Lerma, Spain

Lerma Spain

Lerma, also known as the Ducal Town of Lerma, is a village and Spanish municipality located in the district of Lerma, in the province of Burgos, the historical region of Old Castile, within the autonomous community of Castile and León. It sits on a hill overlooking the fertile plain of the Arlanza River and serves as the administrative and commercial capital of the Arlanza region. The town’s history and development are inseparably linked to the patronage of Francisco de Sandoval y Rojas, first Duke of Lerma, powerful favorite of King Philip III, and, by extension, to the Duchy of Lerma. From a tourism perspective, it forms the so‑called Arlanza Triangle together with the nearby towns of Covarrubias and Santo Domingo de Silos. Since the Middle Ages it has also been an obligatory stop on the Cañada Real Burgalesa, a historic drove road that connects Extremadura with the Sierra de la Demanda. To the court city of Valladolid (1601–1606), the town of Lerma was what El Escorial was to Madrid. It was declared a Historic-Artistic Site in 1965. Lerma is known for being Spain’s main ensemble of Herrerian architecture and is home to the only state-run Parador hotel in the province of Burgos, located in the Ducal Palace of Lerma, considered one of the ten best paradores in Spain. Lerma also has one of the few 18-hole golf courses in Castile and León, the Lerma Golf Club. Another reason the Ducal Town has become well known is that it has three convents of cloistered nuns with more than one hundred religious in total, one of them serving as the headquarters of the recently founded religious institute Iesu Communio (Communion of Jesus). Its Plaza Mayor, covering 6,862 square meters, is one of the largest main squares in Spain, larger even than the Plaza Mayor of Salamanca.
Recommended airport
Valladolid (VLL)
Nearby destinations
  • Burgos a 36.36 km
  • Aranda de Duero a 39.97 km
  • Santo Domingo de Silos a 45.71 km