For nine cacophonous days each July, Pamplona, Spain, pulsates to the beat of cattle stampeding on ancient cobblestones during the Running of the Bulls. But the rest of the year, this old Roman city moves to a gentler rhythm, turning alternately contemplative to greet thousands of pilgrims traveling the Camino de Santiago, and celebratory to toast the spirit of Ernest Hemingway that still seems to hover over its tile rooftops.
Historic Hotels as Low as $135--or a Pilgrim's Bunk for $6
Several of Pamplona’s hotels embrace their own distinctive vestiges of the past, offering visitors little slices of city life through its long history. While some have luxury amenities and price tags, you can snag a deal as low as $6 at the Albergue Jesus and Maria or $135 at Hotel the Puerta del Camino.
For seekers of Hemingway, there is no greater shrine than his suite in the Gran Hotel La Perla, overlooking the route of the Bull Run.
Pamplona’s oldest hotel has remodeled Hemingway's bathroom to modern marble-and-whirlpool standards, but step through the bedroom door and it’s 1923, the first time Hemingway, then a reporter for the Toronto Star, booked the room and opened his balcony doors to look down on the mayhem of white-togged men and black bulls racing through the city canyon.
Hemingway Room Kept as He Knew It for Nine Visits to Pamplona
Nine times over the decades, Hemingway returned to the city he made famous, and each trip he settled into this rococo room with the hand-painted twin headboards and white telephone. Today, one of the hotel owners displays his collection of Hemingway’s international editions in a bedside glass case.
In the lobby, La Perla shows off the old telephone switchboard and cage elevator that Hemingway would have known. Downstairs in Restaurante la Cocina de Alex Múgica, Chef Mugica specializes in updating traditional Navarre recipes, especially those from Las Pocholas restaurant which once occupied this basement spot in La Perla—this is as close as Hemingway pilgrims will get to dishes he knew. Look for lamb stew, chorizo sausage and salted codfish, called ajoarriero, in a sauce with peppers and oil.
Historic Luxury in an 18th-Century Pamplona Palace
Travelers who like their history swaddled in luxury now have entree to one of Pamplona’s grand palaces, open to the public for the first time after more than 200 years. The Viceroy of New Granada built his Palacio Guendulain to impress in the late 1700s, and it’s still a commanding spot.
The family lived here for more than two centuries; after 1953, they visited for the vacation month of August. In September 2009, descendants of the viceroy opened it as a 25-room hotel, leaving some of their furnishings and art collection behind.
Ten rooms have old family pieces, such as headboards and chaise longues. Dine in the restaurant and you're under Guendulain chandeliers and surrounded by their School of Goya paintings.
The showstopper in the lobby is a gilded carriage, and several more carriages are on show in the palace courtyard. Plans are underway to restore the 13th-century Gothic family chapel.
Convent Converted into City-Center Hotel Puerta del Camino
At the Hotel Puerta del Camino, the chapel of this former convent retains its 19th-century touches as the hotel restaurant. Now a modern city-center hotel with plasma TV, free WiFi and air conditioning, the building began life in 1877 as the convent of the Adoratrices, Congregation of Sisters Adorers, Handmaids of the Blessed Sacrament and of Charity. The order was founded to help Pamplona’s prostitutes, and the nuns also taught embroidery and other ladylike skills to the daughters of the city.
The sisters opened part of their convent as a pilgrims’ hostel in the 1960s, then welcomed college students. The Adoratrices, down to seven, left the convent at the end of 2007, when the building took on its new secular life.
Camino de Santiago Pilgrims Bunk Down for $6 a Night Under Historic Roof
Religious pilgrims walking or biking along The French Route of the Camino de Santiago, one of the most popular paths, come right through the heart of old Pamplona. Certified pilgrims can snag a bunk bed under the historic roof of Albergue Jesus and Maria.
The Church of Jesus and Mary was built at the end of the 1500s on the site of the old Roman baths, in an area called “the pilgrim’s neighborhood.” When the deconsecrated church became a true pilgrims’ hostel in 2007, with a kitchen, laundry, dining room and internet connections, the renovators spared the gorgeous nave and the fine architectural bones of the building.
Parador Part of 16th-Century Castle in Olite, Region's Most-Visited City
If you’re traveling south of Pamplona to the most visited spot in Navarre, Olite and the medieval castle of King Carlos III, this is the chance to indulge those time-traveler dreams. The Parador de Olite Principe de Viana is actually tucked into a wing of the 16th-century castle, a Spanish National Monument.
The parador walls are thick stone, the ceilings coffered wood and the tapestries rich embroidery. Wrought-iron chandeliers light the lobby and lounge, massive fireplaces glow on cool evenings.
But the guest rooms have comforts King Carlos III could never have dreamed of: satellite TV, central heating and air conditioning, and free WiFi. Or you can just climb into your giant canopied bed, admire the medieval stone work and fireplace and forget all about the 21st century.
How to Make the Most Out of a Trip to Pamplona
Check out the ghost of Hemingway that hovers over the city, while booking the best hotel and restaurants for Running of the Bulls. Reserve a table at the Michelin-starred Restaurante Rodero
Explore more of Pamplona and Spain.
Betsa Marsh - Betsa Marsh's passion is the UK, but she'll go anywhere for a good story. Her piece on the San Antonio Toilet Seat Museum won the Lowell ...
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