Pamplona: accommodations, tourism, gelato, tapas

[billmclaughlin]

Pamplona

The albergues are either in rather distant suburbs on either side of the city or inside the city on its western edge. If you stay in either suburb you won’t get to see the city proper.

Must see: Cathedral (nice café around the back along the city walls); Castillo (main square), where café Iruña has a pleasant interior; the broad streets south of Castillo. Maybe also the bull ring and Hemingway monument, and the nearby life-size sculpture of the running of the bulls (super photo op!)

If you want to splurge: Hotel Castillo de Javier, twin-bedded room under $80, at 50 Calle San Nicolas. Some of the cheaper places Brierley lists were unacceptable. Completely unacceptable. If you react to the stench of tobacco smoke in the hallway as I do, you won’t get as far as seeing the rooms.

On the way out of Pamplona I noticed this possibility in a location that would allow you to see the city and dine in the center, but give you a few kilometers head start when leaving the next day: Hostal Acella, http://www.hostalacella.com/ But that’s just based on seeing it as I passed by.

Good gelato: on the same street as the Hotel Castillo de Javier at Calle San Nicolas and the corner of Calle de las Comedias, just steps from Castillo.

Tapas: on the same street at 13 Calle San Nicolas, you can sit at tables in the back. There are lots of other places serving tapas, but seats seemed pretty rare. Serve yourself by getting your own drinks and eats at the bar. The tables are for proper dinner parties starting at 9 pm (says the sign), but we stayed at ours until 9:30 and no one seemed to mind. You don’t have to spend much more than you pay for a pilgrim dinner to dine well. Another possible splurge: a bottle of wine rather than by the glass. You’ll pay more but the step-up in quality is remarkable.

 

[tericarns]

We did stay at the Hostal Acella, and thought it pleasant and well-appointed. We paid for a room for three with private bath, so it's not low-budget, but it was reasonable. As noted, also, it gave us a little bit of a head start the next day, on climbing Alto del Perdon. It was late August 2012 and a Sunday night; rather difficult to find a place for dinner.

 

[sillydoll]

My favourite Pension in Pamplona is Pension Sarasate - around the corner from Plaza de Castillo and close to the bus station.
It is in an old building (90% of the buildings in Pamplona are old!) but its spotlessly clean, gleaming floors, comfortable rooms, crisp linen, en suite bathrooms (some with little sit-in baths-cum-shower). The most endearing thing are the owners - Jose Angel and his mother are warm, caring, helpful people and I highly recommend their Pension.

 

[fortview]

Absolutely do NOT stay at Pension Eslava ! It's in Brierley, and we were sent there when the albergue Casa Paderborn was full.
It stinks of smoke, the doors are made of cardboard, you don't get a key and have to ring the bell to get the grumpy owner to let you in.
He took our passports and kept them for hours, which caused us a lot of worry.

Best avoided !

 

[camino07]

Must put in my tuppence worth. In 2009 we stayed in Pension Eslava And had no complaints about it.
Except I thought it was a bit dark. No smokey smell or grumpy owner. Very easy to get from there to end of town. Wow! I have just had a flashback! We were exhausted and jetlagged and there was lots of noise on street so as we couldn't sleep we got up early and walked. Each of my other Camino Frances I have walked on to Cizur Menor .

 

[William Marques]

NOT tapas in Basque pintxos (pinchos).

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Perhaps not the best in Pamplona, but confirms the pinchos!

http://tabernaokapi.com/customer/ext_slide.php?e=4

 

[D.Matthew]

Another nice place to stay is Hostel Hemingway. I stayed here for San Fermines to run with the bulls and again when passing through on the Camino. The staff is great, they have laundry facilities, and charge 12 euro. I also like how close they were to the sites, everything is easily reached by a short walk.

 

[MCVet]

I spent two days in Pamplona, basically from sunrise to sunset just walking around.

One of my big suggestions would be to go and do the battlement walk sometime nearing sunset (or just during the day, whenever. It's quite long and quite nice) and then there's also an old fort which I forget the name of. I think it's the fort of St. Bartholamew or some such? It's not the citadel (which is also nice) but a smaller fort. Anyhow, it's a GREAT exhibit. Very fancy and informative. It seems to me that a lot of people just skip over it, but IMO it was one of the best parts. The 'curator' (guy who runs it) said not many people go to see it, and I think that's in part due to the weird hours they keep (they open at 5 PM...), but it's worth checking out if you've got the time. It's basically three rooms that detail the history of Pamplona, it's citizens, and the siege warfare that lead to its development and growth.

I can't believe Brierley's suggested path takes you right through Pamplona without stopping. Just an early lesson in not sticking to the guide!

 

[fortview]

Must put in my tuppence worth. In 2009 we stayed in Pension Eslava And had no complaints about it.
Except I thought it was a bit dark. No smokey smell or grumpy owner. Very easy to get from there to end of town. Wow! I have just had a flashback! We were exhausted and jetlagged and there was lots of noise on street so as we couldn't sleep we got up early and walked. Each of my other Camino Frances I have walked on to Cizur Menor .

I have been puzzling over how we could have had two such different experiences ! It seems there is a HOTEL Eslava which sounds very nice, and the PENSION Eslava, which is not.... Perhaps you stayed at the Hotel ? They seem close to each other on the map, but look completely different ! :roll:

 

[Jochen-Schmidtke]

Re: Pamplona: List of accommodations in the old town

Hello.
Have a look at the list of accomodations in the old town of Pamplona.
Buen Camino
Jochen

 

[SalvationJane]

My favourite Pension in Pamplona is Pension Sarasate - around the corner from Plaza de Castillo and close to the bus station.

After reading many, many good things about it, I will be staying at Pension Sarasate for most of the Easter Triduum, then leaving for Azpeitia and La Santa Casa de Loyola on the bus on Easter Monday. Then back to Pamplona and (hopefully) Casa Paderborn before I start walking again. I could NOT get that close to the birthplace of one of my favorite saints and not see it.

 

[Anniesantiago]

The museu in Pamplona is awesome and I believe us free on Sundays for pilgrims.