Salamanca, Spain - January 2026

Plaza Mayor: An 18th-century Baroque plaza, described as the heart of the city.

Brief History/Information

Salamanca is about 125 miles northwest of Madrid. It’s widely known as one of Europe’s great university cities and is often nicknamed “La Dorada” (The Golden City) because its sandstone buildings glow golden in sunlight. The University of Salamanca was founded in 1218, making it one of the oldest universities in Europe. The historic center of Salamanca is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

What we did

We left Porto, Portugal and rode in a FlixBus to Salamanca, Spain because renting a car and driving across borders triples the price of the car rental. The bus ride was long but nice, with a few stops for us to get out and stretch.

We arrived in Salamanca about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. It was cold, rainy, and snowy. We checked in to our hotel at Catalonia Plaza Mayor Salamanca. What a nice hotel and boy was it convienent! We turned one corner and found ourselves at the Plaza Mayor (an 18th century Baroque square). From there, we started our walk around the town. At this time, most of the places were closed or closing. We saw and walked at the University of Salamanca, this is Spain’s oldest university and one of the oldest in Europe. We then found The Catedral Vieja (Old) (from the 12th century), and the Catedral Nueva (New) (built in the 16th–18th centuries). We went inside but they were closing, but just being in the entrance, we knew we were missing out on something amazing.

We were hungry and thirsty, so we went to the Irish Corner, and had some beer and mediocre nachos. We walked around some more and were hungry again, so we went Middle Eastern and ate at Diner Kebab- this was delicious and inexpensive.

Places of Interest

Salamanca, Spain has so many places to see and visit, unfortunately we arrived last and had to leave early the next morning. If you only have one day in Salamanca, make sure you have ALL DAY there, otherwise, spend the night and see the rest the next day. We were very sorry we had to leave.

• University of Salamanca: Founded in 1218, it is a central feature of the city's academic history.

• Plaza Mayor: An 18th-century Baroque plaza

• Cathedrals: The city features two attached cathedrals—the Old Cathedral (Romanesque) and the New Cathedral (Gothic/Plateresque).

• Architecture: The city is nicknamed La Dorada ("The Golden City") due to the, color of its stone buildings.