Medieval Walls of Avila, Ávila, Spain

The city walls of Avila were built in the 11th century to protect the citizens from the Moors. They have been well maintained throughout the centuries and are now a major tourist attraction as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visitors can walk around about half of the length of the walls.

The layout of the city is an even quadrilateral with a perimeter of 2,516 m. Its walls, which consist in part of stones already used in earlier constructions, have an average thickness of 3 m. Access to the city is afforded by nine gates of different periods; twin 20 m high towers, linked by a semi-circular arch, flank the oldest ones, Puerta de San Vicente and Puerta del Alcázar.

User Reviews

Arnette Round The World Girl (16 months ago)
Loved the wall. Came from Madrid as a day trip by bus and was definitely worth it and interesting. There are barely an tourists compared to say Segovia and Toledo so it was nice to explore a UNESCO site in peace.

George Jor (16 months ago)
If you visit Madrid, don’t forget to spend half day here in Avila for the city wall. It speaks its own history. You can seldom see a complete one like this.

Andrew Haas (16 months ago)
Really nice and well maintained walled city. The outer wall has amazing regular protrusions that add to the walls defense but also give it a nice scale and aesthetic. They close access to the wall about 30 minutes before closing.

Shawn T. (16 months ago)
This place is just pheromonal. It was really cool as we walked in the town behind the walls. It was cool to experience with our local guide of its history. As we walked around we saw many cool and amazing things like the ancient sculptures, churches, gates, and etc... also it is an amazing sight to take pictures with friends and family and just to walk around get some coffee and enjoy. I would totally recommend to come to this place.

black Joh (16 months ago)
It is a beautiful place to go. Avila castle is quite calm and has special hystorical stories.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Dennis Schäffer

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