Things to do in Segovia

• Iglesia de la Vera Cruz rose at the edge of the old town in the early 13th century, its twelve-sided Romanesque plan wrapped around three apses and named for a relic of the True Cross that arrived in 1224. Its founders are still disputed between the Knights Templar and the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, a controversy Segovia's own tourism office says will probably never be settled.
• Real Casa de la Moneda de Segovia stands beside the Eresma river as one of Felipe II's most ambitious building projects, raised between 1583 and 1588 to designs linked to Juan de Herrera. It now holds a museum of coin-making machinery from the mint's centuries of continuous use.
• Monasterio de Santa María del Parral took shape in the 15th and 16th centuries under the patronage of the Marquis of Villena during the reign of Enrique IV, its Hieronymite monks still in residence today. Guided visits run Wednesday to Sunday, and Mass is sung in Gregorian chant on Sundays and holidays at noon.
• Iglesia de San Millán ranks among Segovia's largest Romanesque churches, its 12th century galleries wrapping three sides on paired columns and its tower reusing horseshoe arches from an earlier building. Sculpted capitals inside show the Three Kings travelling to Bethlehem and the Flight into Egypt.
• Puerta de San Andrés guards the edge of the old Jewish quarter as one of only three surviving gates in Segovia's medieval wall, its current towers dating from alterations carried out in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. A tourist information point now sits inside, and tickets from there open the short stretch of ramparts beyond.
• Mirador de la Canaleja breaks the climb up Calle Cervantes with a stone viewing balcony over the Clamores valley, close by Casa de los Picos, with a cafe terrace alongside for catching a breath before the walk continues down toward Iglesia de San Millán.

Segovia rises on a rocky spur between two rivers on the high plateau of Castilla y León, its skyline stitched together by a Roman aqueduct, a Gothic cathedral and a turreted Alcázar that together earned the old town its UNESCO World Heritage listing in 1985. Every route through the centre eventually threads past all three, and the compact old town rewards slow walking as much as any single monument.

Neighbourhoods to know

The old Jewish quarter, or Judería, spreads through the narrow streets south of the cathedral, home to Segovia's Jewish community until the expulsion of 1492. Around Iglesia de San Millán and the climb of Calle Cervantes, the Canonjías district keeps some of the oldest civil Romanesque houses in the city. Across the Eresma valley, reached from the Alcázar side, the monastery of El Parral and the Real Casa de la Moneda sit among pine woods with the old town's silhouette behind them.

When to go and how long to stay

Spring and autumn keep the stone streets comfortable and the crowds thinner than summer, when the plateau can turn hot by day and cool sharply after dark. Winters are cold. A full day covers the aqueduct, cathedral, Alcázar and old town churches at a steady pace, and a second allows time for the Judería and the monasteries across the valley.

Getting around and beyond

The old town is built for walking, its streets far too narrow and steep for casual driving, with most sights sitting within a compact loop from the aqueduct to the Alcázar. Most visitors arrive from Madrid, about 80 km south, by car or on the high speed train. A short bus ride into the pine forests above the city reaches San Ildefonso, home to the Bourbon summer palace and gardens of La Granja, a separate excursion best kept to another day. The aqueduct back in the centre ranks among the best preserved Roman aqueduct bridges anywhere, and is reason enough on its own to visit Spain.