Logroño

Logroño is a city in northern Spain. It's the capital of the autonomous community of La Rioja, well known for its wine. The Way of St. James runs through the city, as does the River Ebro.

Understand
The origin of Logroño is associated to the Roman Vareia, now a neighbourhood of the city, and the Iron Age site on top of Monte Cantabria. Being an important crossroad on the Way of St. James and strategic point between the kingdoms of Aragon, Castile and Navarra helped to develop the city during the Middle Ages.

In 1095, the king Alfonso VI of León and Castile awarded the inhabitants of Logroño with the Code of Laws named Fuero. King John II of Castile granted the status of 'city' in 1431 and the titles of 'very noble' and 'very loyal' in 1444. In 1521, the population heroically resisted the siege of 30,000 troops sent by King Francis I of France for 17 days. To remember the victory, Charles I ordered three fleurs-de-lis to be added to the city's emblem. A tribunal of the Spanish Inquisition was set in Logroño in 1570, being of historical importance in 1610 during the Basque witch trials.

The 1833 territorial division of Spain established Logroño as the capital of the new Province of Logroño, renamed in 1980 to Province of La Rioja and constituted as autonomous community since 1982.

Logroño is now a city of 153,066 inhabitants, and is considered to have one of the greatest quality of life in Spain.

The city is twinned with Brescia, Ciudad de La Rioja, Darmstadt, Dax, Dunfermline, Hagunia, Libourne and Rancagua.

Climate
Logroño has a humid continental climate due to its location in the Ebro valley and this is characterized by hot summers and cold winters, with the precipitations well distributed throughout the year.

Tourist information
A good start for a visit to Logroño is the centrally located

By car
There are several roads passing through Logroño. The Autopista AP-68 connects Zaragoza with Bilbao while the Autovía A-12 connects Pamplona and Burgos. The N-120 road goes from Logroño to Vigo and the N-232 follows the river Ebro to the coast.

Blue and green parking spaces are paid Monday to Saturday between 09:00 and 14:00 and between 16:30 and 20:00. White parking spaces are free at all times.

There are car rental facilities available at the airport and the train station.

By foot
Walk the Way of Saint James.

By public transport
Logroño has a good public network of buses with eleven lines crossing the city. They start at 07:00 and finish around 23:00 with frequencies of 10 to 15 minutes. The ordinary ticket can be bought directly from the driver and it costs €1 allowing unlimited transfers for half an hour. There are also night bus services on Fridays and Saturdays with three different routes. All the buses are equipped with free Wi-Fi.

By bicycle
Logroño is a flat city and has an extensive network of bike lanes so riding a bicycle is a good option to discover the city. The public rent-a-bike service is named biciLOG and visitors can use it for free after obtaining a pass in the tourist office.

On foot
Logroño is a small city and therefore very walkable.

By taxi
Taxis are quite expensive for the size of the city and a ride can get you easily up to €10. Official taxis are white and have a red stripe in the front door. Available taxis have a green light on top. There are some stands around the city where you can pick up a taxi but you can also call to the numbers.

Wineries
In the old city you can visit some of the vaulted underground cellars known as calados. For a bigger understanding of the winemaking you can get a tour in one of the wineries around the city:

Festivals

 * Actual Festival. Music, film and art festival celebrated since 1991 during the first week of the year.
 * Fiestas de San Bernabé. Festival that commemorates the victory against the French troops of André de Foix in 1521. The legend says that the inhabitants of the city survived the siege during 17 days just with fish from the river Ebro, so on June 11 it's tradition to eat the fish, bread and wine served for free by Cofradía del Pez. Since 2008 locals wear period dress and historical performances are carried out. Together with the Day of La Rioja on June 9 makes four of five days of break with several activities in the street.
 * Fiestas de San Mateo. The Wine and Harvest Festival is celebrated during the week of September 21 with activities during the whole day starting with the bull run in the morning, continuing with food and wine tastings till midday, bullfighting and Basque pelota during the afternoon, and finishing with fireworks and concerts at night.

Buy
Logroño is very much a commercial city and you can find shops in almost every street. Some of the busiest commercial zones are Gran Vía, Calle San Antón and Paseo de las Cien Tiendas. In the old city there are a few souvenir shops where you can buy wine as well as traditional products.

Being in the La Rioja wine region, an original souvenir would be to buy an authentic bota de vino made with leather and designed to carry wine:

Eat
You can't leave Logroño without visiting the famous that together with Travesía del Laurel, Calle San Agustin and Calle Albornoz concentrate more than 50 bars serving tapas, known in the north of Spain as pintxos.

Each bar cooks its own speciality, although new openings are specialized in more than one dish, always accompanied by a glass of Rioja wine. You can hop freely from one bar to the next one along the one hundred meters of the street that has an unbeatable atmosphere of good vibes. The circuit is popularly known as Trail of the Elephants, because people would walk on four legs if they visited all the bars.

In the neighbouring  which is 300 meters far away, you can find another 30 bars that are usually less crowded and have different specialities.

Budget

 * Prices of pintxos are around €2 so it can become expensive if you feel really hungry or can't stop trying all those delicacies. An option to keep the budget low would be ordering bigger portions of them that are called raciones and are usually served in clay pots. Some of these bars serve as well bigger sandwiches known as bocadillos or bocatas.
 * There is a good amount of doner kebab stands around the city offering beef and chicken served with salad in flatbread for around €4.5.
 * In autumn and winter you can find churrería stalls selling a fried-dough pastry named churro. During the cold months is common to find as well smaller kiosks selling roasted chestnuts.

Mid-range
During working days most of the restaurants offer a daily menu for lunch which includes three courses, bread, wine and water ranging from €10 to €15.



Beer
In a wine region like this, drinking beer is not forbidden yet. Ordering beer is easy with the widely known "una cerveza, por favor" that will get you usually a caña which is about 25 cl of draught beer. For a smaller size you should order corto de cerveza and for the half litre, or pint, use pinta.

On Thursdays most of the bars have "pinta a precio de caña" which means pints are discounted, paying for them what you would pay normally for a caña. In some of these bars you can also find local hand-crafted beer: Ceriux, Mateo & Bernabé and Palax.

and are two of the favourite spots for beer lovers  with bars and terraces.

Coffee
Locals like to drink coffee or tea, but it's simply an excuse to get together around a table and chat. The pedestrian street Bretón de los Herreros has some of the nicest cafeterias with outdoor terraces both in winter and summer, which get really crowded after-work.

In summer it's common to ask for café con hielos and you'll be getting a glass with ices where you can pour your coffee. If you want to try something different, ask for té americano which is an infusion of black tea boiled in milk with a slice of orange and cinnamon.



Wine
While ordering wine you have to consider that is classified into four categories. Joven, cosechero or vino del año is the youngest wine and has undergone very little, if any, wood ageing. Crianza is aged for two years, being at least one in an oak barrel. Reserva is aged for at least three years, of which at least one year is in oak. Gran Reserva has been aged at least two years in oak and three years in bottle.

You can distinguish as well four types of wine because of the colour: red tinto, white blanco and two kinds of rosé clarete and rosado with different processes of elaboration.



Sleep
Logroño has a good amount of modern hotels in the city centre but also in the outskirts. Although for a cheaper accommodation you might search for guest-houses known as hostal or pensión. The first hostel was opened in 2012 and there is as well a camping area. As a stop of the Way of St. James there are several pilgrim hostels known as albergue de peregrinos.

Connect
There is a public service of free Wi-Fi that covers most of the old city, but you have to register through SMS once you try to connect to the network "Aytologrono". The hotspots are found in Parque del Ebro, Paseo del Príncipe de Vergara and Plaza del Mercado.

You can get free Wi-Fi without the need of registration in the building of the City Hall and in the cultural centre La Gota de Leche. Public buses are equipped with free Wi-Fi.

Stay safe
Logroño is quite a safe city but as usual while travelling it's better to keep an eye on your belongings.

Emergencies
If you suffer an accident or have an emergency, call 112 or go to the closest emergency centre:

Go next
Day trips from Logroño include:
 * Briones — Small picturesque medieval town that hosts the Vivanco Museum of Wine Culture.
 * Enciso — The Paleontological Centre it's a good start to follow the dinosaur footprints spread across the southern part of La Rioja.
 * Haro — Wine town that celebrates the Battle of the Wine every year on June 29.
 * San Millán de la Cogolla — The Yuso and Suso Monasteries were declared World Heritage Site in 1997, as the birthplace of the modern written and spoken Spanish language.