Oviedo in 4 Days: a guidebook for getting the most out of your visit

From the old town to excursions to the villages outside of Oviedo, this city offers a myriad of activities that I recommend you do during your visit. In fact, one of the best things to see and do in Oviedo is to tour the city for at least four days.

Within the itinerary you will find different things to see both day and night, whether it be visiting museums, the University, or even walking the first stretch of the primitive Camino de Santiago. You will surely love to know the activities you can do at night in the city.

This 4-day itinerary will start with the Historical Centre, the museums and the University. The tour will start very early in the morning, so I am going to assume that you will arrive very early in the city, or you will arrive the night before and get up very early to start your journey.

Breakfast at El Fontan Market

Leaving very early in the morning from your hotel or wherever you are staying, I recommend you head to the first point on this list of things to do on a first day in Oviedo, which is none other than the El Fontán market. This is one of the most popular markets in the city, being one of the most picturesque and where you can always find fresh and seasonal items.

A great place not only to browse and get to know some of the fruits, vegetables and other things that are frequently sold in the city, but also a good place to get your first bite to eat in the morning. A good place to eat is 1 del Fontán, which is located inside the market and serves very good and light breakfasts.

If you prefer to eat outside the market, you'll also find a wide variety of restaurants of all kinds, among which you're sure to find a good breakfast dish to give you energy for the rest of the day. Between the tour and breakfast, you're sure to spend an hour and a half to two hours in this place.

Walking in the Plaza El Fontán

Just outside the market is Plaza El Fontan, an avenue that has been converted into a plaza over the years and will be your next destination to visit. It is one of the structures that form part of the historic centre of Oviedo, which, among other things, maintains its medieval-era characteristics.

As well as being a very busy square where locals and visitors go frequently, this square is one of the best places to enjoy different street plays and other performances. It also has a large number of tables and chairs inside to rest. You won't spend more than 30 minutes walking around this square.

La Escandalera Square

About five minutes walk from Plaza El Fontán, you will find Plaza La Escandalera, which has the merit of being, by far, the most recognised square in Oviedo. And how could it not be recognised? This square is the place that connects all the important areas of the city: the historic centre, the city centre and the political area. It is not in vain that it is a common place of transit for the locals.

The route through this square will be short, considering that it is small and can be covered very quickly. Among the things that stand out the most about this square are the benches distributed all over the place, as well as a huge ornamental fountain that serves as the crown of the square, as it is located in the centre. I recommend you spend no more than half an hour looking at the place and taking some photos.

Traveller Tip

Near La Escandalera there is a car park where you can leave your car if you are travelling in a private car.

Museum of Fine Arts of Asturias

Once you leave the square you have just walked through, you have two options, either leave your car parked near the square and continue walking to the museum, or take your car to the museum and park near the museum. Either way, it won't take you more than five minutes to get from one place to the other.

The Museum of Fine Arts opens to the public around 10:30, and at the rate you're going you're sure to be at the museum door a few minutes after 11:00. So it's a perfect time to get in to see some of the most interesting works of art inside the museum.

You will never see the same exhibitions in the museum, as there are always many temporary exhibitions that allow you to see new things on each visit. You'll probably need about two hours to get to know the whole place and appreciate the artwork, but I think it's a visit you can't miss, even if you go to Oviedo in one day.

Lunch before continuing

When you leave the Museo de Bellas Artes, your watch should read around 13:00, so it's a good time to eat some lunch before moving on to the next point on your itinerary. In close proximity to the museum you have just visited, there are many restaurants you can visit for some delicious food before continuing your tour.

Some of the options you have around you are: Salazogue, La Leyenda del Gallo and Floridita. If you want to try something different from traditional Spanish food, you can try other restaurants that offer international food, such as Sibuya Urban Sushi Bar, which serves Japanese food; or Tasty Poke Bar, ideal for enjoying Hawaiian cuisine.

Campoamor Theatre

I recommend that you stay and enjoy a few places in the vicinity of the restaurant while it's time to visit the Campoamor Theatre, which opens at 17:00. With a very traditional European building, this structure where the theatre is located, is one of the most striking in the region.

Visiting the theatre makes you understand why it is the main source of leisure and culture in Oviedo and throughout Asturias. It is a place where art and culture predominate, but also the quality of the plays and other presentations that stand out in this place. By the time you arrive at the theatre, it will be the second possible time to visit it, which is from 17:00 to 20:00.

Historic Centre of Oviedo (night tour)

Around 20:00 I recommend you to start a real tour around the historic centre of the city, but this time to get to know its darker side and start learning about some of the most interesting legends and mysterious tales. That's why this Oviedo de miedo tour, listed as one of the best tours of the city, takes you through each of the most popular streets to discover what they have to tell.

Your tour guide will make sure you know in detail each of the stories that converge in this place. You may repeat some of the places you've been to in the morning on this tour, but remember that the essence of this tour is that you get to know the darker stories that are woven around these places.

For this second day of enjoying Oviedo, you'll be delighted to know that you'll be going straight to the primitive Way of St. James. During the whole route you will have the freedom not only to get to know the route, but also to taste different typical flavours of this Spanish region. But before you set off on the route, you'll get to know a few things in Oviedo.

Traveller Tip

Before setting off on this route, have some breakfast at the hotel where you're staying.

San Salvador Cathedral in Oviedo

At around 10:00 you will start your tour at one of the places you visited the day before, the Cathedral of San Salvador.

During the previous night you had already learned some of the more obscure stories surrounding this building, but on this day, with the help of the sunlight, you will be able to appreciate many more details more clearly.

Mount Naranco

A short drive from the Cathedral is Monte Naranco, one of the most beautiful and popular places to visit in the city of Oviedo. This place is beautiful not only because from the top you can see the whole city, but also because it is home to the monument to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

During the tour you will be able to walk around the place, as well as have the opportunity to see how the vultures keep flying over the area. It is one of the places where you will be able to take nice pictures of the whole city. As you'll be going up around 11:00 or 12:00 in the day, you'll get a pretty clear view.

Primitive Way of St. James

Leaving Monte Naranco, it's time to walk the 12-kilometre trail that forms part of the Way of St. James. This part of the route is one of the most beautiful and relaxing because you will first start walking through the whole city until you complete a route of about four kilometres.

Just after leaving the city, you will enter the Asturian countryside, where you will definitely see a lot of vegetation, grass, animals of all kinds and many green hills. It is a truly relaxing ride that lasts approximately four hours.

At the end of this ride, you will arrive at a restaurant for lunch to enjoy Asturian food and take in the scenery. Once lunch is over, you will return by taxi to the city of Oviedo. When you arrive in Oviedo it will probably be around 15:00, so I recommend that you get to your accommodation and get some rest before going out for the night.

Party on the Boulevard de la Sidra (Cider Boulevard)

Gascona Street is one of the most popular streets in Oviedo for partying from early in the evening until dawn, so thanks to this feature, it has become popularly known as the Boulevard de la Sidra (Cider Boulevard).

A good plan to do after recharging your batteries is undoubtedly to visit this street to entertain yourself with the party. As you can imagine, you can enjoy different liquors, but you will also be able to try some of the most popular dishes of the region.

Taking into account that the night before it was impossible to go to bed early, because you surely loved the party plan in the Boulevard de la Sidra, the activity of the third day starts a bit later, at about 10:00. So it's a good idea to grab a bite to eat at your accommodation before you go hiking.

Winter Park

This tour is going to start at the Parque de Invierno, so you have to get to this place to get on the bus that will take you hiking around different places in Oviedo. A tour guide will take you through the south of Oviedo, through the whole extension of the park and will teach you some tips to make you enjoy even more the hiking activity.

Green Trail Oviedo Fuso de la Reina

After touring the Winter Park and the southern area of Oviedo, it's time to continue to the Oviedo Fuso de la Reina Green Trail, a place where the tour guide will tell you some interesting facts about the railway you are about to cross, about the countryside of Asturias and the route you are about to walk in this one of the best excursions from Oviedo.

Priorio Castle

Once you finish the two-hour walk along the green trail, you will continue on to Priorio Castle, where you will stay for no more than ten minutes. But this time is more than enough to take some pictures and listen to the wise comments of your tour guide who will tell you some of the legends that are woven about this place, as well as some details about the history of its construction and other interesting facts.

Las Caldas

The end of this trip ends in Las Caldas, so this is an ideal place to relax for about two and a half hours, enjoying the most relaxing spa. After the relaxing time at the spa is over, it's time to have some lunch and then continue on your way back.

Dinner at Casa Fermín

Bearing in mind that you will be on this tour for approximately seven hours, your arrival time is likely to be around 17:00, so, for the second day in a row, my recommendation is that you arrive at your accommodation to rest, before heading out in the early evening for dinner and then continue the party in some of the city's most popular bars.

For dinner, for example, you can go to one of the most popular restaurants, which is none other than Casa Fermín, a place where you can eat something light, simple and traditional. It also has a good atmosphere for a couple of drinks before moving on to another bar with a good nightlife atmosphere.

Moving on to the youth bars and nightclubs

If there's one thing that Oviedo excels in, it's its many bars and clubs with a youthful atmosphere to hang out and enjoy the nightlife, which is why I recommend this plan to enjoy the night after a lovely day in the Asturian countryside.

Some of the most special places to visit on this tour are: Salsipuedes, La Regenta, El Meraki, Arde París or Radio. Each one of them has its own speciality and are a good bet to dance, listen to live music, enjoy rock, start the night or go out for an after-dinner drink.

On this fourth day of Oviedo adventures you'll get off the beaten track and go to some places outside the city. One of the best tours to visit towns outside the city is the one that includes Luarca, Cudillero and Avilés.

I recommend having lunch before you leave, although the departure time depends on what your tour guide says. If you're going as a family, a trip to the outskirts of Oviedo is one of the best things you can do in the city with children.

Luarca

The first destination on this tour is Luarca, a seaside town that stands out for many things, but one of the best features of its landscape is that it can mix the sea with the mountains, and that makes it special. You'll be able to explore the whole town in two hours, and you'll even be able to enjoy a range of leisure activities while you're here.

Cudillero

Leaving Luarca, the tour will take you straight to Cudillero, a coastal town that stands out for the peculiar formation of its streets, which in the end, end up converging in the sea. Here you will have the opportunity to eat some of the local cuisine, all on the recommendation of your tour guides. Don't forget to take several photos before leaving, because you won't stay here for more than two hours.

Aviles

After seeing such traditional architecture, it's time to move on to Aviles, a region that has risen in modernity and offers locals and visitors an incredible modern view away from the city. You will also have a couple of hours to wander the streets, always with the prior recommendation of the tour guides. One of the places you will visit is the Old Church of Sabugo.

Return and farewell

After Avilés, it's time to return to Oviedo. This trip lasts approximately 10 hours, so I recommend you to get to your accommodation and forget about the city' s nightlife on this fourth and last day of the trip. It's time to rest and get ready to return home.