The Montaña Palentina, the Romanesque churches, La Olmeda and the Camino de Santiago without a car: how to see Palencia province with a driver who waits, from Palencia station or from Aguilar de Campoo

What is there to see in Palencia, and why is it so spread out?

The province is long and narrow, and each band holds something different. To the north, the Montaña Palentina: Aguilar de Campoo with its monastery of Santa María la Real, home to the Romanesque studies centre, the castle above the town and the reservoir; around it, dozens of small Romanesque churches in the villages of the Ojeda, the Boedo and the Braña, and the Fuentes Carrionas y Fuente Cobre natural park, with the source of the Pisuerga and the Cervera and Requejada reservoirs. In the middle, Tierra de Campos and the French Way of the Camino de Santiago: Frómista, with San Martín de Tours and the locks of the Canal de Castilla, and Carrión de los Condes, with Santa María del Camino, Santiago and the monastery of San Zoilo. Beside Saldaña, La Olmeda, and to the south the capital, with the cathedral.

What these places have in common is that almost none has public transport of any use for a visit. The province page puts it plainly: the Romanesque churches of the north, La Olmeda and the Camino draw visitors to scattered places with poor connections between them, and linking several in one day is only practical by car. There is a train to Aguilar de Campoo and Frómista on the Santander line, with few services, and buses to Carrión, Saldaña and Guardo that run at residents' hours, not visitors'; nothing reaches La Olmeda. Anyone arriving by train at Palencia or by air at Villanubla who does not want to hire a car has one sensible way of seeing it all: a driver who takes you, waits and carries on.

How do you get around the Montaña Palentina and its Romanesque churches without a car?

With Aguilar de Campoo as a base. From Palencia station it is 95 km along the A-67, and the town has hotels, the monastery and the biscuit factory that scents the streets; from there a Romanesque day is a star-shaped tour on local roads, with the driver waiting at each church while you look for the keyholder, who in many villages is a neighbour. A typical tour links Santa María la Real, two or three churches of the Ojeda, the reservoir viewpoint and the return to the town; another climbs to Cervera de Pisuerga and the natural park. The figures for the trip out and back to Aguilar are on its route page, and the calculator fixes the full tour with the stops and the time at each.

Guardo and the western part of the mountains look to another valley, the Carrión's, with the Camporredondo reservoir and the climb to the Curavacas; from Aguilar you get there on the CL-626, with its own route page, and from Palencia on the CL-615 via Saldaña. In summer, from June to September, the north fills with visitors to the reservoirs and the natural park and traffic on the A-67 towards Cantabria grows at weekends, so it is worth booking a few days ahead; in winter snow and ice close or slow some mountain roads, and the driver confirms the day before whether the planned tour is possible. The opening hours of monasteries and churches are published by their managers and change with the season.

And the Camino de Santiago through Palencia: stages, backpacks and skipped stretches?

The French Way enters the province from the east, passes through Frómista and Carrión de los Condes and leaves towards Sahagún along the long straight of Tierra de Campos, with flat stages, sunny and without shade. From spring to autumn many pilgrims pass, and with them three needs the province page knows well: reaching the starting point from Palencia station, skipping a stage for lack of time or because of an injury, and moving backpacks between hostels. From Palencia station to Frómista it is 32 km, and to Carrión, 39 km; from Carrión back to the station, for anyone who has to go home, from 64,82 € for the whole car.

The province page's advice is specific: if you are a pilgrim needing to skip a stage, give the hostel or the exact spot on the Camino where the driver should collect you and how many backpacks you have, because the car is chosen according to the luggage and the people. Between Frómista and Carrión the Camino runs beside the road and a meeting point is easy to agree; on the straight towards Calzadilla de la Cueza there is nothing for many kilometres, and the pickup is set in the previous village. For anyone doing the Camino by bicycle or in an adapted wheelchair, say so when booking; and for groups walking the Camino in sections who need to get back to the car or the station at the end of the day, the return transfer is booked with the rest.

La Olmeda and Saldaña: how do you reach a site with no public transport?

The Roman villa of La Olmeda is at Pedrosa de la Vega, a step from Saldaña in the Carrión valley, and preserves one of the most important sets of Roman mosaics in Spain beneath a modern building that covers them and lets you see them from walkways; it is run by Palencia provincial council, which publishes opening hours and closing days. It is in the north of the province, far from the station, and the page says it: it has almost no public transport. From Saldaña it is 10 km, a small figure that gives the measure of the problem, because Saldaña is reached by bus from Palencia at residents' hours and from there is no way to carry on. The figures from the capital are in the answer above.

That is why La Olmeda is the clearest case for a transfer with waiting: the driver takes you from Palencia or from Aguilar, waits for the length of the visit, which at the villa is an hour or two, and carries on to Saldaña, to Carrión or back to the station. The classic one-day tour from the capital links La Olmeda in the morning, Carrión de los Condes for lunch and Frómista in the afternoon, and returns to Palencia in time for the train; from Aguilar de Campoo, La Olmeda is 89 km away and combines with the Romanesque churches of the Ojeda. For groups coming from outside to see the mosaics, several cars make the same tour under one booking.

The cathedral and the capital: how do you book a day with several stops, and which season suits?

Palencia cathedral, Gothic and known as the Unknown Beauty, keeps the Visigothic crypt of San Antolín beneath the altar and stands in the city centre, where the surrounding streets have restricted traffic; the province page advises agreeing the drop-off point, and the same goes for the Cristo del Otero on top of its hill. From the capital the whole day is booked as a single service: the website or the app take several stops with the expected time at each, the calculator gives the full price before confirming and, if a visit runs long, you tell the driver and the return adjusts. The two hours of waiting at La Olmeda or the hour at Frómista are inside the fixed price, per car and not per person.

The season rules. Spring and autumn are the best months for the Camino and for Tierra de Campos, which in summer is walked in heat and without shade; summer belongs to the mountains, with the reservoirs and the natural park, and is also the time of heaviest traffic towards Cantabria. During Holy Week, declared of International Tourist Interest, the processions close central Palencia for several days, and at San Antolín, in early September, the cathedral crypt opens and the city fills up; on both dates you book ahead and agree the pickup point outside the closed area. For anyone arriving by train, the Palencia station page has prices from every town, and the knowledge centre piece on groups explains how transport in several cars is organised.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Turismo de Castilla y León · Montaña Palentina, románico norte y Camino de Santiago en Palencia (consulted on 27 October 2026)
• Diputación de Palencia · Villa Romana La Olmeda: horarios y acceso (consulted on 27 October 2026)
• Catedral de Palencia · visitas y cripta de San Antolín (consulted on 27 October 2026)
• Renfe · trenes regionales Palencia–Aguilar de Campoo–Santander (consulted on 27 October 2026)