Planning a Trip to Oviedo: Exploring Leon or Directly to Oviedo?

[lynskieinFenwick]

My travelling companions and I will fly into Madrid from North America and then make our way to Oviedo to start the CP. I'm looking for firsthand experience and recommendations for visiting Leon and Oviedo. Is it better to go directly to Oviedo and spend 1day and a half exploring it? Or should we go to Leon for 1.5 days of exploring and then go to Oviedo for 1 day of exploring?
Either option will have us leaving Oviedo on April 30th, which is a Sunday. Will we have challenges finding a place for lunch going to Grado on Sunday?

 

[C clearly]

Whether you decide to visit Leon as well as Oviedo depends totally on the interests and energy of you and your companions, so it is hard to give advice. After a long journey to get to Spain, I would prefer to relax and enjoy one city rather than try to do two. But if there is something you really want to see in Leon, maybe it will be worth it to you.

I haven't walked the Primitivo, but I would expect most restaurants in any towns to be open on a Sunday in late April. (Monday is more likely a closing day.) But if there are not many restaurant options along that day's route, maybe you need to forego a proper menú del día, and take a picnic lunch with you from Oviedo. I always carry enough calories in the form of nuts and other snacks, anyway, in case no open restaurant presents itself!

 

[magafran]

My travelling companions and I will fly into Madrid from North America and then make our way to Oviedo to start the CP. I'm looking for firsthand experience and recommendations for visiting Leon and Oviedo. Is it better to go directly to Oviedo and spend 1day and a half exploring it? Or should we go to Leon for 1.5 days of exploring and then go to Oviedo for 1 day of exploring?
Either option will have us leaving Oviedo on April 30th, which is a Sunday. Will we have challenges finding a place for lunch going to Grado on Sunday?

I really enjoyed Leon so if you have the time I would recommend staying one or two nights there.

 

[David Tallan]

I haven' been to Oviedo yet but Leon is one of my favourite Spanish cities. The cathedral, with its Gothic purity and vast expanses of stained glass is probably my favourite on the Camino Frances. The Royal Pantheon in San Isidro houses "the Sistine Chapel of Romanesque art". And the city itself (at least the old town) is just a really nice city.

 

[peregrina2000]

The Royal Pantheon in San Isidro houses "the Sistine Chapel of Romanesque art".

And it has just recently reopened after some restoration work on the paintings. It is an absolutely breathtaking place. At least if you like ancient art.

Las fotos de la restauración de las pinturas de San Isidoro

...

www.diariodeleon.es

 

[dick bird]

Tricky one. Léon is an amazing city, then again so is Oviedo, in fact we could all list a hundred or so amazing cities in Spain off the top of our heads. If it were simply a choice between the two, I´d say Léon, but when all is said and done, maybe exploring one amazing city at leisure would make more sense than rushing two? Grado is a biggish town (for Spain) so places should be open for Sunday lunch but as C Clearly says, carry snacks and lunches every day as there are some longish stretches between towns on the Primitivo.