Gijón is a city to be enjoyed. Vibrant, youthful and bursting with history. Here, you will find traces of the Asturs and Romans, fishing neighbourhoods full of cider houses and great atmosphere, stately homes, palaces, charming squares, extensive green spaces and museums. But the sea always comes first in Gijón, the Cantabrian Sea that caresses the city at Playa de Poniente and Playa de San Lorenzo and its promenade.
What better destination comes to mind for a getaway by train? Read on and discover what to see and do in Gijón!
What you can't miss in Gijón
The city of Gijón is one of the most popular destinations in Asturias, and northern Spain as a whole! Its beaches, its atmosphere and its history make it the perfect place to get away for it all for a few days, letting yourself get caught up in its many charms... Ready to discover them?
- Cimadevilla: fishing district, is the original town centre, with its irregular building arrangement, of intimate scale, narrow plots, corners and surprises, perfectly adapted to the orography of the southern skirt of the hill of Santa Catalina.
- Church of San Pedro: one of the city's most emblematic buildings, strategically located at one end of Playa de San Lorenzo and at the foot of Cimadevilla.
- Atlantic Botanical Garden: botanical museum specialising in the flora and vegetation of the Atlantic world. Worth particular note on account of its modern, scientific, tourist and educational approach.
- Laboral Ciudad de la Cultura: its monumentality leaves nobody indifferent. Its tower is the tallest stone construction in Spain and is one of the largest civil buildings in the country.
- Gijón Aquarium: tour 60 freshwater and saltwater aquariums to learn about the flora and fauna of the world's seas in detail.
- Roman Baths of Campo Valdés: an on-site museum on Roman thermal baths of the high-imperial period, considered to be one of the most important sites in northern Spain.
- Jovellanos Birthplace Museum: house-palace dating to the late sixteenth century where the renowned Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos was born and lived.
- Revillagigedo Palace: built from a mediaeval tower in the eighteenth century. In 1991, together with the adjoining Collegiate Church of San Juan Bautista, it became the International Centre of Art.
- Parque del Cerro de Santa Catalina: this park overlooks the Cimadevilla fishing district. The highest part is crowned by the sculpture "Elogio del Horizonte", a work of sculptor Eduardo Chillida.
- Playa de San Lorenzo: this is in the bay of Gijón, one of the most beautiful in northern Spain, bounded to the west by Cerro de Santa Catalina and to the east by the estuary of the River Piles. As well as this beach, Gijón has two other urban beaches that are well worth a visit. Want to read more about them? Then click here.
How to get to Gijón by train
There is no chance of you getting bored on your trip to Gijón! At Renfe, we propose have prepared routes for you to travel on our Larga Distancia (Long Distance) trains in the fastest, most comfortable and sustainable way, so all you have to worry about is enjoying all the options that this beautiful city has to offer.