tomás de Torquemada and the monarchs themselves. Later, on the monarchs' initiative, a palace was built around the eastern cloister and the tomb of Prince Juan, who died in 1497, was placed in the church. It was a seat of the Inquisition and, from the 16th to the 19th century, the University of Santo Tomás. It suffered greatly: fires in 1699 and 1936, plunder during the French invasion and neglect after Mendizábal's confiscation of church property. It was declared a National Monument in 1931 and is still a Dominican convent.
What you see
The church facade is organised around a segmental arch between two buttresses, a large rose window, the coat of arms of the Catholic Monarchs and ten sculptures by Gil de Siloé. Inside, the height of the nave is impressive, as is the crossing vault, whose ribs branch out over the tomb of Prince Juan.
The three cloisters are very different. The Novitiate Cloister, Tuscan, with 20 arches, is sober, without decoration. The Cloister of Silence, or of the Dead, where the friars were buried, has 18 arches below and 38 polylobed arches above. The Cloister of the Kings, the largest, distributed the rooms of the palace: 40 arches below and 56 above, with the beading typical of Ávila. The visit also includes the choir and the two museums in the palace, one of Oriental art and one of natural science, which children tend to enjoy.
Hours and tickets
From 1 September to 30 June it is open every day from 10:30 to 14:00 and from 15:30 to 19:30, with the last entry an hour before closing. Admission costs €6; €5 up to age 25, for over-65s and large families; €4 for people from Ávila, members of religious orders and people with a disability of between 33 and 65%. It is free for under-12s. Groups should enquire at the monastery. Phone: 920 352 237. It is included in the Ávila Card, the 48-hour card that gives one entry to each participating monument, for €15 individual and €29 family, on sale at the Visitor Reception Centre.
How to combine it
Allow an hour and a quarter. It fits well in the early afternoon, after walking the city wall and the cathedral in the morning. From here, the train station is on the same east side of the city, so it can be the last visit before returning to Madrid. If you are staying, at dusk cross to the other side of the city to the Cuatro Postes to see the wall lit up.

## Dónde comer
- **Hostería Las Cancelas Restaurant** (Restaurant, Ávila, €€€). Qué pedir: Castilian cooking in the courtyard; in season, a table at Los Patios de la Catedral.
- **Parador de Ávila Restaurant** (Restaurant, Ávila, €€€). Qué pedir: El Barco beans and veal rib steak; for dessert, yemas de Santa Teresa.
- **Puerta del Alcázar Restaurant** (Restaurant, Ávila, €€). Qué pedir: Ávila cooking a couple of steps from the wall; ask about the menu.

## By car: Ávila by car
Ávila is 113 km from Madrid along the AP-6 and AP-51. The city is explored on foot: the car is for getting there and for the Cuatro Postes viewpoint.
Presupuesto orientativo: 70–130 € por persona y día.
### Dónde dormir if you're driving
- **Parador de Ávila** (Hotel): The house
The Parador occupies the 16th-century Piedras Albas palace, in the historic centre and built up against the wall. You enter by passing through the wall at the Puerta del Carmen, opposite Plaza de Concepción Arenal. Paradores describes it as a snug interior, with spacious rooms and a dining room that looks onto the garden and the wall through a glazed courtyard. In the garden there is an archaeological collection with sarcophagi, baptismal fonts and a 5th-century BC granite bull.
Rooms and services
There are three types of room: double, superior double and suite. Paradores lists air conditioning, flat-screen television with Chromecast, a safe big enough for a laptop, minibar, hairdryer, a work area and free wifi. There is a lift, room service, breakfast in the room, laundry and ironing, digital press and a gift shop. The building also has three rooms for meetings and celebrations; the largest takes up to 350 people for a cocktail reception.
A warning from the Parador itself: because of the historic character of the building, pedestrian access has some difficulties. If you have mobility problems, call beforehand and they will tell you the best way in.
Eating at the Parador
The restaurant is called Piedras Albas and is devoted to Ávila cooking: veal chop and rib steak with the Carne de Ávila PGI, El Barco beans, patatas revolconas with torreznos, Teresian pucheretes, suckling pig and house-made yemas. Breakfast is served from 7:45 to 11:00, lunch from 13:15 to 16:00 and dinner from 20:30 to 23:00; the café is open from 11:00 to 24:00. More detail on the Parador restaurant page.
Parking
It has a paid garage and a free outdoor car park, both only for guests staying at the hotel and with limited spaces, and an electric vehicle charging point. It is a big advantage in a walled city.
Who it is for and what is nearby
For anyone who wants to sleep inside the wall with a car and parking sorted, or arrive by train from Madrid, 115 km away, and get around on foot. From the door you have the city wall and the cathedral, and going down towards the river, the Cuatro Postes. The Basilica of San Vicente is on the other side of the old town. To get out of the city, the Sierra de Gredos is an hour away by car, according to Paradores.
- **Hotel Palacio de los Velada** (Hotel): The house
The Palacio de los Velada is a four-star hotel in a 16th-century palace on Plaza de la Catedral, right in the historic centre. According to its website, the cathedral is 50 metres away, the wall and Plaza del Mercado Chico about 200 metres, and the Basilica of San Vicente 300. It is one of the biggest hotels inside the old town: it advertises 144 rooms, split between doubles, triples and suites, some adapted for guests with reduced mobility.
The centre of the building is a covered Renaissance courtyard with galleries of columns, where the café tables are. There are also rooms for meetings and celebrations, with audiovisual equipment on request.
Eating and breakfast
The hotel has three venues. The restaurant El Tostado serves regional cooking, with meat as its speciality; it is open at midday from 13:30 to 15:00 and in the evening from 20:30 to 22:00. The café La Lola, which the website also calls a gastrobar, serves simple breakfasts, and La Taberna is an English-style bar. The buffet breakfast is served Monday to Friday on non-holidays from 7:30 to 10:30, and on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 8:00 to 11:00.
Check-in, check-out and rules
Check-in is from 14:00; if you arrive earlier and a room is ready, they can bring it forward. Check-out is until 12:00, with late check-out until 15:00 subject to availability. Reception is open 24 hours, but they ask you to let them know if you will arrive after 22:30. There is a left-luggage room for leaving your bags before or after your stay.
Pets are not accepted, except assistance dogs and dogs of the Armed Forces and Security Forces. Cots for under-twos are free, subject to availability and with notice when booking, and extra beds are available.
Parking
The hotel has an interior car park with limited spaces, at €17.60 per space per day. It cannot be reserved: spaces are allocated on arrival if any are left, so if you arrive late it may be full. If you are travelling by car and do not want to risk it, leave the car outside the old town and walk in.
Who it is for and what is nearby
It is the option for anyone who wants to sleep a step from the cathedral and the walkway of the city wall, with a restaurant and bar in house. The Basilica of San Vicente is about five minutes' walk away and the Cuatro Postes viewpoint about 20. If you arrive by train, the Renfe station is 1.4 km away, about a 20-minute walk according to the hotel, and the bus station 1.5 km.
- **Hostal Puerta del Alcázar** (Hostel): The house
A guesthouse in a 17th-century building on calle San Segundo, next to the Puerta del Alcázar of the city wall and the east end of the cathedral. It opened in August 2004 with its own restaurant, and its website says it is recommended by the Michelin Guide. The house presents itself as a place to feel at home, and what counts most is the location: you step out of the door and the wall is in front of you.
Rooms
The website distinguishes three types. The single rooms have a full bathroom, television, individual heating, air conditioning, towels and their own gel and soap. The doubles have two 90 cm beds or one 135 cm, and look onto the wall or calle Los Leales; they have the same equipment. The triples take extra beds for three or four people, so they suit a small family or a group of friends.
The windows are new, aluminium, and the house insists that they insulate against noise and cold, something you will appreciate on a central street and in Ávila's winters. The website does not publish fixed prices: they can be checked in its booking engine, linked from the home page, next to the cancellation policy.
Breakfast and meals
Breakfast is a continental buffet, from 8:30 to 10:30, with local products according to the house. The restaurant in the same building serves Ávila cooking menus at midday, from the menu of the day to menus with Ávila beef rib steak, and has a dinner menu: you will find it on the page for the Puerta del Alcázar Restaurant. Sleeping and dining without going out into the street is the great convenience of this guesthouse.
What it does not publish
The website does not give check-in and check-out times, nor whether it has its own parking, nor its pet policy. If you are arriving by car or with a dog, ask beforehand on 920 211 074 or 667 231 998, or at hostalpuertadelalcazaravila@gmail.com.
Who it is for and what is nearby
For families and travellers who want to sleep next to the city wall at guesthouse prices. The cathedral is two minutes away, the Basilica of San Vicente a short walk and the Monastery of Santo Tomás, outside the wall, a walk of a little while. At dusk it is worth crossing the river to the Cuatro Postes to see the wall lit up.

## Car-free: Ávila without a car
Ávila has a train station and a bus station next to the old town, and everything you visit is within walking distance.
Presupuesto orientativo: 60–110 € por persona y día.
### Dónde dormir without a car
- **Parador de Ávila** (Hotel): The house
The Parador occupies the 16th-century Piedras Albas palace, in the historic centre and built up against the wall. You enter by passing through the wall at the Puerta del Carmen, opposite Plaza de Concepción Arenal. Paradores describes it as a snug interior, with spacious rooms and a dining room that looks onto the garden and the wall through a glazed courtyard. In the garden there is an archaeological collection with sarcophagi, baptismal fonts and a 5th-century BC granite bull.
Rooms and services
There are three types of room: double, superior double and suite. Paradores lists air conditioning, flat-screen television with Chromecast, a safe big enough for a laptop, minibar, hairdryer, a work area and free wifi. There is a lift, room service, breakfast in the room, laundry and ironing, digital press and a gift shop. The building also has three rooms for meetings and celebrations; the largest takes up to 350 people for a cocktail reception.
A warning from the Parador itself: because of the historic character of the building, pedestrian access has some difficulties. If you have mobility problems, call beforehand and they will tell you the best way in.
Eating at the Parador
The restaurant is called Piedras Albas and is devoted to Ávila cooking: veal chop and rib steak with the Carne de Ávila PGI, El Barco beans, patatas revolconas with torreznos, Teresian pucheretes, suckling pig and house-made yemas. Breakfast is served from 7:45 to 11:00, lunch from 13:15 to 16:00 and dinner from 20:30 to 23:00; the café is open from 11:00 to 24:00. More detail on the Parador restaurant page.
Parking
It has a paid garage and a free outdoor car park, both only for guests staying at the hotel and with limited spaces, and an electric vehicle charging point. It is a big advantage in a walled city.
Who it is for and what is nearby
For anyone who wants to sleep inside the wall with a car and parking sorted, or arrive by train from Madrid, 115 km away, and get around on foot. From the door you have the city wall and the cathedral, and going down towards the river, the Cuatro Postes. The Basilica of San Vicente is on the other side of the old town. To get out of the city, the Sierra de Gredos is an hour away by car, according to Paradores.
- **Hotel Palacio de los Velada** (Hotel): The house
The Palacio de los Velada is a four-star hotel in a 16th-century palace on Plaza de la Catedral, right in the historic centre. According to its website, the cathedral is 50 metres away, the wall and Plaza del Mercado Chico about 200 metres, and the Basilica of San Vicente 300. It is one of the biggest hotels inside the old town: it advertises 144 rooms, split between doubles, triples and suites, some adapted for guests with reduced mobility.
The centre of the building is a covered Renaissance courtyard with galleries of columns, where the café tables are. There are also rooms for meetings and celebrations, with audiovisual equipment on request.
Eating and breakfast
The hotel has three venues. The restaurant El Tostado serves regional cooking, with meat as its speciality; it is open at midday from 13:30 to 15:00 and in the evening from 20:30 to 22:00. The café La Lola, which the website also calls a gastrobar, serves simple breakfasts, and La Taberna is an English-style bar. The buffet breakfast is served Monday to Friday on non-holidays from 7:30 to 10:30, and on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 8:00 to 11:00.
Check-in, check-out and rules
Check-in is from 14:00; if you arrive earlier and a room is ready, they can bring it forward. Check-out is until 12:00, with late check-out until 15:00 subject to availability. Reception is open 24 hours, but they ask you to let them know if you will arrive after 22:30. There is a left-luggage room for leaving your bags before or after your stay.
Pets are not accepted, except assistance dogs and dogs of the Armed Forces and Security Forces. Cots for under-twos are free, subject to availability and with notice when booking, and extra beds are available.
Parking
The hotel has an interior car park with limited spaces, at €17.60 per space per day. It cannot be reserved: spaces are allocated on arrival if any are left, so if you arrive late it may be full. If you are travelling by car and do not want to risk it, leave the car outside the old town and walk in.
Who it is for and what is nearby
It is the option for anyone who wants to sleep a step from the cathedral and the walkway of the city wall, with a restaurant and bar in house. The Basilica of San Vicente is about five minutes' walk away and the Cuatro Postes viewpoint about 20. If you arrive by train, the Renfe station is 1.4 km away, about a 20-minute walk according to the hotel, and the bus station 1.5 km.
- **Hostería Las Cancelas** (Small hotel): The house
Las Cancelas is a three-star hotel in a former 15th-century inn on calle Cruz Vieja, halfway between the cathedral and Plaza de Santa Teresa. Its website recalls that the street used to be known as "of Death and Life". The building is arranged around the inn's old columned courtyard, which is now the restaurant's dining room, and downstairs there is also a tapas bar with a wine list.
Rooms
It has 14 rooms, with rustic furniture; those on the top floor have sloping attic ceilings. According to the rooms page, six are doubles with two beds, five are doubles with a double bed and three are triples, and the website presents them in single, double, triple, double-bed and modern categories. All have air conditioning, heating, flat-screen television, free wifi, safe, telephone and a full bathroom. An extra bed and a cot can be requested, which the hotel has to confirm.
The website does not publish fixed prices: they can be checked in its booking engine. For those who book directly it advertises high-speed wifi, offers at the bar and restaurant, and early check-in or late check-out subject to availability. It has a 360-degree virtual tour so you can see the rooms before choosing.
Eating without going out
The restaurant serves seasonal Castilian cooking in the columned courtyard: grilled Ávila beef rib steak, oven-roasted suckling pig and lamb, El Barco beans, patatas revolconas and Castilian soup, among other dishes on its menu. It has its own page at the Hostería Las Cancelas Restaurant. In summer Los Patios de la Catedral, its terrace, opens across the street for a meal or a drink outdoors.
What it does not publish
The website does not give check-in and check-out times, nor its own parking, nor its pet policy, and it shows no phone number either: contact goes through the form in its booking engine. If you arrive by car, bear in mind that the old town has narrow streets and ask where to leave it before you go.
Who it is for and what is nearby
For sleeping in the centre without a car and dining in the courtyard downstairs. The cathedral is a couple of minutes away, and from there you go down to the city wall by the Puerta del Alcázar. The Basilica of San Vicente and the Monastery of Santo Tomás are within walking distance, and the Cuatro Postes mean crossing the river, best at dusk.
- **Hotel Las Leyendas** (Small hotel): The house
Las Leyendas occupies a restored 16th-century manor house on calle Francisco Gallego, inside the old town and about ten metres from the wall, according to its website. In the refurbishment the stone and exposed brick walls and the wooden beams were kept, and low-energy installations were added, including solar panels. The rooms look onto the inner garden, the wall or the Amblés valley; each has its name and its legend, and when you book you can choose a room by bed type and view.
Rooms and prices
The website publishes three types with a starting price. The double, of 15 m², has two 90 cm beds that can be pushed together or one 150 cm bed, and starts from €49. The single, of 9 m², from €35. The "outlet", also 15 m², from €45: these are interior rooms with translucent windows or facing the lift, with views of the courtyard, up to 20% cheaper. All have a private bathroom, wardrobe, television, air conditioning and heating, and wifi is free throughout the hotel. It is a smoke-free hotel.
Beware of accessibility: the lift only reaches some rooms and others require climbing one or two flights of stairs. If you need it, ask for a room with a lift when you book.
Eating and breakfast
On the second floor is the restaurant La Bruja, run by the same owners, with seasonal cooking in the Ávila tradition and grilled meat as its speciality; it is open from 13:00 to 17:00 and from 20:00 to 23:30, with à la carte, menus of the day and tailor-made menus. There is also a bar. Breakfast is only served on Saturdays and Sundays, on request, from 9:45 to 10:30, in the room opposite reception.
Arrival, rules and parking
Check-in is from 14:00 and check-out at 11:00. Reception is not staffed 24 hours: outside opening hours you enter with a self-check-in machine and there is a permanent virtual reception. Payment is by credit card only and they ask for ID and card on arrival. For questions, call 920 352 042, also by WhatsApp.
Dogs are accepted with advance booking and clear rules: they cannot be left alone in the room or get on beds or sofas, and the supplement is €12 for one to three nights and €20 for four to seven. Cots for under-twos are free; an extra bed costs €30 per night.
It has no parking. The website mentions free street parking on Plaza de Santiago, about 70 metres away, and the paid car parks of Santa Teresa and El Rastro, about 200 metres away.
For groups
For six or more people, the same owners rent El Molino Escondido, a country house in Mironcillo, just over 15 minutes away, in an old mill by the river, with a pool, barbecue and a bathroom in every bedroom.
What is nearby
You are a step from the city wall and a few minutes from the cathedral. The Monastery of Santo Tomás is outside the walled enclosure, a walk away.
- **Hostal Puerta del Alcázar** (Hostel): The house
A guesthouse in a 17th-century building on calle San Segundo, next to the Puerta del Alcázar of the city wall and the east end of the cathedral. It opened in August 2004 with its own restaurant, and its website says it is recommended by the Michelin Guide. The house presents itself as a place to feel at home, and what counts most is the location: you step out of the door and the wall is in front of you.
Rooms
The website distinguishes three types. The single rooms have a full bathroom, television, individual heating, air conditioning, towels and their own gel and soap. The doubles have two 90 cm beds or one 135 cm, and look onto the wall or calle Los Leales; they have the same equipment. The triples take extra beds for three or four people, so they suit a small family or a group of friends.
The windows are new, aluminium, and the house insists that they insulate against noise and cold, something you will appreciate on a central street and in Ávila's winters. The website does not publish fixed prices: they can be checked in its booking engine, linked from the home page, next to the cancellation policy.
Breakfast and meals
Breakfast is a continental buffet, from 8:30 to 10:30, with local products according to the house. The restaurant in the same building serves Ávila cooking menus at midday, from the menu of the day to menus with Ávila beef rib steak, and has a dinner menu: you will find it on the page for the Puerta del Alcázar Restaurant. Sleeping and dining without going out into the street is the great convenience of this guesthouse.
What it does not publish
The website does not give check-in and check-out times, nor whether it has its own parking, nor its pet policy. If you are arriving by car or with a dog, ask beforehand on 920 211 074 or 667 231 998, or at hostalpuertadelalcazaravila@gmail.com.
Who it is for and what is nearby
For families and travellers who want to sleep next to the city wall at guesthouse prices. The cathedral is two minutes away, the Basilica of San Vicente a short walk and the Monastery of Santo Tomás, outside the wall, a walk of a little while. At dusk it is worth crossing the river to the Cuatro Postes to see the wall lit up.
### Servicios
- **Ávila Train Station**: Paseo de la Estación · Renfe trains from Madrid and Salamanca · east of the old town
- **Ávila Bus Station**: Avenida de Madrid, 2 · 920 222 154

## As a family: Ávila with children, above the wall

The wall of Ávila is a medieval playground: you walk along the top, between the battlements, and see the city's rooftops. It is what children remember most.

### What works best
The wall walkway, in short stretches

The Cuatro Postes at dusk, with the wall lit up

Santo Tomás, with its natural science museum

### Where to sleep
Hostal Puerta del Alcázar, with rooms for four

Parador, with a garden

### Where to eat
Yemas de Santa Teresa for dessert

### Bear in mind
The walkway has steps: not suitable for pushchairs

In winter the wall is closed on Mondays

### Qué hacer as a family
- Walking the Wall Walkway of Ávila
- Cuatro Postes Viewpoint
- Royal Monastery of Santo Tomás

## Consejos

### Go up to the wall-walk in the morning
There are fewer groups and the light comes in sideways on the battlements.

### Save Los Cuatro Postes for last
At dusk, with the wall lit up.

### Avoid winter Mondays
The wall closes and so do many visits.

### Buy your ticket at the visitor centre
It is at Avenida de Madrid 39, next to San Vicente, and is open every day.

## Preguntas frecuentes

### How long does it take from Madrid to Ávila?
About an hour and a half by car along the AP-6 and AP-51, 113 km.

### How much does it cost to go up on the wall?
€8 general admission and €5 reduced.

### What day is the wall closed?
Mondays, from 25 October to 26 March, apart from some public holidays. The rest of the year it is open every day.

### Where is the best view of the wall from?
From Los Cuatro Postes, on the other side of the River Adaja, especially at sunset.

### Can I go to Ávila without a car?
Yes: there are train and bus stations next to the old town, and the city is explored on foot.