Located in the northern region, Austurias (famous for mountains and Cider) is the coastal city Gijòn. I was lucky enough to travel here for 2 days last summer as a last minute weekend away in a BlaBlaCar from Madrid. We stayed with an Airbnb host which did the job but was one of the dirtiest apartments I’ve ever stayed in, there was also a crazy cat (am I selling it to you yet?) But we only spent the 8 hours sleep in there so it didn’t really matter… I have had many better airbnb experiences since then, however.

Vibe

The one main thing I remember about Gijon is the RAIN! Not just a little bit of rain, even though that would be a surprise after living in Madrid all summer and struggling to walk down the street without collapsing in a pile of sweat and dry mouthed. But  A LOT of rain, the whole time I was there, it never stopped! This was probably just an unlucky weekend as it was August, but all the same it was constant. This didn’t stop us from venturing out into the town at night to discover some of the cities quirky bars, or the beach and the day! One thing I was very surprised about after being in Madrid and the centre of Spain, was the green! GREEN EVERYWHERE! I forgot that colour still existed… But I saw it in Gijon!

To do

Santa Catalina Headland – This is a lovely park located on the top of the peninsula which gives you a good look over the city and a nice place to escape the rest of the buzz for a while. This headland separate the beach and the port so you get a nice view of it all. There is also a huge sculpture at the top which represents the city of Gijòn.

If you go to Gijòn you have to try the Sidra! You thought Cider was all from Sommerset, UK? WRONG! The northern region Austurias is very famous for it’s apple cider which is awfully strong and has to be poured from such a height to create air bubbles in your drink they aren’t just showing off). You will find Sidra in almost every bar in Gijòn but try La Galana for some really traditional Sidra!

The city beach of Gijòn, Playa de San Lorenzo is actually really nice compared to most city beaches in Spain. I thought it was pretty clean, with nice views across the city and I loved the fact that the water was actually a bit cold (unlike Valencia and similar places.) It is just a few steps away from the main centre of the city and there are even places to surf when the waves are right!

My favourite

So as there are a lot of rain and a not much time, my favourite part of my Gijòn experience was of course, a bar. We found this really cool alternative bar called El Colleccionista  which basically translates at the collector, and it was full of collectables! Each table was made fro glass and inside different hoards of strange things, lego, bottle tops, old cars, anything you can think of! But the best part was that they had beer from all over the world! Hundreds of them! Of course we spent most of the night drinking the 12% Belgium beer, Kwak which we only needed around 2 and were pretty drunk!

If you have any other questions about Gijón that you want to ask me, share a comment!

Remember this is my personal experience and I can only share my own knowledge, but if you have any other ideas or info you would like to do, please enlighten me!