Tudela in 30 seconds
38,685 inhabitants (INE 2024), 94 km from Pamplona (linked by the AP-15 motorway), in the Ebro valley. The second most populous municipality in Navarre. Basque name: Tutera.
A little history
Origins: a Celtiberian settlement, then Roman Tutela.
802: the town is fortified by Amrus ibn Yusuf.
25 February 1119: Christian conquest by Alfonso I the Battler. Three communities then live side by side: Muslims, Mozarabs and Jews.
12th century: Benjamin of Tudela (1127/1130–1175), the medieval Jewish traveller, is one of the great figures of the judería (Jewish quarter).
1498: expulsion of the Jews from Navarre.
29 April 1861: arrival of the first train. 1783: Pope Pius VI creates the diocese of Tudela; the church of Santa María becomes a cathedral.
What to see
Santa María Cathedral
Built in the 12th–13th centuries, between late Romanesque and Gothic. A remarkable Door of Judgement (Puerta del Juicio), which blends the two styles, and a Romanesque cloister, reached through the Tudela museum.
Plaza de los Fueros
The heart of Tudela, a former bullring, where the town’s big events take place.
The Palace of the Marqués de San Adrián
Billed by the Navarre tourist board as the finest Renaissance palace in Navarre. It now houses the Tudela centre of the UNED (Spain’s National Distance Education University). The palace of the Marquis of Huarte, for its part, has the finest double imperial staircase in the region.
The Judería
The old Jewish quarter, birthplace of Benjamin of Tudela; the town is part of the Network of Jewish Quarters in Spain (Red de Juderías de España).
The Ebro bridge
A 360 m medieval bridge with 17 arches, both pointed and rounded, spanning the Ebro — the symbol of the town.
The Bardenas Reales
41,845 hectares of semi-desert badlands in south-east Navarre, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 7 November 2000 (the first in Navarre). Twenty-two entities — including nineteen municipalities and the Roncal valley — have shared the right to use it since 1705. Clays, gypsum and sandstone sculpted by water and wind: canyons, plateaus and isolated buttes (cabezos), including Castildetierra, an iconic geological formation. There are three areas: El Plano in the north, the White Bardena (Bardena Blanca) in the centre (the most eroded) and the Black Bardena (Bardena Negra) in the south. A film location for Rango and The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.
Local specialities
- Vegetables from the Ebro plain — artichokes, asparagus, lettuce hearts, borage and cardoons, all brought together in menestra
- DO Navarra wines
Getting there
- By car: AP-15 motorway from Pamplona (94 km)
- By train: Tudela has been served by rail since 29 April 1861
The perfect weekend itinerary
Saturday
- 10:00: cathedral + cloister
- 12:00: Plaza de los Fueros + Judería
- 16:00: Bardenas Reales
- 21:00: back to Tudela for dinner
Sunday
- 11:00: Palace of the Marqués de San Adrián + the Ebro bridge
My favourite photo
Castildetierra in low-angled light, the iconic silhouette of the Bardenas. Or the cathedral’s Door of Judgement.
Sources
- Visit Navarra (Navarre tourist board) — Tudela
- Wikipedia (in Spanish): Tudela (INE 2024 population), Bardenas Reales
Ongi etorri Tuterara — Welcome to Tudela.