One of my favorite things about choosing to move to Europe are the day trips I can take on the weekends. While jetting off to a new country every weekend isn’t in the budget, a day trip is such an easy thing to do. Several months ago, several friends of mine and I did just that and took a day trip to Pamplona.
Where is Pamplona?
Pamplona is a small Spanish city in the North of Spain. It’s less than two hours from the French border and about a 4-hour drive to Barcelona. It is the capital of the autonomous community Navarre. The population is just a bit shy of 200,000.
You might have heard about Pamplona for their famous week-long festival San Fermin. People traditionally wear all white with a red scarf around their neck. They have the running of the bulls where people literally run in front of bulls through the streets of the city. I don’t support really anything related to bull fighting so I was interested to see what else the city had to offer.
How we got there
Getting from Logroño to Pamplona was rather easy. We took a bus through the company La Estellesa. You can buy tickets online. This company also goes from Logroño to San Sebastian. If you’re coming from Barcelona or Madrid, I would recommend the company Alsa. They have multiple buses a day from both cities and I’ve taken Alsa buses more times than I can count. It generally is a reliable company.
Another transportation option to consider is taking a BlaBlaCar. You might have seen me discuss BlaBlaCar in past posts. It’s this awesome ride-sharing service I’ve taken over 30 times in my life. Basically people who are already making the journey in their personal cars (and it’s not like Uber where they work for Blablacar) can list their journey and how many extra seats they have. Then you can pay through the app and ride with them. It never hurts to take a look at who has posted their journey before booking the train or bus.
First stop: La Ciudadela de Pamplona (the citadel)
When we got off the bus, we quickly grabbed a toast and coffee at a nearby cafe. The thing I love about Spain is that breakfast is never hard to find. Basically every bar serves coffee and toast. However if you’re accustomed to more of an American or English breakfast, you’ll likely be disappointed as a Spanish breakfast is pretty light. It’s not to say you can’t find breakfasts like that in Spain … you would just have to search for a place that serves a breakfast like that in advance.
Anyway, so after breakfast we decided to explore the citadel across the street. This monument consists of 280,000 square meters of green space. It’s perfect for a calm stroll. The citadel was created in 1571 in order to protect the city of Pamplona. Today you just enjoy the grounds … it’s a great spot for Instagram photos.
Iglesia San Saturnino
One thing that Spain is not lacking are beautiful churches. This is actually one of two (at least) that we explored during our day trip to Pamplona. Fun fact: this church was actually built by French immigrants to the city since the neighborhood where it sits (San Cernin) was settled by the French.
Entrance to the church was free!
Walking through the streets
One of the best things to do in Pamplona is wander the streets of the city center. The streets are narrow and the buildings are all different colors. The streets have this way of winding around that makes you just want to go for a stroll.
Next: The Cathedral
Every Spanish city has a cathedral, but not all are created equal. However the Pamplona Cathedral isn’t too shabby. You can pay extra to go up in the tower. However they only let you go up with a guided tour and we arrived too late! It was still cool to walk around the cathedral and museum.
Entrance into the cathedral and museum was 5€. If you’re walking the Camino de Santiago, it’s only 3€.
Plaza Del Castillo (great for photos)
This was probably one of my favorite parts of the city. It’s basically a big, open plaza with a gazebo in the center. We took a day trip to Pamplona on a particularly sunny day, which made this plaza even more photogenic.
Lastly some stellar views
Since we sadly weren’t able to go up the cathedral tower and get that shot of the city from above, we found another spot with some great views.
Food in Pamplona
That day, I wasn’t feeling the best. So outside of maybe a beer and a small pincho, I didn’t eat much. However that doesn’t mean that Pamplona is lacking in food! Here’s a Culture Trip article about the best restaurants in Pamplona: The 10 Best Restaurants in Pamplona, Spain.
Where to stay in Pamplona
Since I took a day trip to Pamplona from Logroño, I didn’t need a place to stay. However if you’d like to spend a day or two in Pamplona, there are many affordable hostels, airbnbs and hotels to choose from. Here are a few of my favorite websites for finding accommodation: Hostelworld, Hotels.com, Booking.com and Airbnb.
Final thoughts
I’ll be honest and say that before my trip to Pamplona, I didn’t expect much. I knew about San Fermin and that the city was a tad bigger than Logroño. It was always one of those cities that I knew I would get to someday.
Well … I couldn’t have been more wrong! If you have the opportunity to spend a day in Pamplona, do it!
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