Avila

Introduction

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Avila is a city located in the autonomous community of Castile and León in central Spain. It is the capital of the province of Avila and has about 60,000 inhabitants. The main sights in Avila are the city walls, that surround the old part of town, the cathedral, and the several churches and monastaries.

Sights and Activities

City Walls

The city walls are completely surrounding the old town of Avila. A nice way to see Avila is to walk on top of the walls. A large part can be walked freely, covering large parts of the western, northern and eastern part of the walls. There are 3 points were you can enter, two at either side of the Cathedral, and one near Puerta del Plente. Entrance is €5 for adults. It is possible to access the walls with a wheelchair, but moving around is limited, as you will encounter a lot of stairs.

Cathedral del Salvador

The Cathedral del Salvador is located to the eastern part of the old town. The apse of the cathedral is actually a part of the walls. Entrance is €3.50 and for the whole tour, including climbing the tower €8.00.

Weather

Getting There

By Train

Trains connect Madrid with Avila on a regular basis.

By Car

You can reach Avila from Madrid in a little over an hour.

Sleep

Upscale

Keep Connected

Internet

Internet is widely available within Spain. Most airports have wifi-zones and in most towns there are internet cafés or shops where you can use internet for a fixed price. Wi-Fi points in bars and cafeterias are available after ordering, and most hotels offer Wi-Fi connection in common areas for their guests.

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

The international access code for Spain is +34. The emergency number for police, ambulance and the fire brigade is 112.

In cities you can find plenty of public phones, and 'locutorios'. The latter are small shops where you can use the phone and use internet. Most of them also sell prepaid cards for mobile telephones. These shops are used a lot by foreigners to call to their mother country.

The main mobile network operators in Spain are Yoigo, Vodafone, Movistar and Orange, as in most of Europe voice and data coverage is generally good in urban areas however it can be patchy in rural locations. Cheap mobile phones (less than €50) with some pre-paid minutes are sold at FNAC or any phone operator's shop (Vodafone, Movistar, Orange). Topping-up is then done by buying scratch cards from the small stores, supermarkets, vending points (often found in tobacco shops) or kiosks.

Post

If you want to post a card, you can head to the post office (Correos). The Spanish post is not yet as efficient as colleagues in other countries so receiving a card can take a bit longer than the number of days that it should take. On the website of Correos, you can find the locations of nearby post offices.
Post offices are generally open from 8:30am to 2:00pm, although times will vary according to the size of the city/town and the main post offices might be open until the early evening. Most will also open again on Saturday mornings, but in the smaller towns will close as early as 12 noon. When posting a letter, look for a yellow box and, if possible, post at the post office itself where there will also be divisions for local, national and international mail. Be prepared for long queues at the post office. This is why tobacco shops sell stamps and many will also have the facility to weigh packages. Standard letters/postcards of up to 20 grams sent within Spain are €0.34. However, non-standard letters/postcards of up to 20g are €0.39. Letters/postcards of 20 to 50 grams are €0.45. In the case of international shipping, the price is €0.64 to most countries within Europe for standard envelopes (letters/postcards) up to 20g, for a few European countries and outside Europe it is €0.78. If you want to send a package you are probably better off with a private courier company like TNT, DHL or UPS, as they offer quick and reliable services against competitive prices.

External Links

• Official Website
• Tourism Guide