Palace in Vitoria-Gasteiz
Also known as Palacio de Escoriaza-Esquivel
FreeCosts nothing to visit.
Renaissance palace with an Italianate courtyard, built in the 1530s and 1540s by Fernan Lopez de Escoriaza, a physician who served at the court of Henry VIII of England before returning to his home city. The Plateresque courtyard, with its carved arcades and medallions, is the highlight, and the palace is a protected heritage building in the listed medieval old town.
For budget travelers, the palace is a free stop: the facade and exterior cost nothing to admire, and it sits in the medieval old town within an easy walk of Casa del Cordon, Montehermoso Palace, and the Palace of Villa-Suso. The courtyard opens only occasionally, usually for guided tours and heritage open-door days, so treat it as a bonus rather than a guarantee. Fold the palace into an old-town walking loop that takes in Plaza de la Virgen Blanca, the Old Cathedral of Santa Maria, and the Painted City Murals and the whole circuit stays free.
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Other places worth the walk, and what each one costs.
Early 20th-century palace ringed by gardens in the south of Vitoria-Gasteiz, serving as the official residence of the Lehendakari, the president of the Basque Country. The interior is closed to the public, but the building and its grounds are free to view from outside, which is the whole appeal for a budget traveler passing through.
15th-century Gothic townhouse named for the carved Franciscan cord that frames its main doorway, and one of the oldest civil buildings in the old town of Vitoria-Gasteiz. Free to admire from the street, so it costs nothing to add to a walk through the medieval quarter.
National memorial museum in Vitoria-Gasteiz honouring the victims of terrorism in Spain, with a focus on dignity, memory, and reconciliation. Free to enter and housed in a restored early-twentieth-century former Bank of Spain building, it is one of the most serious and rewarding stops in the Basque capital.
14th-century Gothic church at the edge of the old town, housing the niche of the Virgen Blanca, patron of the city, and the launch point of Vitoria's biggest festival. Free to enter.
15th-century timber-framed merchant house on Zapatari kalea, now a traditional restaurant. The street-facing facade is free to admire and ranks among the best-preserved medieval commercial buildings in the Basque Country.
The Fournier Card Museum, or Museo Fournier de Naipes, tells the history of playing cards through one of the largest collections of its kind in the world.
Working out what Vitoria-Gasteiz costs?
The whole of Vitoria-Gasteiz