Pamplona

Building a city on a hill made a lot of sense back in the day when the French could invade at any time. So it seems like a very first world problem to moan about trains not liking hills and limiting our ability to explore hilly Navarre. Luckily the buses around here are great so interchanging between the two puts this region firmly on the low-carbon map. Here’s some routes for walking from train station to the bus station and taking in some of the great sites of Pamplona on the way.

Interactive Map

Train station to bus station (3k blue)

Leave the station and turn left, then turn right at the roundabout and walk over the bridge in front of you continuing along Av. Guipúzcoa. Follow the river as the road curves to the left then head for the looming walls passing through Portal Nuevo.

Go under the bridge and then take the staircase to the left which this opens out onto a great view. (1)

Cross the square (Plaza de la Virgen de la O) and head down Calle Recoletas which runs past Agustinas Recoletas Convent (2) and takes us to the church of San Lorenzo (3). It’s here that you can come and meet San Fermin who gets carried through the streets each year at the San Fermin festival.

Go down Calle Mayor and at the end is another church, San Saturnino (4) which would doubled up as a fortress each time Pamplona’s three districts came to blows.

Continue past the church along Calle San Saturnino and follow the street to the left past the tourist information office and the town hall (Ayunamento de Pamplona) in Plaza Consistorial. (5)

Go down Calle Mercaderes and take the first right on to Calle de la Chapitela which takes us on to Plaza del Castillo (6). This is where Ernest Hemingway spent much of his time at places like Café Iruña. (7)

Leave the square by Calle Espoz y Mina (by Bar Txoko, another Hemingway bar) and follow the way to the left and past the monument to Hemingway outside the bullring before cutting up Avenue Roncesvalles leading to the striking sculpture the Monumento al Encierro (8), but not before passing another monument.

The monument to the victims of San Fermin 1978, was created to remind people of an incident during the turbulent transition to democracy and the rise of Basque nationalism. You can read more about it here.

Continue all the way to the end and then turn left on to Av. San Ignacio and at the roundabout/fountain, go on to Av. Conde Oliveto which will take you to the wide open park land around the city walls and the underground bus station on your left.

If you want to see more of the town you could follow the green or red routes on the map

Back to the train station (2km green)

If you want to head back to the train station, you could floow the green route which takes you through some more nice alleys and past the church of San Nicolas.

An alternative wander is through the parklands and along the walls.

Walls and parklife (3km red)

This route takes you on a nice stroll through the Jardines de la Taconera and the Citadelle. Just follow the red line on the map o see the 18th Century walls and pretty gardens that have taken the place of fortifications in our peaceful times.

Cathedral and micro-pilgrimage (1km black)

This diversion will take you to the Cathedral and along a tiny part of the Camino Frances, the 800km pilgrimage route from France to Santiago de Compostela. After this little jaunt, you can brag that you have been on the Camino. Just follow the black line on the map which takes you to the Cathedral along the pilgrimage route through the town.