When my boyfriend asked me if I wanted to spend a weekend in León with him for a friend’s sort of wedding celebration thing (said friend apparently hates suits), I said why not? The thing with living in Spain is even three years in, I still have unexplored cities and towns. The country is simply full of too many amazing places.
I’ll admit that before spending a weekend in León, I knew very little about the city. I knew that the name of the autonomous region Castilla y León came from the city and that it had an impressive cathedral. What I didn’t know is how much I’d end up loving the city.
Staying a stone’s throw from the cathedral
When booking accommodation, I always look for something both affordable and centrally-located. Alda Casco Antiguo was just that. The hotel was very easy to find on Google Maps.
We arrived, checked in and went right up to our room. It was a private room that slept two with a nice balcony.
Free tapas in León
Many people assume that free tapas can only be found in cities like Granada. However one well-kept secret is that León also has free tapas. When you order a drink, each bar has their special tapa that they serve with it. Here are a few shots of some of the tapas we enjoyed on our first night out.
Exploring the city
A city the size of León is very easy to explore on foot. It’s not much larger than Logroño (where I currently live), so we found it easy to explore everything we wanted to. Our first stop, of course, was the León Cathedral.
Children 12-years-old and younger get in free to the cathedral if they are accompanied by an adult. It’s 6€ to enter the cathedral and 5€ to enter the museum. You can find all the information about visiting hours and prices here.
Museo de San Isidoro
After exploring the cathedral, we explored this absolutely charming museum. This place is known as the “Sistine Chapel of the Romanesque Art.” It is famous for housing the tombs of Spanish royalty. You can read all about it here.
I was honestly very surprised at how much I liked León. By now, I’ve probably visited 10-20 Spanish cities in my three years here, so I was expecting to like León but not necessarily love it. However I was very wrong about that.
The mixture of incredibly cheap food plus amazing historical sites made my weekend in León amazing.
My stay at Alda Casco Antiguo was complimentary. All opinions are my own.
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