Sunday in Salamanca: the frog, two cathedrals and a bar counter.

Salamanca on a Sunday has an order worth respecting: the University only opens in the morning and the cathedrals stay open in the afternoon. So the frog first, then the square and the tapas, and after lunch the two cathedrals and the river. All on foot, in a flat old town a couple of kilometres across. It is fifty minutes from Zamora, a little over an hour from Ávila and Valladolid, and about two hours from Madrid by car or an hour and a half by train.

The day, hour by hour

9:00 · Set off. From Madrid, 214 km on the A-50, about two hours. Leave the car in a public car park on the edge of the old town and do not move it again.

11:00 · The University. The Historic Building, on Calle Libreros, opens on Sundays from 10:00 to 14:00 (last entry 13:15). General admission €10, reduced €5. Before going in, look for the frog on the Plateresque façade of 1529: it sits on a skull, on the right-hand column. Inside, an hour is enough for the lecture halls and cloisters.

12:15 · Plaza Mayor. Walk down the Rúa Mayor, past the Casa de las Conchas (it is closed on Sundays, but the façade is what you come to see) and the Clerecía, and reach the Plaza Mayor. At number 32 is the tourist office, open until 14:00.

13:30 · Lunch at Bambú. On Calle Prior, a minute from the square. It is a gastrobar with an open kitchen and grill, a Michelin Bib Gourmand, and on Sundays it opens at midday. You eat tapas at the bar or at a table, with half portions. Book: it fills up.

15:30 · The cathedrals. One €10 ticket takes you through the New Cathedral, the Old one, the cloister and the chapter rooms, with an audio guide. It is open until 18:00 and the last entry is at 17:15. On the Ramos doorway, look for the astronaut.

17:00 · The Roman Bridge. Walk down Calle de Tentenecio to the Tormes, cross the bridge and turn round: the New Cathedral over the rooftops is the best view of Salamanca. Return via the Huerto de Calixto y Melibea, the garden set against the city wall.

18:00 · Head home. You reach Madrid around a quarter past eight; Zamora, at seven.

What to order

At Bambú, the truffled duck egg (€5.50) and the Iberian ham croquette (€3.60) are the classics. To share, Pedrosillano chickpeas or braised Iberian pork cheek, and if you are meat eaters, the aged chuletón grilled over embers, charged at €7.50 per 100 g. For dessert, cheesecake.

With children and with a dog

The whole route is flat and fine for a pushchair, except the inside of the University and some parts of the cathedral with steps. The cathedral has a free children's audio guide and under-7s do not pay. If the children get bored at the University, swap it for the Casa Lis, with dolls and automata, open on Sundays from 11:00 to 15:00 and free for under-14s. With a dog, the streets and the bridge are fine; Bambú admits dogs according to the Michelin Guide.