Valladolid

Introduction

Greenfields

© lsmart

Valladolid is bang in the middle of the region of Castile and León, of which it is also the capital and the largest city. The city is split in half by the river Pisuerga. The old city lies on the eastern side of this river. The city lies in the fertile region of the valley of the river Duero, which connects to the Piscuerga just south of Valladolid.

Sights and Activities

• Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción - The Cathedral in the Old city.
• Monasterio de las Huelgas Reales - Monastary built in Mudejar style.
• Plaza Mayor - One of the most beautiful in Spain.
• Museo Nacional de Escultura - sculpture museum, with a collection mainly from Spain and Portugal.
• The Royal Palace - built in the 16th century.

Weather

The weather in Valladolid is the typical weather of mainland Spain. Hot summers with daytime temperatures in July and August above 30 degrees Celsius are normal. In the Winter during the day it will be around 10 degrees Celsius, while at night it can occasionally just drop under the 0 degrees during the night. Rain can fall during the entire year, but in Winter, and also in April and May, it's more likely to get wet that during the other months.

Getting There

By Plane

Valladolid Airport has a number of flights. Air Europa serves Palma de Mallorca and Tenerife-North. Iberia, operated by Air Nostrum, has flights to/from Barcelona, Ibiza, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Málaga, Menorca, Palma de Mallorca, Paris, Tenerife-North and Valencia. Finally, lowcostairlines Ryanair serves Brussels-South, London-Stansted, Milan-Bergamo and Weeze (near Düsseldorf). Note that quite a few flights are only seasonal (mainly April-October).

By Train

From Madrid, Valladolid can be reached in about 1 hour, by AVE train, that also makes a stop halfway in Segovia. There are also connections from places like Burgos, Barcelona and Santander.

By Car

Valladolid lies along the A-62, the road from Ciudad Rodrigo and Salamanca to Burgos. From Madrid the easiest way is to take the A-6, and connect to the A-62 at Tordesillas. If you come from Segovia, you can take the CL-601, which enters the city on the south eastern side of town.

By Bus

Like every town and city in Spain, Valladolid can be easily reached by bus. several buscompanies have connections to Valladolid. The major busstation is a bit south of the city center on the south side of the Campo Grande, a big park. From Salamanca, and some smaller towns you can take the bus with avanzabus from Madrid and other places you can take Alsa.

Sleep

Budget

Learn

• University of Valladolid

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