Gijón Travel Guide: What to See, Eat and Do in Asturias

Gijón is the biggest city in the Principality of Asturias and the one that feels most like the sea. It sits on the Bay of Biscay on Spain’s green northern coast, about 30 km north of the regional capital Oviedo and roughly 25 km east of Avilés, wrapped around a rocky headland with a long sandy crescent on one side and a working harbour on the other. The Romans knew it as Gigia and left baths beneath the old town; the Asturian kings, the whalers, the coal and steel of the 19th century and finally the shipyards all layered themselves on top. The result is a city that is handsome rather than pretty — granite and glass, fishing boats and cider houses, a skyline of green hills behind a grey-blue Atlantic.

The heart of it is Cimadevilla, the old fishermen’s quarter that climbs the peninsula of Santa Catalina. Its narrow lanes are packed with sidrerías, and at the top the grass opens out to Eduardo Chillida’s monumental concrete sculpture looking straight out to sea. Below, the Muro de San Lorenzo promenade runs for well over a kilometre along the beach, and it is genuinely the town’s living room: surfers at dawn, families at noon, the whole city walking it at dusk. For travellers on Spain’s northern narrow-gauge railway, Gijón is one of the most rewarding stops of the whole coast — it is a scheduled call on the Costa Verde Express and on El Transcantábrico Gran Lujo, both of which Palace Tours operates as full-board luxury journeys along the Cantabrian shore.

What to see in Gijón

• Cimadevilla — The old quarter on the headland, once home to fishermen and sailors. Steep, salty, full of taverns, and the best place in the city to spend an evening with a bottle of cider.
• Elogio del Horizonte — Eduardo Chillida’s 1990 sculpture crowning the Cerro de Santa Catalina. Stand inside it and the curved concrete funnels the sound of the waves at you; the views along the coast are the finest in town.
• Playa de San Lorenzo — The great urban beach, a mile-plus arc of sand backed by a balustraded promenade. At low tide the sand is enormous; at high tide the swell draws surfers to the eastern end.
• Termas Romanas de Campo Valdés — Roman baths from the 1st–4th centuries, excavated and displayed underground at the foot of the old town, right beside the church of San Pedro. A reminder of how old this port really is.
• Palacio de Revillagigedo and Plaza del Marqués — An 18th-century palace and collegiate church facing the marina, with the striking modern statue of King Pelayo, the Asturian king who began the Reconquest, standing in the square.
• Laboral Ciudad de la Cultura — A vast mid-20th-century complex on the edge of town, said to be the largest building in Spain, now an arts centre. Its tower is a superb viewpoint over Gijón and the hills behind.
• Museo del Pueblo de Asturias — An open-air museum of Asturian rural life: hórreos (raised granaries), farmhouses, and the excellent Museo de la Gaita, dedicated to the Asturian bagpipe and its Celtic relatives.
• Jardín Botánico Atlántico — Twenty-five hectares of Atlantic flora, including an ancient oak wood, laid out just inland. A calm green counterweight to the seafront.
• Museo del Ferrocarril de Asturias — Housed in the old Estación del Norte by the harbour, with steam locomotives, mining engines and narrow-gauge carriages — essential context for anyone riding the coastal railway.

What to eat in Gijón

Asturias is cider country, and in Gijón the cider is poured, not served. A waiter holds the bottle overhead and the glass down by the knee, splashing a culinín against the side of the glass to aerate it; you drink that inch or two straight down and hand the glass back. The dry, still, faintly sour sidra natural is the perfect foil to the region’s big-hearted cooking. Start with fabada asturiana, the famous stew of buttery white beans with chorizo, black pudding and cured pork, or a plate of tortos — small fried corn cakes topped with minced pork and a fried egg. The cachopo — two veal fillets sandwiched around ham and cheese, breaded and fried to the size of a dinner plate — is an Asturian institution and comfortably feeds two.

Being a fishing port, Gijón also does seafood exceptionally well: hake, monkfish (pixín), squid, bonito in summer, goose barnacles (percebes) and, in winter, sea urchins (oricios) that locals eat with a spoon. Asturian cheeses are among Spain’s most serious — the blue, cave-aged Cabrales, the smoky Gamoneu, the crumbly Afuega’l Pitu — and they end a meal perfectly. For something sweeter, order arroz con leche with its lid of burnt caramel, walnut-stuffed casadielles, or thin frixuelos pancakes. Coffee and a slice of cake on the Muro, with the Atlantic in front of you, is a very Gijón afternoon.

Shopping and crafts

The obvious souvenirs are edible: bottles of sidra natural, a wedge of Cabrales wrapped for travel, jars of fabes beans. Beyond that, look for Asturian jet (azabache), the glossy black fossil stone worked into jewellery along this coast for centuries, and the region’s hand-carved madreñas, wooden clogs that once kept farmers out of the mud and now make handsome mantelpiece pieces. Small workshops still make gaitas, the Asturian bagpipes. For food shopping, the Mercado del Sur — a grand iron-and-brick market hall known locally as El Mercadín — and the covered market on Plaza Mayor are the places to browse.

Best time to visit

Gijón has an oceanic climate: mild, green and reliably damp, with a fine local drizzle the Asturians call orbayu. Summer is warm rather than hot and is the high season, when the beach and the promenade come fully alive and the city’s Semana Grande brings concerts and fireworks. Late spring and early autumn are the sweet spot — long days, quieter streets, and the countryside at its greenest. Winter is cool, grey and atmospheric, and it is also sea-urchin season. Bring a light waterproof whatever the month; the weather here changes quickly and the locals barely break stride for it.

Good to know

• Getting there — Asturias Airport (OVD) is about 40 km west of the city. Gijón also sits on the Cantabrian narrow-gauge line, which is how the region’s luxury trains arrive, and is roughly half an hour by road or rail from Oviedo.
• Cider etiquette — Drink the small pour immediately, and tip the last drop out before handing the glass back. Glasses are shared around the table; that is normal, not an oversight.
• Language — Spanish everywhere, with Asturian (bable) widely heard in place names and songs. English is common in hotels, less so in the older cider houses.
• Meal times — Lunch runs from about 2pm and dinner rarely starts before 9pm. Cider houses fill up in the early evening and stay full.
• On foot — The old town, the marina, the beach and the main museums are all walkable. Comfortable shoes matter: Cimadevilla is steep and its lanes are cobbled.