Bembibre is a town in Castile and Leon, with a population of 8200 in 2024. It has a couple of old churches, which won't take long to see.
Get in
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Bembibre is 95 km west of Léon via AP-71 and A-6.
Alsa buses run every two hours from Madrid Estación Sur, taking 5 hours via Madrid Moncloa and continuing to Ponferrada and Galicia.
1 Estación de Autobuses is on N-VI, the downtown loop off A-6.
Four trains a day run from Léon via Bembibre to Ponferrada. One of these is from Madrid Chamartin taking four hours, another comes all the way from Barcelona via Zaragoza, Pamplona, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Burgos, Palencia, Léon and Astorga, continuing to Ponferrada, Ourense and Vigo.
2 Estación de Tren is 1 km south of town centre.
Get around
[edit]Town centre is compact and walkable.
See
[edit]- 1 San Román is the little village at the northwest end of Bembibre, and its more interesting quarter. Here are the church of San Román, the Roman bridge over the river Noceda, and Hermitage of Vera Cruz north of the bridge by the highway roundabout.
- 2 Church of San Pedro Apóstol fills up Plaza Mayor the main square. It was originally a synagogue, converted to a church after the Jews were expelled in 1492. It's been torched or wrecked several times during the town's history. The square is otherwise modern and bland.
- 3 Museum Alto Bierzo, Lope de Vega (within Centro Commercial), ☏ +34 987 514407. M-Sa 10:00-13:30, 17:00-19:20. Ethnography museum, opening erratic but the collection is displayed online. Free.
- 4 Hermitage of Ecce Homo has an effigy of Jesus that's paraded around town once every 7 years, with the next monstrance in 2029.
Do
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- Theatre: Teatro Municipal Benevivere is 100 m south of Alto Bierzo Museum at Av El Bierzo 20.
- Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route comes through town. Day 24 brings you from Foncebadón to Ponferrada (27 km), Day 25 is onward to Villafranca (22 km); Day 33 is journey's end in Santiago.
- Bembibre Arena is a sports complex off N-VI at the northeast end of town.
- Festival de Exaltación del Botillo is in February. Botillos are hams.
- Feria del Mercado Medieval is in June.
Buy
[edit]- Supermarkets: half a dozen medium-sized stores, such as Mercadona at Catoute 6, open M-Sa 09:00-21:30.
Eat
[edit]- Town centre has Señorio del Bierzo, Vinoteca Cien Cepas, Turco Kebab and Alfama.
- San Román is more upmarket, with Mesón La Piedra and El Molina del Real.
Drink
[edit]- Bars are on or just off Bembibre main street, Paso del Prof Veremundo Núñez.
- Bembibre is close to several domains of the Castile & Léon DOP wine-growing region.
Sleep
[edit]- 1 Tío Pepe II, N-VI, Km 364, ☏ +34 629 424336, [email protected]. Clean hostel with 32 beds and cafe. B&B double €60.
- 2 NRuta Ponferrada, Camino Real 1, San Román de Bembibre, ☏ +34 987 510216. Basic motel at A-6 junction west edge of town. B&B double €80.
- Ponferrada 20 km west has a wider selection.
Connect
[edit]As of Jan 2025, Bembibre and its approach roads have 4G from Vodafone, and 5G from MasMovil, Movistar and Orange.
Go next
[edit]- Ponferrada west has an old castle and several churches and museums. 25 km further southwest, Las Médulas are a strange landscape where gold was mined during the Roman era.
- Astorga southeast has a substantial old town.