Soria

Soria is easily accessible by train, bus or car from Madrid, the sea ports and airports of Northern Spain. With high speed rail being widely available in Europe it is easy to travel to Spain & Soria from the United Kingdom without flying. One suggestion is to take to Eurostar from London to Paris, change onto the hotel train overnight to Madrid where you can catch a region train or bus service to Soria.
Northern Spain has many airports now serviced by the budget airlines, such as Vitoria-Gasteiz, Valladolid, Zaragoza and Bilbao, giving the visitor more options regarding the port of arrival, all of which are in easy travelling distance to Soria.

Getting around the province is best done with either a local tour company or by hire car. Public transport is limited to the town of Soria. There are daily buses out to most of the rural villages but they tend to run once a day each way so are not that practical for tourists and visitors.

The small remote 11th century hermitage of San Baudelio with its painted frescos is worth a visit. There is said to be around 100 years difference between the construction of the hermitage and the paintings. The frescos are of arab and christian influence and are some of the most important 'mozarabe' art.

• San Baudelio

  address: Casillas de Berlanga (Soria)

A short distance from the picturesque village of Vinuesa, high up in the ‘Sierra Urbion’, in an area of lush, dense pine forests, renowned for its abundance of wildlife is the magnificent ‘Laguna Negra’ or Black Lake. This glacial lake was formed during the last ice age; its impressive 80m (260fft) high granite walls cast a black shade over the waters below. Make sure you allow enough time to soak up the magic of this area, a favourite and inspirational place for the Spanish poet Antonio Machado. This peaceful place can also be accessed from the GR86, one of the walking tracks that criss cross the province. If you have a passion for mountains, with suitable equipment a hike from here of about 2 hours will bring you to the birthplace of the mighty Douro River which ends its course on the Portuguese coast.

• Laguna Negra

  address: 18 km from Vineusa (signposted)

• Hermitage of San Saturio