Side Trip: Madrid to Valladolid, Spain

Valladolid was a city I’d been hoping to visit, sooner or later. It’s the city where my favorite Spanish professor, Heidi — the one who had the greatest impact on my Spanish history, culture, and language education — had studied abroad during college, and she’d always talked about it during class.

Well, guess what? Heidi’s husband, Tony, also a Spanish professor, is leading a study abroad group in Valladolid this summer! Which meant that Heidi, Tony, and their 5-year-old daughter Rosalie would only be a few hours away from me for the entire month of July. I hadn’t seen Heidi since my graduation 4 years ago, so I knew we needed to meet up. Also, I’d been telling my friend Sarah — who is about to start a Master’s program to become a Spanish teacher — about Heidi all year. Heidi told me she’d be happy to meet the two of us in Valladolid and give us a tour!

We decided to do it as a day trip from Madrid to Valladolid rather than spending the night, though I’m sure you could stay busy if you wanted to stay a couple of days.

Valladolid, Spain

Distance from Madrid: 217 km/135 miles

Valladolid seems to be a forgotten city in a way — which is strange, because it’s the capital of the northwestern province of Castilla y León. Not only that, it has a population of more than 300,000. But when I told the teachers at school I was going to visit, almost all of them said they’d never been. As it turned out, when we got there, there were almost no tourists! The only tourists we did see were large groups of elderly Spanish people. I don’t think you’d find much English spoken there.

Sarah and I arrived by bus, so Heidi and Rosalie picked us up at the bus station in the south of the city. A great first stop after arriving — by train or bus, since the stations are located close together — is Campo Grande. It’s a triangular-shaped park full of winding paths, fountains, gardens, and shady trees dating back to 1787. I’ve never seen so many peacocks in one place! Armed with nuts, Heidi and Rosalie showed us how to feed the peacocks, and they’d had good luck with the squirrels in the morning as well.

From there, it’s easy to walk anywhere else in the city — it’s big enough, but not so big that you’ll need public transportation. Many of the streets, like Calle de Santiago, are pedestrianized and have plenty of shopping. You’ll find Spanish favorites like El Corte Inglés and Zara amongst these streets, and they’ll lead you to Valladolid’s Plaza Mayor. This was the original Plaza Mayor in Spain and provided the inspiration for others, such as the ones in Salamanca and Madrid. When we were there, it was hosting the city’s Feria del Libro, or book fair, so it was covered in book stalls. It kind of goes to show how the original purpose of the Plaza Mayor has stayed intact after all these years — as the cultural heart of the city.

We stopped to rest and get cold drinks at Heidi’s rented Airbnb apartment before heading just down the block to Iglesia de San Pablo, the one of the most iconic buildings in Valladolid. It’s famous for its Isabelline style façade, which was designed by Queen Isabella of Spain herself. Also, Felipe II — her great-grandson, who would eventually boast the largest empire in Spain’s history — was born in Valladolid’s Royal Palace across the plaza and baptized in the cathedral.

The Iglesia de San Pablo isn’t the only famous church in town. The Catedral de Valladolid also has an interesting story… and interesting appearance. Heidi fondly described it as the ugliest cathedral in Spain. Originally, when Valladolid was Spain’s capital, there were grand plans for this cathedral — it would have been the largest in Europe. But a lack of resources and an attention shift toward Madrid caused less than 50% of the project to be completed. From the front, you can really tell how lopsided the church is, with only one of its intended two forward-facing towers.

After lunch at the Chinese restaurant Gran Muralla, we visited probably the most unexpected thing in Valladolid — a beach! When Heidi told us we were going to see the beach, I had to mentally run through my Spanish geography before remembering that no, Valladolid is not a coastal city. Well, that doesn’t matter, apparently! Along the Pisuerga River, you’ll find the Playa de Las Moreras. It was weird, but kind of cool. There’s a sandbar and plenty of people relaxing and sunbathing on the beach… but not really anyone swimming in the dirty-looking water. Anyway, I can see how it’d be popular with the locals.

We stopped back at Heidi’s to cool off — temperatures hit 90 degrees that day in Valladolid — before they walked with us to the train station. Rosalie was very dramatic and declared multiple times that she would “miss us for the rest of her life,” and “miss us until we died.” She also asked to rub noses at one point, which we obliged. But it was time to say goodbye to them and Valladolid for now, and we decided it wouldn’t be four years until our next meeting!

Get to Valladolid by…

Train: If you want to make this a day trip, you should take the train at least one way. (We took the bus in the morning, and the train back in the evening.) The train departs for Valladolid from Chamartín station, which is in the north of Madrid. If you’re arriving to the station by metro, take the 1 (Light Blue) or 10 (Dark Blue) line to Chamartín and exit the metro station. Then, take several sets of escalators up to the main station, where you’ll find your platform.

You can buy your ticket in the station from one of the kiosks or online from a website like Loco2.com. Tickets generally cost about €30-40 each way, but I wouldn’t bank on buying them same-day. The good news is that you’ll arrive in Valladolid in only 1 hour. Be careful when booking your tickets. Other trains between Madrid and Valladolid cost roughly the same price and take 2 hours longer! Once in Valladolid, your train will arrive at the main train station, Estación Valladolid Campo Grande.

Bus: We took the bus to Valladolid to save a little money since we weren’t crunched for time. In Madrid, you can get an ALSA bus at a couple of different places: Moncloa (metro Line 3 – Yellow and Line 6 – Circular), or Estación Sur (metro Line 6 – Circular to Méndez Álvaro and exit the station). Moncloa was more convenient for us and also shortened the journey since it’s further to the northwest of Madrid. Our tickets cost roughly €8, and the trip took about 2 hours and 20 minutes.

 

Valladolid is a charming city with interesting history while still being modern. And the lack of tourists is a real positive (in my opinion). I’m sure there’s even more to see! Knowing how close it is to Madrid, I’m sure I’ll be back to spend more time.

What are your favorite things about Valladolid? Let me know in the comments!

(And if you’re looking for another long day trip from Madrid, check out my post about Madrid to Zaragoza.)

-Cathy

Originally Published on June 10, 2019.