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Oviedo Travel Guide, Spain

Oviedo, Travel guide – Location

The city is located in the northern Iberian Peninsula 126 miles from Valladolid and 154 miles from Bilbao. It is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias within Spain.

Oviedo, Travel guide – Geography

Oviedo travel guides presents it as a captivating city with a topography dominated by surrounding mountainous areas like Mount Naranco in the north and the Aramo Range in the south. The average elevation within the city is of 232m typical for northern Spain low hills.

As a result of Oviedo’s location near the Picos de Europa Mountains its climate is cooler than the coastal one and also wetter. Still, summers can get quite hot and receive important quantities of rainfalls while winters are harsh and snowy sometimes lasting even until May. Precipitations are distributed quite evenly throughout the year usually exceeding in the winter months.

Oviedo, Travel guide – Flora and Fauna

With such picturesque surroundings Oviedo is a favorite vacation destination for many tourists. The local flora is represented by small areas of forests with characteristic species of beech tree, sweet chestnut, oaks and numerous wild flower species. Fauna is just as diverse represented by wild boars, squirrels and numerous bird species.

All these beauties of nature can be admired in any of the city’s parks, the most beautiful being the Parque de San Francisco, nowadays an outdoor Botanical Garden.

Oviedo, Travel guide – Transports

Northern Spain has a well developed transport network between its main cities so you will have no problem if you decide to visit Oviedo. The city is reachable by air through Asturias International Airport located 20 minutes away from the city and offering all tourists transfer to Oviedo by regular bus routes. You also have the option of traveling by train or by bus which have regular routes too or you can arrive by car which would be a bit more expensive due to motorway fees but certainly faster. Another way to arrive here is by sea reaching Port of Gijon also called El Musel and then transfer to city by train, bus or renting a car.

Within the city, in order to see as much as possible, walking would be the best option so in this case a car wouldn’t help. Another thing is the access to the old city which is permitted only to pedestrians, buses and trams, so again tourists will have to leave their cars outside this area.

Oviedo, Travel guide – Population and Economy

Oviedo numbers 214.000 people and is the second most populous city within “Green Spain”, mainly made up of Spanish of Roman Catholic religion. The main language spoken here besides Spanish is called asturiano and even if it hasn’t been recognized as official it is protected by law.

Local economy is based on agriculture, heavy industry, services, commerce and tourism. The city’s coal and steel plants offer an important number of jobs and together with other important economic activities they assure an employment rate above the national and European one.

Oviedo, Travel guide - Cuisine

The local cuisine in Oviedo identifies with that of Asturias, having as main ingredients local vegetables like beans, potatoes, cabbage and more, diary products which are plentiful here, pork and veal meat, lots of herbs, spices and others. Traditional dishes are very appreciated by both locals and tourists, some of the most popular being the fabada asturiana, which is a mixture of beans, pork meat, different kinds of sausages and spices, the caldereta, which is made with fish, lobster, vegetables and white wine, carne gobernada, a delicious beef stew boiled in white wine and many other more.

The locals are also famous for their traditional alcoholic apple drink called sidra, and for their many delicious kinds of cheese among which the most famous is the cabrales, a blue cheese with a unique flavor.

Desserts are just as appreciated here, some of the tastiest being the tarta de manzana made with locally grown apples and the arroz con leche, which is a sort of rice pudding with milk preferred during the cold Asturias winters.