A road trip to Castilla y León – 4 days itinerary travel guide starting in Zaragoza, Aragón

Happy Easter guys! If you follow us on Instagram, you already know about our recent road trip to Castilla y León. We’ve been waiting for that trip for a long time since Edwin had a knee surgery in January and it was our first escape in 2021. Now you can imagine how excited we were when we finally took the car and drove 600 km one way!

Exploring Castilla y León was a very nice plan because even after so many years in Spain, we still have a long bucket list of local places to visit and most of them are actually in North. The farthest trip to North that I did was to Basque Country few years ago, but the rest was still to discover and the pandemic situation also helped us to appreciate more the beauty of the country we live in. So, instead of going somewhere abroad, we decided to organize a long weekend and explore Castilla y León.

Day 1: Zaragoza – Burgos

A couple of our closest friends live in Burgos and it takes around 6-7 hours to get there from Barcelona, so driving a car is the best and the most comfortable option for such a long road trip. You can also go by train or bus but we went for a car straight away because we love to have the freedom to stop anytime and anywhere we want. 

After 3 hours of driving we stopped in Zaragoza, the capital of Aragón known mostly for its beautiful Cathedral and located in a halfway to Castilla y León. We had only two hours because we didn’t want to get to Burgos late at night, but it was still enough to walk the city and see the most emblematic places. So yes, it is possible to see Zaragoza in two hours, but keep in mind that it doesn’t include any museums or restaurants, just walking. Another reason why we didn’t stay longer in Zaragoza was the fact that due to pandemic everything was closed, even the entrance to the Cathedral. It’s a shame because we would love to see it inside! At least the restaurants and bars were open. Here you have a list of what do we suggest do see in Zaragoza in one day or few hours.

Most of the places are situated very close to each other and around Plaza de Pilar, so this should be your start point. From there you can walk towards Aljafería Palace and take some rest in the surrounding gardens before you cross Santiago Bridge and walk along the river to the San Lázaro viewpoint from which you can see the Stone Bridge and the beautiful Cathedral in the background. This is the exact route we did and like we said, 2 hours were enough.

Zaragoza is a land of geniuses and among them Francisco de Goya stands out in a special way, because he was one of the greatest artists in the history of Spanish painting. If you are planning to stay in Zaragoza for a longer, you can’t miss The Museum of Zaragoza and Goya Museum with an impressive collection of Goya’s art. 

Another essential visit to do in Zaragoza is to know the remains of the ancient Roman city of Caesaraugusta. To do this, we recommend that you do the Caesaraugusta Route, a set of four museums scattered around the city where you can get to know the Theater, the Thermal Baths, the River Port and the Forum. It is highly recommended, and we would love to do in next time! One more thing, try to visit Zaragoza in October when the patronal feast is celebrated in honor of the Virgen del Pilar. Throughout the day of 12 October, thousands of people dressed in traditional costume, leave flowers at the statue of the Virgin and it’s the high point of the festival!

When it comes to us, it was time to continue driving because we still had 3 hours and half to complete. We arrived to Burgos around 8 pm and we went our for dinner and some drinks with our friends. Each Autonomous Community in Spain applies different rules when it comes to opening hours and pandemic restrictions and to our surprise, Castilla y León allows to keep the bars open until 10 pm. This was a very good news considering the fact that in Catalonia all restaurants are open until 5 pm only. It was so nice to catch up with our friends and spend a night out! 

We hope you liked our first day itinerary because there are still 3 more days and we will write about each one of them in a separate post. A road trip to Castilla y León just started!