Burgos Travel Guide

Spain’s greatest conqueror, El Cid Campeador—the Spanish hero immortalized in the epic El Cantar de Mío Cid—was born near Burgos as Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar. His remains are given a kinglike prominence in the grand cathedral.

On a less heroic note, during the Spanish Civil War General Francisco Franco made conservative Burgos his Nationalist army headquarters, doing his arrogant and clumsy best to brand himself as a modern conqueror like El Cid. Franco’s attachment allowed Burgos to remain more intact than most medieval Spanish cities—Nationalist forces did not destroy it in the name of fascist ideology.

Burgos definitely lives up to its roots as the “cradle of Castilla.” Employing a distinctive lisp (their hero is “El Theed”), Burgos residents speak textbook Castellano—probably because they wrote the textbooks. This provincial capital on the desert meseta is ferociously hot in summer, but it comes alive at night as students flock to the cafes and dance clubs.