41.13° N · 3.81° W
A walled town in Segovia with a single gate, the Zuloaga castle and roast-meat restaurants in the Plaza Mayor: what to see, where to eat on Sunday and where to sleep.
Part of The Central System
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Self-guided visit with audioguide · 40 min · €6 · The castle the painter Ignacio Zuloaga bought in 1925, with its courtyards and rooms, now the Gran Castillo de Pedraza.
Walk · 1 h 30 · Free · From the Puerta de la Villa to the Plaza Mayor, San Juan, Santa María, the Pozo de las Hontanillas and the castle.
Guided visit · 20 min · €6 · The medieval jail above Pedraza's only gate, with tours every half hour; closed on Mondays.
Itineraries
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
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
All year round, but midweek is more enjoyable. July brings the Candle Concerts on the first two Saturdays; in September, the festivals with a bull run through the fields. In winter, fireplace and roast.
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.
You reach Pedraza by car: the bus to Segovia only runs on Tuesdays and Fridays. Inside the wall you go on foot; leave the car in the car parks outside.
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.
Pedraza is small and there are no cars inside the wall, so children can roam the streets freely. What they like most is what is told to them: the jail at the gate and the castle of the imprisoned princes.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Why we like it: 18-room hotel inside the wall, on calle Mayor, run by the Pascual family, with its own restaurant.
Why we like it: Guesthouse in a 17th-century manor house on the Plaza Mayor, with a suite and a junior suite with fireplace; it can also be rented in full.
Why we like it: Whole-house rental country house for up to 8 people in Rades de Abajo, a district of Pedraza, with jacuzzi, cellar and a patio with barbecue.
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: suckling pig or lamb roasted in a wood-fired oven; ham and mushroom croquettes to start.
What to order: roast suckling lamb; or the tasting menu, with picadillo, judiones and the lamb.
What to order: grilled meats in the restaurant; for a snack, the bar or the terrace on the square.
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
41.32° N · 3.83° W
By car
41.00° N · 3.64° W
By car
40.90° N · 3.88° W
By carCar-freeOn foot
40.95° N · 4.12° W
By carCar-freeBy campervan
Tips
You park without trouble and walk the empty plaza.
La Olma and El Soportal fill up at weekend lunchtimes.
The jail is closed and the castle is only open by appointment.
When the lunch visitors leave, the town recovers its silence.
Pedraza is a walled medieval town on a hill, at the foot of the Sierra de Guadarrama, in the north-east of the province of Segovia. It has a single gate, a castle at the opposite end and, between the two, a main street that leads to one of the most photographed plazas mayores in Castile. It is small: the old town takes an hour. What makes it special is how well the whole is preserved and the silence it has when the midday visitors leave.
By car. From Madrid allow a little under an hour and a half; the route planner gives 1 h 45 in the worst case, depending on whether you take the A-1 and Navafría or the A-6 and Segovia. From Segovia it is about 40 minutes, and from Valladolid around an hour and three quarters. Public transport is no use for a visit: the only bus goes to Segovia on Tuesday and Friday mornings and returns at midday.
There is no parking inside the wall. Leave the car in the car parks outside, next to the access road, near the hermitage of San Pedro, and walk in through the Puerta de la Villa. On weekends with good weather they fill up at midday; if you arrive before eleven, you will find a space without trouble.
Half a day is enough to stroll the old town, visit the jail and the castle and have lunch. If you want to see it in peace, sleep a night inside the wall: in the evening and first thing in the morning it is a different village. Pedraza combines well with Segovia, 40 minutes away, or with Sepúlveda and the Hoces del Duratón, a little over half an hour away.
Pedraza is a roast-house town: milk-fed lamb and suckling pig from a wood oven. La Olma, on Plaza del Álamo, is open every day at midday, from 13:30 to 16:00, and is the safe bet for a Sunday. El Soportal, in the Plaza Mayor, roasts the lamb like the old inn and takes bookings by phone only. Casa Taberna, also in the plaza, is grill and produce, with a terrace without reservations. At all of them, book at the weekend and order the roast with the number of diners.
You can go all year. In spring and autumn the surrounding fields are green and it isn't hot. In summer the evenings are pleasant and the sierra cools things down. There are two dates that change the village: the first two Saturdays of July, with the Candle Concerts, and the festivals of the Virgen del Carrascal, from 6 to 12 September, with the bull run through the fields on the 9th. For those dates book well ahead or avoid them if you want calm. Midweek the village is almost empty; bear in mind that many places close on Monday or Tuesday.
Questions
A little under an hour and a half by car, depending on the route.
Not to park: you leave the car outside the wall and walk in.
€8 general admission, with a guided visit to the courtyard, the parade ground and the museum in the north tower.
La Olma is open every day at midday, from 13:30 to 16:00.
The first two Saturdays of July, on the esplanade of the castle.
In practice no: the only bus goes to Segovia on Tuesday and Friday mornings.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/spain/castile-and-leon/pedraza
