Pamplona is a beautiful city and was a lovely day trip from San Sebastián. It is famous for the festival of San Fermín, where the “Running of the Bulls” happens, so there are of course a lot of sights and shops selling merchandise related to that, but there’s a lot more to see too.
We only had a day trip in Pamplona so I’m afraid this is quite a brief post, but a very nice day trip it was!
We were in Pamplona as part of a week-long trip in Basque Country, so all my notes are based around my experiences at that time. Please do check any dates/opening times/locations etc. if you’re planning your own trip – things change! Links are to websites if I can find useful ones, or Google Maps locations if not, so you can see where they are. Please also note this post contains some affiliate links, indicated with a ‘*’ – if you click them and decide to buy something I may receive a small cut of the payment, but it won’t cost you more. Thank you!
You can read my notes on what we got up to below, but if you are short on time here are my top recommendations on what to do in Pamplona. This is quite a short list as we were only there for a day trip! You can take a look at my more general notes on Notes on travelling in Basque Country: Bilbao, San Sebastián and Pamplona, too:
Contents
Pictures, please!
If you’d prefer just to look through my photos for now I’ve made a gallery of the photographs in this post here, but if you’d like to read my notes you can find them all below.
Top recommendations in San Sebastián, Basque Country
Travel:
Bus: there are great connections by bus and that’s how we travelled to and from Pamplona from San Sebastián.
Do/see/visit:
Walk around: we did the self-guided walk in Rick Steves’ Snapshot – Basque Country: Spain & France*. We didn’t go into any of the sights as such on this occasion, just walking around and looking, but there are plenty to choose from!
Eat/drink:
El horno de la Estafeta: super delicious baked goods.
La Forca: large café/patisserie that doesn’t seem to be on Google Maps but is very close to the Monumento a los Fueros, near here)
Travelling to Pamplona
We travelled to Pamplona by bus from San Sebastián. We got our tickets from the Alsa desk and got some fresh orange for the journey before waiting for our bus at Stand 4. We had seat numbers on this journey so we took our seats and as the coach pulled away the weather took a turn for the worst. The sky was really dark with rain so heavy it streaked across the windows and obscured what I’m sure were spectacular views most of the way.
How we spent a day trip in Pamplona
Wandering, snacking and Hemingway
Arriving in another underground bus station, this time with a Tron vibe of strips of blue lights, we headed up and into town. Sadly it was raining when we arrived but the sun soon came out quite brightly. It was a Saturday and Pamplona seemed a lively town with full bars and people milling around. We followed the walk in Rick Steves’ book*, which traces the route of the running of the bulls, something I’ll admit I’m not keen on.
We saw amazing buildings, lots of Hemingway sites (apparently it’s thanks to him that many of us have heard of Pamplona and the running of the bulls) and the huge bull ring, which I was surprised to see was sponsored by Mini. It seemed a more leafy town than San Sebastián and Bilbao, too, with golden leaves falling and great views over the walls across the hills. We bought some little croissants from El horno de la Estafeta – Tim’s filled with custard and dusted in sugar and mine filled and coated in chocolate – lovely!
We wandered around some more and being quite chilly went for green tea a cappuccino at La Forca (which doesn’t seem to be on Google Maps but is very close to the Monumento a los Fueros, near here), a rather large café that I’m sure must be buzzing in the summer, with amazing looking cakes. With a bit of time before our bus we went back through the square to buy a postcard, much to the inconvenience of the woman in the shop who was very precisely arranging a family in photos with life-size models of bulls to make it look as though they were doing the running, then headed back to the bus station for our 4:30 bus back to San Sebastián.
Leaving Pamplona
The journey on the way back was quicker as we didn’t stop anywhere and we arrived back just as the daylight was starting to fade and the streetlights were switching on.
We had a very nice time just wandering around Pamplona, I’m sure there’s much more to see and do if you actually go into places, too!
Next stop: back to San Sebastián
If you’d like to have a look through my photos without all the notes I’ve made gallery of the photographs in this post here.
Notes on Travel is a blog by photographer Jayne Lloyd, noting the things I found useful to know when I was visiting Pamplona in Basque Country as part of a week-long trip. I’ve tried to be accurate but please do check for up-to-date information before going as things are always changing! I apologise for any mistakes, please do let me know if you have more recent info.
* This post contains some affiliate links, indicated with a ‘*’ – if you click them and decide to buy something I may receive a small cut of the payment, but it won’t cost you more. Thank you!