The Renfe Media Distancia from Madrid Chamartín crosses the Sierra de Guadarrama through the Guadarrama tunnel and descends onto the high Castilian plateau: 1 hour 30 minutes. Ávila sits at 1,131 metres - the highest provincial capital in Spain - and in late April the air reflects this: mornings are cold (4--8°C at dawn), afternoons reach 14--18°C, and the sky has the hard clarity of high altitude. The walls for which Ávila is famous are the best-preserved medieval city walls in Spain: 2.5 kilometres of granite circuit, 88 towers, 9 gates, built between the 11th and 14th centuries.
Getting There
Renfe Media Distancia from Madrid Chamartín to Ávila: 1 hour 30 minutes. Several services daily; book at renfe.com in advance (advance fares are significantly cheaper than walk-up prices). Ávila station is a flat ten-minute walk from the medieval walls.
Night One: The Wall Perimeter
The Paseo del Rastro is the post-marathon walk: a wide, flat promenade running along the outer base of the southern wall, where the ramparts rise 12 metres above the path and the Amblés Valley opens to the south and west. Paved, level throughout, with benches at intervals. In late April, the valley below is green from winter rainfall and the granite walls are warm in the afternoon sun.
The Paseo de San Roque continues the flat circuit along the northern and eastern walls. The full outer perimeter walk at base level takes 45--60 minutes at a slow pace and can be done in sections.
The wall walk on top - 1.3 kilometres of narrow battlements with regular stairways - is worth doing on normal legs. Leave it for the return visit.
Night Two: Cathedrals and Yemas
The Cathedral of Ávila (Catedral de El Salvador) is the first Gothic cathedral built in Spain, begun in the 1140s. The apse is integrated into the city wall - the large semicircular tower visible on the eastern wall is the cathedral apse. The interior is heavy, dark, and Romanesque in feeling despite the pointed arches. The retablo mayor is the life's work of Pedro Berruguete and Juan de Borgoña.
The Basílica de San Vicente stands outside the walls to the northeast. Built over the site of the martyrdom of Vicente, Sabina, and Cristeta in 303 AD, it is Romanesque in structure with later Gothic additions. The cenotaph of the martyrs in the crypt is one of the finest pieces of 12th-century Romanesque sculpture in Spain.
Yemas de Santa Teresa are the confectionery of Ávila: small, intensely sweet spheres of crystallised egg yolk, named for Teresa of Ávila (1515--1582), the Carmelite mystic born in the city. The Confitería La Flor de Castilla on the Plaza de la Santa is the long-established producer.
Where to Stay and Eat
The Parador de Ávila occupies a 15th-century palace embedded in the city walls, with a garden terrace facing the Amblés Valley. Ground-floor rooms and accessible corridors throughout. The dining room serves the chuletón de Ávila (thick-cut ribeye from the Avileña-Negra Ibérica cattle breed specific to this province) in a vaulted medieval interior.
El Molino de la Losa on the Adaja River serves Castilian cooking - local trout, Ávila beef - in an old mill outside the walls, a flat ten-minute walk from the Puerta del Alcázar.
Getting Back
Renfe Media Distancia returns to Madrid Chamartín from Ávila. Book at renfe.com.