Gijón

Introduction

Playa de San Lorenzo

© FA

Gijón is a coastal city in Asturias, in the northwest of Spain, with about 275,000 inhabitants.

Sights and Activities

Gijon is a good place to visit because of its Roman past, its museums, its sculptures and architecture. It is a green borough, its gastronomy is unique, it offers quality commerce, and it has exceptional location next to the sea and on the center of Asturias.

Weather

The weather in Gijón is not like much of the rest of Spain. Gijón is on the northern coast of Spain where it is wet and not very hot in summer.
The climate of Gijón may be defined, in this sense, as being temperate, with an average annual temperature of 15 °C and only slightly varying annual average maximum and minimum temperatures. Rainfall ranges between 800-1,000 mm/year, fairly regularly distributed, with few very dry periods and no great concentration of rainfall at specific times of the year. Both variables, temperature and rainfall, are slightly modified at the southeastern border of the municipality, where the highest altitudes are to be found: the temperatures decrease and the rainfall increases.

Getting There

By Plane

Asturias Airport (OVD) is about 40 kilometres from Gijón.
Airlines flying here are Regional to Paris, Air Berlin to Berlin, Air Europa to Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Palma de Mallorca and Tenerife-South, Easyjet to London and Geneva, Iberia to Madrid, Air Nostrum to Alicante, Barcelona, Brussels, Lisbon, Madrid, Málaga, Sevilla and Valencia, and both Spanair and Vueling to Barcelona.

Getting Around

You can visit the city by car, on foot, by bicycle through its bike lanes or by Segway, personal transport with autobalance. You can rent segways on the city and make guided tours around it.

There are several urban and suburban bus lines in the city. A ticket costs 1.25€. During Eastern Holidays and Summer you can enjoy the city on a touristic bus which makes a route with stops on the principal tourism resources like Railway Museum, Isabel La Catolica Park, Laboral City of Culture, Botanical Gardens.

Eat

If Gijón and Asturias are characterized by something it is by their tasty and varied gastronomy. Produce is not lacking, fish, seafood, meats, cider and delicious pastries. To promote all these attractions and enhance this work that has been carried out for three years, Gijón Joint Tourism Board has devised a plan of action focused on five main axes: Gijón Gourmet Menu; Sweet-toothed Gijón; Cider Routes; Gijón Cocktails and Going out for pinchos around Gijón.

Gijón Gourmet Menu arose 5 years ago to make the city's new culinary trends known by encouraging restaurants distinguished by some quality seal or mark to popularize its cuisine. Given the success of this initiative, the idea is to further extend the product by enhancing the use of produce in the region.

As its name suggests Sweet-toothed Gijon aims at highlighting one of the citys biggest attractions, its wonderful pastries. Therefore, Gijón is known for having the largest number of bakers shops per capita in the country, something that the townspeople boast about because of their fondness for sweet treats. Thus, its pastries, cakes, and chocolate will be closer to visitors. The product, presented with authenticity and uniqueness, would create routes of associated establishments in the city with the chance to taste the specialties of each establishment.

Sleep

Gijón has a truly extensive range of hotels. You may choose the hotel that suits you best according to its location, in the city centre or in the surroundings, number of stars, services, etc. Among the accommodation available in Gijón, there are also outstanding country hotels, especially suitable for enjoying the peace and tranquility of the surroundings and the quality of their facilities and services.

Keep Connected

Internet

Internet is widely available within Spain. Most airports have wifi-zones and in most towns there are internet cafés or shops where you can use internet for a fixed price. Wi-Fi points in bars and cafeterias are available after ordering, and most hotels offer Wi-Fi connection in common areas for their guests.

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

The international access code for Spain is +34. The emergency number for police, ambulance and the fire brigade is 112.

In cities you can find plenty of public phones, and 'locutorios'. The latter are small shops where you can use the phone and use internet. Most of them also sell prepaid cards for mobile telephones. These shops are used a lot by foreigners to call to their mother country.

The main mobile network operators in Spain are Yoigo, Vodafone, Movistar and Orange, as in most of Europe voice and data coverage is generally good in urban areas however it can be patchy in rural locations. Cheap mobile phones (less than €50) with some pre-paid minutes are sold at FNAC or any phone operator's shop (Vodafone, Movistar, Orange). Topping-up is then done by buying scratch cards from the small stores, supermarkets, vending points (often found in tobacco shops) or kiosks.

Post

If you want to post a card, you can head to the post office (Correos). The Spanish post is not yet as efficient as colleagues in other countries so receiving a card can take a bit longer than the number of days that it should take. On the website of Correos, you can find the locations of nearby post offices.
Post offices are generally open from 8:30am to 2:00pm, although times will vary according to the size of the city/town and the main post offices might be open until the early evening. Most will also open again on Saturday mornings, but in the smaller towns will close as early as 12 noon. When posting a letter, look for a yellow box and, if possible, post at the post office itself where there will also be divisions for local, national and international mail. Be prepared for long queues at the post office. This is why tobacco shops sell stamps and many will also have the facility to weigh packages. Standard letters/postcards of up to 20 grams sent within Spain are €0.34. However, non-standard letters/postcards of up to 20g are €0.39. Letters/postcards of 20 to 50 grams are €0.45. In the case of international shipping, the price is €0.64 to most countries within Europe for standard envelopes (letters/postcards) up to 20g, for a few European countries and outside Europe it is €0.78. If you want to send a package you are probably better off with a private courier company like TNT, DHL or UPS, as they offer quick and reliable services against competitive prices.

External Links

• Official Website