Castile and León webcams

Cathedral cities of the plateau

Castile and León covers much of the high tableland north and west of Madrid, and its old cities are among the finest in Spain. In Salamanca, the camera looks over the roofs of the university town to the towers of the Clerecía and the New Cathedral, all in golden sandstone. In Burgos, a camera on the Plaza del Rey San Fernando faces the Gothic cathedral where El Cid is buried, a World Heritage Site and a landmark for pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago. Segovia's Roman aqueduct appears live with the cathedral behind it, and in the Duero valley, cameras watch the Plaza Mayor of Tordesillas and the castle of Peñafiel above the vineyards of the Ribera del Duero. Salamanca, Burgos and Segovia are also listed among the city webcams.

Mountains and a glacial lake

The region is ringed by mountains. In the south, the Sierra de Gredos rises to about 2,590 m (8,500 ft) at the Almanzor, and a camera in Hoyos del Espino looks across the pines to its granite crest. In the far north-west, Lake Sanabria, the largest glacial lake in the Iberian Peninsula, lies among oak woods near the borders of Galicia and Portugal. On the border with Asturias, San Isidro is one of the ski resorts of the Cantabrian Mountains, with a camera up its Cebolledo bowl; it appears with the others among the ski resort webcams. Along the same mountains, Posada de Valdeón and the Collado Jermoso refuge look over the León side of the Picos de Europa, and Aguilar de Campoo sits at their foot in the north of Palencia.

When to watch

Castile and León is one hour ahead of the UK and Ireland. Much of the region stands more than 700 m (2,300 ft) above sea level, so winters are cold and frosty and summer nights are cool even after hot days. Snow reaches the mountain cameras from late autumn, and the cities look their best in the low light of morning and evening, when the stone glows. For British drivers coming off the ferry, Burgos is about two hours from Bilbao and a little more from Santander, the natural first night on the way south.