Salamanca’s Old Town

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
3
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
7
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
6
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
6
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
3
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
6
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
62 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
260th/454
Top 60%
continent
Europe
country
Spain
Length of time
1 day or less
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$40 ($10-$50 in 2022 prices)
Time of year visited
September
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Christian site Old town UNESCO world heritage site
All Tags
Fabulous hotel
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐⭐

Summary

There are so many pretty towns all across Spain with their magnificent Cathedrals, winding Old Town streets and snapshot views straight from a fairy tale . . . but they often feel either super touristy or half deserted as they are no longer a functioning non-tourist town.

Salamanca is different because it is fortunate to have a university right in the beating heart of the Old Town.  This gives the visit a far more genuine feel and it’s actually quite magical wandering through the narrow lanes all around the UNESCO World Heritage listed Cathedral Nueva, finding local bars and restaurants full and then spilling out into the wider plazas like the Plaza Mayor.  Super underrated place to visit and one of the best Old Towns experiences you can find anywhere in the world.

 

Top Tip – as with so many Old Towns, its best just to head in and get lost in the vibe of the place, find yourself a restaurant, have a few drinks and do a steady explore to find what lurks behind the next street, rather than following a guidebook.  There is enough to Salamanca to give you this experience and I’d recommend doing so around dusk time when many fellow tourists have left and the restaurant scene starts (slowly!) to come alive.

Accommodation tip – for a hotel right near the Old Town, with stunning views of the Cathedral from its garden pool and Monastery from its rooms, beautiful courtyards and generally top quality, I’d really recommend the Hotel Hospes Palacio de San Esteban.  Expensive, but great place.

 

Highlights

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#1 Wandering through the wonderful Old Town in the early evening, catching glimpses of the Cathedral and finding little restaurants lively with the buzzing local crowd

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#2 Visiting the UNESCO World Heritage Cathedral Nueva with its insanely high domed roof

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#3 The beautiful Convento de San Esteban (which you can get further glimpses of from the Hotel Hospes Palacio de San Esteban)

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#4 Seeing the various Old Town buildings with their super detailed facades, each trying to tell a story of the time they were built

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#5 Eating food, people watching in the Plaza Mayor

Experiences Nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

Other Old Town Experiences around the World

Nights out and soaking up Havana
⭐⭐⭐

Arequipa old town
⭐⭐

Wandering Dubrovnik’s Old Town City Walls
⭐⭐

A few days in Penang for George Town and beaches
⭐⭐

Soaking up the Cartagena Old Town
⭐⭐⭐

Soaking up Antigua
⭐⭐

Pintxos in San Sebastian
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wandering the Old Towns of Eastern Sicily
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Sibilini Mountains and hilltop villages of Marche
⭐⭐

Sienna
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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