Sunday in San Millán de la Cogolla: the cradle of Castilian and a valley wine.

San Millán de la Cogolla is a small valley at the foot of the Sierra de la Demanda with two monasteries that are World Heritage Sites: Suso, up above, beside the saint's cave, and Yuso, below, the great monastery. At San Millán the Glosas Emilianenses were written, the marginal notes on a Latin codex that are the first written testimony of Castilian, and at Suso Gonzalo de Berceo learned, the first known poet in that language. This Sunday combines Yuso, a family winery in the valley, a lunch inside the monastery and the nuns' monastery of Cañas.

The day, hour by hour

9:15 · Set off. From Logroño, take the A-12 to Nájera and then the Najerilla and Cárdenas valleys: about three quarters of an hour. From Burgos or Vitoria, around an hour and a quarter.

10:00 · Berceo. The village of Gonzalo de Berceo is 2 km from Yuso, among vegetable gardens and at the foot of Monte San Lorenzo. An hour's stroll through its streets before the tasting.

11:00 · Bodegas Martínez Alesanco. In Badarán, five minutes away. A family winery of the Alto Najerilla that shows how the wine is made and ends with a tasting of four wines and a zero-kilometre aperitif. On Sundays and public holidays there is a session at 11:00. It lasts an hour and a half and costs €20 for adults and €6 for ages 5 to 17, who have grape juice. Book on their website.

12:45 · Yuso monastery. Until 10 January 2027 the ordinary visit is replaced by AutorIA, an immersive exhibition on the history of Spanish inside the monastery: €10 for self-guided entry and €12 with a guide, €6 and €8 for ages 8 to 17, free for under-8s, and a family ticket for two adults and two minors. On Sundays it opens from 10:00 to 15:30 with the last session at 14:00; closed on Mondays. There is parking next to the monastery.

14:00 · Lunch at In Vino Veritas. The restaurant of the Hostería de San Millán is inside the monastery itself. Lunches are only on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, from 13:30 to 15:00, with a set menu of four options. Always book by phone, by email or on TheFork.

16:00 · Cañas monastery. About 10 km away, on the way to Santo Domingo de la Calzada. It is a 12th-century Cistercian nunnery with a Gothic apse with large windows and the tomb of the abbess Urraca Díaz de Haro. Admission costs €5, or €7 with a guide. The hours have changed several times: call beforehand.

17:00 · Head home. Via Santo Domingo de la Calzada and the A-12: in Logroño around a quarter to six.

Suso, this winter

Suso is closed to ordinary visits for works until summer 2027. From 14 November 2026 to 17 January 2027 it opens on Saturdays and Sundays at 10:00 and 11:30 with the "Abierto por restauración" programme: groups of 20 people at most, free entry and compulsory prior booking by email at the address the monastery publishes, from age 16. If you get a place, start the day at Suso and swap the stroll round Berceo. Santa María la Real de Nájera, with the royal pantheon and the Gothic cloister, is on the way if you leave earlier: on winter Sundays it opens from 10:00 to 13:30.

With children and without a car

Yuso and the winery have children's prices, and AutorIA, with its immersive format, entertains more than a classic visit. Without a car, the VLR-108 bus leaves Logroño for Estollo on Sundays at 8:30 and returns at 19:15, in about 55 minutes: it allows Yuso, lunch and Berceo, but not the winery or Cañas.