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 to 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 is visiting museums, the University, and even the first stretch of the primitive road to 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 Casco Historico, 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 to the city, or you arrived the night before and will wake up very early to start your journey.

Breakfast at El Fontán Market

Leaving very early in the morning from the hotel or place where you are staying, I recommend you to go to the first point of 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 things.

An excellent place not only to walk around and get to know some of the fruits, vegetables and other things that are sold very often in the city, but it is also a good place to take advantage of eating the first bite of the morning. A good place where the food is highly recommended is the 1 del Fontán, located inside the market and serves very good and light breakfasts.

If you prefer to eat outside the market, you will also find a wide variety of restaurants of all kinds, among which you will surely find a good breakfast dish to have energy for the rest of the day. Between the tour and breakfast, it will surely take you an hour and a half to two hours in this place.

Walking in the Plaza El Fontán

Just outside the market, you will find Plaza El Fontán, an avenue that has become a plaza over time and will be your next destination to visit. It is one of the structures that are part of the historic center of Oviedo, which among other things, maintains its characteristics of the medieval era.

Besides being a very busy square where locals and visitors often go, this square is one of the best places to enjoy different street plays and other performances. It also has a lot of tables and chairs inside to rest. The tour of this square will not take more than 30 minutes.

La Escandalera Square

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

The tour of this square will be short, considering that it is small and can be crossed very quickly. Among the things that stand out in this square are its benches distributed throughout the place, in addition to a huge ornamental fountain that serves as the crown of the square, to be located throughout the center. I recommend not to stay more than half an hour looking at the place and taking some pictures.

Traveller Tip

Near La Escandalera there is a parking lot where you can leave your car if you are driving a private one.

Museum of Fine Arts of Asturias

Once you leave the square you 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 it. 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 pace 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 exhibits in the museum, as there are always many temporary exhibits that allow you to see new things on each visit. You will probably need about two hours to get to know the whole place and appreciate the artwork, but I think it is a visit you can't miss, even if you go to Oviedo in one day.

Lunch before continuing

As 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. Very close to the museum you have just visited, there are many restaurants that you can visit to enjoy 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 Theater

I recommend that you stay and enjoy a few places in the vicinity of the restaurant while it is time to visit the Campoamor Theater, whose visits are at 17:00. With a very traditional European building, this structure where the theater is located, is one of the most striking in the region.

Visiting the theater 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 theater, it will be the second possible time period to visit it, which is from 17:00 to 20:00.

Historic Center of Oviedo (night tour)

Around 20:00 I recommend you to start a real tour of the historic center 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. This is why this Oviedo de miedo tour, ranked 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. It is possible that in this tour you will repeat some of the places you have been in the morning, but remember that the essence of this tour is that you can know the darkest stories that are woven about these places.

For this second day of enjoying Oviedo, you will be delighted to know that you are going to go straight to the primitive way of St. James. Throughout the tour you will have the freedom not only to know the way, but also to taste different typical flavors of this Spanish region. But before going to the road, you will know some things in Oviedo.

Traveller Tip

Before leaving for this tour, have some breakfast at the hotel where you are staying.

Cathedral of San Salvador in Oviedo

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

During the previous night you had already known some of the darker stories that surround this construction, but on this day, with the help of the sunlight, you will be able to appreciate many more details more clearly.

Mount Naranco

Just a few minutes drive from the Cathedral is Monte Naranco, one of the most beautiful and popular places you can find 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 will be going up around 11:00 or 12:00 in the day, you will get a pretty clear view.

Primitive Way of St. James

Leaving Monte Naranco, it's time to hike the 12-kilometer trail that is part of the Camino de Santiago. This part of the route is one of the most beautiful and relaxing because you will first start walking all around the city until you complete a route of about four kilometers.

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 contemplate the scenery. Once lunch is over, you will return by cab to the city of Oviedo. When you arrive, it will probably be around 3:00 p.m., so I recommend that you get to your accommodation to rest a little and go out for the night.

Party on the Boulevard de la Sidra (Cider Boulevard)

Gascona street is one of the most popular in Oviedo to party from early evening until dawn, so thanks to this feature, has become popularly known as the Boulevard de la Sidra.

A good plan that you can do after recharging your batteries, without a doubt, is 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 taste some of the most popular dishes of the region.

Considering that the night before it was impossible to go to bed early, because you surely loved the party plan at the Boulevard de la Sidra, the activity of the third day starts a little later, around 10:00. So it's a good idea to grab a bite to eat at your lodging site 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 through different parts of 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 is 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 train track you are about to cross, about the Asturias countryside 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 to the Priorio Castle, a place where you will not stay for 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 rest a little, enjoying for about two and a half hours, the most relaxing spa. After the relaxing time at the spa is over, it is time to eat some lunch, to continue the way back.

Dinner at Casa Fermin

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

For example, you can have dinner in 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 to have a couple of drinks before continuing your tour to another bar with a good nightlife.

Moving on to the youth bars and nightclubs

If there is something that stands out in Oviedo is its large number of bars and nightclubs with youthful atmosphere to hang out and enjoy the nightlife, that's 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 specialty and are a good bet to dance, listen to live music, enjoy rock, start the night or go out for an after party.

On this fourth day of adventures in Oviedo you will 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 leaving, although the departure time depends on what your tour guide says. If you are going as a family, going on an excursion to the outskirts of Oviedo is one of the best things to do in the city with children.

Luarca

The first destination you will go to on this tour will be Luarca, a marine village 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 will go through the whole town in two hours, and you can even enjoy different leisure plans while you are here.

Cudillero

Leaving Luarca, the tour will take you straight to Cudillero, a coastal village 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 dishes of the local cuisine, all under the recommendation of your tour guides. Don't forget to take some pictures before leaving, because you won't stay more than two hours in this place.

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 walk around its streets always with the previous recommendation of the tour guides. One of the places you will visit will be the Old Church of Sabugo.

Return and farewell

After Avilés, it is time to return to Oviedo. This trip lasts approximately 10 hours, so I recommend that you arrive at 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 go back home.