Burgos (pop. 180,000) has one of the most spectacular city entrances
anywhere, and this breathtaking first impression accurately introduces this northern gem.
After walking through the large and ornate Arco de Santa María to the mind-bogglingly
massive Catedral on the Pl. del Rey San Fernando, it doesn’t take much imagination to
understand why this was a favorite seat and burial place of Castilian and Leonese royalty.
Though the Catedral is undoubtedly Burgos’s centerpiece, the city is filled with dozens of
other churches, from the 9th-century Castillo up the hill to the medieval monasteries on
the city’s outskirts. In the evening, plazas fill with friends and families enjoying their
paseos, and as the clock strikes midnight they buzz with partiers on their way to the bars
along the Camino de Santiagoand the discotecas in the shadow of the Catedral.