Pamplona: top attractions & road trip guide
Pamplona is the capital of Navarre, a walled city on a bluff above the Arga River best known internationally for the running of the bulls during the Sanfermines festival each July. It is also a major waypoint on the Camino Francés, the classic French route of the Camino de Santiago, where pilgrims pass through its old town on the way toward Logroño and Burgos.
On a road trip through northern Spain, Pamplona works well as a base for exploring the Pyrenean foothills and the vineyards of Navarre before continuing west along the Camino corridor. The city's compact medieval core sits within earthen ramparts, and the surrounding region mixes rolling farmland with mountain passes, making the approach roads scenic in their own right.
Top attractions
Pamplona Cathedral
A Gothic cathedral with a neoclassical facade, built on the site of an earlier Romanesque church and home to a notable cloister.
Plaza del Castillo
The city's grand central square, lined with arcades and cafés, and the traditional gathering point during the Sanfermines.
Citadel of Pamplona
A star-shaped 16th-century fortress now surrounded by parkland, with earthen ramparts that once anchored the city's defenses.
Calle Estafeta
The narrow, iconic street that forms the final and most famous stretch of the bull run route through the old town.
Hemingway Statue
A bronze bust near the bullring honoring Ernest Hemingway, whose novel The Sun Also Rises helped popularize the Sanfermines abroad.
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