Pamplona

Pamplona is world-famous for one week a year — the Fiesta de San Fermín in July, with its celebrated Running of the Bulls — but the Navarran capital is a genuinely charming, historic and liveable city year-round, one of the most pleasant in northern Spain, often overlooked by travellers who associate it only with Hemingway's account in The Sun Also Rises. The old walled city, surrounded by well-preserved 16th-century Citadel and star-shaped Renaissance fortifications (now a public park), is compact and beautiful. The Gothic Cathedral of Santa María, the Palacio Real (Royal Palace), and the Plaza del Castillo — the city's elegant and very lively social centre — are the main architectural highlights. The Museum of Navarre holds excellent Romanesque capital sculptures and Renaissance and Baroque art. The San Fermín festival (6–14 July) is extraordinary even for those who don't run with the bulls — the whole city in traditional red-and-white dress, the processions, the bullfights, the concerts and the sheer collective joy are exceptional. Outside festival season, Pamplona is relaxed, affordable and excellent for eating — Navarran cuisine (asparagus, artichokes, trout, piquillo peppers, lamb) is among Spain's finest. Pamplona is a starting point for the Camino de Santiago (the French Way begins here) and a gateway to the beautiful Pyrenean valleys of Roncal and Salazar.