Logbook · 4 places

What to see and do in Ponferrada

What to see and do in Ponferrada (El Bierzo, León): 4 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 1 Activities

How far each place is from the centre of Ponferrada

Church of Santiago de Peñalba 14 km

Towns near Ponferrada

What to see in Molinaseca 5.9 km · 3 places
What to see in Priaranza del Bierzo 7.5 km · 2 places
What to see in Camponaraya 7.5 km · 2 places
What to see in Cubillos del Sil 8.9 km · 2 places
What to see in Cabañas Raras 9.2 km · 2 places
What to see in Congosto 9.9 km · 3 places
What to see in Castropodame 11 km · 2 places
What to see in Carracedelo 12 km · 2 places

Spain › Castile and León › León › El Bierzo › Ponferrada

What to see and do in Ponferrada

Ponferrada
Village
Ponferrada is the capital of El Bierzo, a city of about 63,000 inhabitants that rises at the confluence of the Sil and Boeza rivers, at the eastern edge of the Bercian plain. The relief of the municipality, covering more than 280 km², runs from the flat valleys of the north, at about 550 metres, to the mountains of León in the south, which exceed 1,500 metres. The Sil, channelled as it passes through the city, divides it in two and separates the Zona Alta from the rest, crossed today by bridges such as that of the Centenario; the Boeza bounds the urban centre to the south. Its name comes from the pons ferrata that Bishop Osmundo had built around 1082 for pilgrims, and its 12th-century Templar castle still dominates the old town.
Castle of los Templarios de Ponferrada
Monument
A fortress above the meeting of the Sil and the Boeza whose first fortification is documented in 1187, already in the hands of the Temple. Declared a monument on 7 February 1924, it today holds a Templar library of close to fourteen hundred volumes.
Church of Santiago de Peñalba
Monument
A jewel of Mozarabic art raised in the first half of the 10th century by Abbot Salomón under the reign of Ramiro II, in the heart of the Oza valley. Declared a monument on 3 June 1931, it is the great landmark of the so-called Leonese Thebaid.
Templar Night of Ponferrada
Activity
A re-enactment held on the first full moon of July: the retinue of Frey Guido de Garda enters the city escorting the Ark of the Covenant and the Grail and climbs to the castle, where the trial of the Order of the Temple is staged amid fires and parades.