Regional information for Aragon

Aragon is an autonomous community of north-eastern Spain comprised of the provinces of Zaragoza Huesca, and Teruel which together cover an area of 47,719 km². Aragon’s population of 1.2M is of a low density and therefore there are large, almost deserted spaces. More than half the population live in the capital, Zaragoza (or in English: Saragossa).

The region is bordered on the north by France, on the east by Catalonia, on the south by Valencia and on the west by Castile-La Mancha, Castile-Leon, La Rioja and Navarre.

In the outstanding mountainous landscapes of this region, with their glacier lakes and several nature reserves, you can still see animals long since extinct in other areas of Europe. In total contrast is the plain Ebro valley, which is limited by the mountain range Moncayo, in the east.

The mountain ranges offer great possibilities for winter sports and during the warmer seasons you can explore this almost unspoiled beauty as well as the region's celebrated gastronomy, artisany and folklore.

When you are crossing any of Aragon's three provinces (Zaragoza, Huesca and Teruel), with their many monumental towns, the splendour of the old Kingdom of Aragon, one of the centres of Spanish culture in medieval times, comes alive again.

Major Attractions in Aragon

Zaragoza:
The region's capital, located beside the Ebro River, is one of the great monumental cities of Spain. Its historic heritage of Romans and Moors is documented in its many museums and galleries with paintings ranging from Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Velazquez and Goya to Renoir, Manet and Sorolla.

Teruel:
Most notable are the city’s great Mudejar style monuments and buildings, which are a consequence of a long Moorish dominance. Highlights include the cathedral with its beautiful bell towers and the churches of San Martin, San Pedro and El Salvador. On the outskirts of Teruel is Dinópolis Teruel, a combined theme park and museum centred around dinosaurs. Promoted as a ‘Parque paleontológico’ (paleontological park), it includes a life-size robotic model of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Huesca:
Huesca, located at the foot of the Pyrenees mountain range, offers landscapes of incredible beauty and celebrates its main annual festival in San Lorenzo (Laurence), on August 10, in honour of San Lorenzo who was bishop of Roma and martyrized by the Romans.

Climate of Aragon

Aragon is noted for its Mediterranean - Continental dry climate with irregular rainfall, large temperature ranges and strong winds, particularly along the Ebro Valley. The region also has some of the most extremes of temperature in Spain as a result of its continental position, far away from the effects of the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

The valley of Jiloca in Teruel is said to be the most consistently cold corner of the Iberian Peninsula (apart from the mountains) with record temperatures of -28/-30ºC in Calamocha. Much of southern Aragon suffers from 120 days of frost a year, often more than the Aragonse Pyrenees, whose cloudiness stops temperatures hitting zero so often.

Aragonese Cuisine

The typical dishes and ingredients used in the cuisine of the Aragon region of Spain include roast lamb (especially ewes); ham (jamón) from Teruel; olive oil from Empeltre and Arbequina and wines from Cariñena, Somontano (Huesca), Calatayud and Campo de Borja. There are also several interesting dishes of seafood, including several kinds of crab paste (due to the superstition that crabs help prevent illness) and steamed, but commonly undercooked sea fish, steamed in the very saltwater they were taken from.