Review of Teruel by a native guy

What is it like to live in Teruel? Would you recommend it? What is the city like?

Everybody knows that a small town does not offer the same than a big one. Teruel is a beautiful, quiet and charming city where you can go almost everywhere by foot in just a few minutes and enjoy its lifestyle by walking. It's built on two hills, so the people are used to go uphill and downhill.

About weather, Teruel is well known for resisting one of the coldest temperatures in winter in Spain, and for a temperature range of 15 or 20 degrees in every season of the year, from 10ºC to -10ºC in winter and from 35ºC to 15ºC in summer (more or less). Be prepared for this. No kidding.

What is the student lifestyle like in Teruel?

The most common way of spending afternoons with your colleagues is going to bars or taverns in the afternoon. Three good examples could be the Flanagan's Irish Pub, the Ruta 66 pub and the Lennon pub. For eating lunch or dinner, you can try everything you want in the city, but for college students there's a cheap and nice place near the University (Cruza y Pasa), where you can get a really big sandwich made of what you want for 4€.

If you like party there are a few pubs where you can go. For electronic and commercial music there are some places in 'La Zona', in the downtown near the bus station, and also you can find there a rock pub, La Taberna, and a chilling pub, the Luvitien. They hold some gigs in these bars and in El Sótano and in Place café.

For the leisure time in the weekends, you can go to some place near the city, like the Arquillo reservoir, el Rodeno or some village (Albarracín is highly, highly recommended, but the province is full of charming villages). Going to Zaragoza and Valencia could be another plan because they are big, interesting cities and they're not that far (1. 30h and 1. 15 respectively by car).

How much does it cost to live in Teruel?

Not that much. The supermarkets are pretty cheap (Mercadona is the best one in value for money), transport is not needed most of the times (and if you live far from the University, the bus is not expensive) and the coffees and cocktails are pretty much like in the rest of Spain (1. 20-1. 30€ for a coffee with milk or a 20 cl beer and 5€ for a cocktail). You can have dinner for 5€ as well.

For accommodation, I don't have that much information, but I know there is much more offer than demand of flats, so it doesn't have to be really hard to find something.

Is it difficult to find accommodation in Teruel? Is there any advice you can give?

Look in the University walls and ask people. And like always, internet is another option.

What is the food like? What are your favourite dishes?

Teruel is a region of pig breeding, so many of the typical dishes are made with parts of that animal. The most known one is the Jamón de Teruel (raw ham of the region), but you can find oreja, morro, morcilla and callos in typical taverns. We have agriculture as well, so you can prepare almost every dish with ingredients of the region, and if not, they have plenty of international food in the supermarkets like in every other place.

My favourite dishes aren't typical of this particular regions. As typical Spanish delicious examples I would recommend tortilla de patata (spanish omelette), huevos rotos con jamón, croquetas, paella or fideuá and patatas bravas (or bravas in short). But for eating most of this, better know some people of the region (or better some mother or grandmother of these people) who can prepare them for you, because in bars and restaurants they could have precooked omelettes and croquetas, tasteless paella or really mild bravas. Don't you think that every bar has a worthy omelette. There must be a few, though. Try to find them.

What places would you recommend visiting in Teruel?

Just by walking around the city center you can see almost everything that is interesting. But try to:

Visit the two towers, San Martín and El Salvador. You can go up to the top of the second one.

Enter the Cathedral and see the Artesonado Mudéjar (wooden carved ceilings).

Visit el Mausoleo de los Amantes and the San Pedro tower.

Go up and down the Escalinata.

Take a walk along side the river and the Franciscanos church.

Visit the city in February, around Valentine's day. The whole city holds a medieval party during three days, telling the story of the Lovers of Teruel. Really enjoyable party.

And get lost everywhere you see it could be interesting. It's not a big city so you can find yourself easily if you really get lost.