Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

by population in the

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

. It is located on the coast of the

Cantabrian Sea The Cantabrian Sea is the term used mostly in Spain to describe the coastal sea of the Atlantic Ocean that borders the northern coast of Spain and the southwest side of the Atlantic coast of France, included in the Bay of Biscay. It extends from ...

in the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay ( ) is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and along the northern coast of Spain, extending westward ...

, in the central-northern part of Asturias; it is approximately north-east of

Oviedo Oviedo () or Uviéu (Asturian language, Asturian: ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains th ...

, the capital of Asturias, and from

Avilés Avilés (Asturian and ;) is a town in Asturias, Spain. Avilés is, along with Oviedo and Gijón, one of the main cities in the Principality of Asturias. The town occupies the flattest land in the municipality, partially in a land that belonged ...

. With a population of 273,744 as of 2023, Gijón is the 15th largest city in Spain. Gijón forms part of a large metropolitan area that includes twenty councils in the center of the region, structured with a dense network of roads, highways and railways and with a population of 835,053 inhabitants in 2011, making it the seventh largest in Spain. During the 20th century, Gijón developed as an industrial city in the steel and naval industries. However, due to the decline in manufacturing in these industries, in recent years Gijón is undergoing a transformation into an important tourist, university, commercial and R&D center. Gijón is the location of the Radiotelevisión del Principado de Asturias, the neighbourhood of Cimavilla, the

Universidad Laboral de Gijón The Universidad Laboral de Gijón (Asturian language, Asturian: ''Universidá Llaboral de Xixón'') is a large building located in Gijón (Asturias, Spain) in the parish of Cabueñes. Originally built as a learning center for orphans, it currently ...

, the Revillagigedo Palace, and the adjoining Collegiate Church of San Juan Bautista. Gijón is part of the statistical (not yet developed from an administrative standpoint) ''comarca'' of

Gijón Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality by population in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coa ...

Etymology

One theory based on some early medieval texts mention it as "Gigia", derived from the identical Greek and Latin term "gigias", meaning "giant", both of which refer to the Greek mythological giant Gigas. The medieval "Gigia" name, in turn, more specifically would refer to the ancient Roman wall built on the peninsula of the Cimavilla neighbourhood of Gijón. This wall was called the "Gegionem" by the Romans, and is itself a compound Latin term being either "geg-ionem", meaning "giant-ness/gigantic", "gegi-onem", meaning "concrete giant", or "gegio-nem" meaning "giant end". Presumably the use of the term meaning "giant" referred to either the pre-Germanic Astur peoples who inhabited the area being of large physical stature, or simply the largeness of the wall itself. The name of the city might also come from the hypothetical Roman actual name of the place "Sessio" which may have turned into the word "Xixón" as the centuries went by. Then the Spanish word "Gijón", which has been also written during the Middle age as "Jijón" or even "Jixón", would be a Castilianization of the Asturian name. This theory is nowadays known as the most acceptable.

History

Prehistory and Romanization

The first evidence of human presence in what is known nowadays as the municipality of Gijón is located on Monte Deva, where there exists a series of

tumuli A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...

, and on Monte Areo, where there are some neolithic dolmens. These dolmens were discovered in 1990 and were supposedly built around 5000 BC. The first noticed settlement (Noega) is located in Campa Torres. It has its origin between the 6th and 5th centuries BC. It was populated by Astures (''Cilúrnigos'') and later Romanized. Noega was progressively abandoned when the Roman wall in the peninsula of Cimavilla, called the ''Gegionem'', was built.

Middle Ages and modern era

The invasions of barbarian tribes in the 5th and 6th centuries left no traces. The region submitted to the power of the

Visigoth The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied barbarian military group united under the comman ...

king

Sisebut Sisebut (; ; also ''Sisebuth'', ''Sisebur'', ''Sisebod'' or ''Sigebut''; 565 – February 621) was Visigothic Kingdom, King of the Visigoths and ruler of Hispania, Gallaecia, and Septimania from 612 until his death in 621. His rule was marked ...

in the 7th century. This period marks the beginnings of Christianization, one of the first Christian worshipping places being the Roman villa of Veranes. Gijón was capital of the Muslim territories on the Cantabric Sea, under the power of Munuza, for a short period between 713 and 718 or 722. In 722 the Asturians won the Battle of Covadonga which is regarded as the beginning of the

Reconquista The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...

. The Asturian forces were led by

Pelagius Pelagius (; c. 354–418) was a British (Celtic Britons, Brittonic) theologian known for promoting a system of doctrines (termed Pelagianism by his opponents) which emphasized human choice in salvation and denied original sin. Pelagius was accus ...

, who would become the first king of the

Kingdom of Asturias The Kingdom of Asturias was a kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula founded by the nobleman Pelagius who traditionally has been described as being of Visigothic stock. Modern research is leaning towards the view that Pelagius was of Hispano-Roman ...

. Until 1270 there were no reliable references to Gijón as a settlement, with only short mentions in some documents. In this year,

Alfonso X of Castile Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, ; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, Kingdom of León, León and Kingdom of Galicia, Galicia from 1 June 1252 until his death in 1284. During the April 1257 Imperial election, election of 1 ...

gave it the status of ''puebla''. This documentation appears in the Monastery of San Vicente de Oviedo. In the 14th century, the war between Alfonso Enríquez, Count of Gijón and Noreña and

Henry III of Castile Henry III of Castile (4 October 1379 – 25 December 1406), called the Suffering due to his ill health (, ), was the son of John I and Eleanor of Aragon. He succeeded his father as King of Castile in 1390. Birth and education Henry was bor ...

ended when the village of Gijón was burned and totally destroyed, practically disappearing. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Gijón reemerged. A new dock was built in the port adding fishing and commerce to the area. In the 17th and 18th centuries Gijón began to develop rapidly, growing out of the old city center, supported by the commercial links between the port of Gijón and the American colonies. In the 18th century, due to the French invasions, the wars and the financial trouble in the era, the development stopped until late in the century, when the Oviedo-Gijón road was created and the port was recognized as the best one in Asturias, favoring the start of industrial activities in the town.

Contemporary history

The 19th century brought with it great development, with the commerce of coal, the Gijón– León road and later the Langreo–Gijón railway. All this contributed to the quick expansion of the port, since the intensity of the traffic overflowed the port. A new port, El Musel, was built in 1893 and it was the first coal port of the peninsula. Gijón was going through a conversion to an industrial town with a new bourgeois and an urban development, opening new streets and squares, with new municipal equipments like water, garbage collection, lighting, and so on. All this industrial development brought new manpower to the city and the creation of new neighborhoods like Natahoyo, La Calzada, Tremañes or El Humedal. In the 20th century, with the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, the city supported the Republican faction. The army was located in El Coto. The resistance was eliminated in August 1936. Later, the city was the capital of the

Sovereign Council of Asturias and León ''Sovereign'' is a title that can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to ...

until 20 October 1937, when the troops of General

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

occupied the city. Iron manufacture was the main industry of Gijón from the last years of the 19th century until the last decades of the 20th. Uninsa was created in 1971, and it merged with Ensidesa. In the last years of the century was converted in Aceralia, and integrated in

Arcelor Arcelor S.A. was the world's largest steel producer in terms of turnover and the second largest in terms of steel output, with a turnover of €30.2 billion and shipments of 45 million metric tons of steel in 2004. The company was created in 2002 ...

, along with the Luxembourg-based Arbed and the French company

Usinor Usinor was a French steel making group formed in 1948. The group was merged with Sacilor in 1986, becoming Usinor-Sacilor and was privatised in 1995, and renamed Usinor in 1997. In 2001 it merged with Arbed (Luxembourg) and Aceralia (Spain) to ...

. The last decades of the century brought an industrial crisis affecting mainly iron manufacture and local shipbuilding. This brought new terrain for the creation of new beaches, parks and neighborhoods. It was also created a campus of the

University of Oviedo The University of Oviedo (, Asturian: ''Universidá d'Uviéu'') is a public university in Asturias (Spain). It is the only university in the region. It has three campus and research centres, located in Oviedo, Gijón and Mieres. History Th ...

Geography

Location

The city is situated on the coast of central Asturias, from sea level to an altitude of at ''Picu Samartín'' and at Peña de los Cuatro Jueces, bordered on the West by

Carreño Carreño is a municipality in the autonomous community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. It is bordered by Corvera de Asturias on the west, Gozón on the north, the Cantabrian Sea on the north and east, and Gijón on the east and south. Its ...

, the East by Villaviciosa, and to the South by Siero and Llanera. The city is situated along the Asturian coast and is distinguished by the peninsula of Cimavilla (the original settlement) which separates the beach of San Lorenzo and adjacent neighborhoods to the east from the beaches of Poniente and Arbeyal, the shipyards, and the recreational port and the Port of El Musel to the west. It is close to the other main Asturian cities,

and

Climate

Gijón has a temperate

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Cfb'') typical of the Atlantic coast of Spain, with cool summers and wet and mostly mild winters. The onshore flow from the Atlantic Ocean creates a cool summer and mild winter climate where severe heat and very cold temperatures are rare. The narrow temperature range is demonstrated by the record August temperature being only 6.4 °C warmer than the all-time record January temperature. The climate is wet and cloudy by Spanish standards, but is indeed drier than other locations on the Atlantic in the country. Humidity is high year-round. Summer temperatures are very consistent as proven by the fact that the all-time warmest month of August 1997 had an average temperature of and no month has ever been recorded at an average high above in comparison to the August normal high. Another clear underlining of the marine influence is that the coolest ever August has been as near the average as .

Districts

Gijón is divided in six districts: Center, East, South, West, El Llano and Rural. In this last one, all the peri-urban zone and the rural parishes are integrated.

Neighborhoods and parishes

Demography

According to the 2021 Municipal Population Register (INE), the council had 268,896 inhabitants, of which 142,411 are women and 126,485 are men. The municipal population grew remarkably throughout the 20th century, especially between the 1960s and 1980s, a period in which it doubled. Starting in the 1990s, growth stagnated, reflecting the similar slowdown at the national level of Spain. However, due to immigration, both from other Asturias councils and from abroad, the population started to increase again at the turn of the 21st century.

Culture

Cultural activities are carried out throughout the year, which increase considerably in the summer months, especially in August due to the Feast of the Assumption, with parties, music and theater. This complements the continuous programming of the Teatro Municipal Jovellanos (Jovellanos Municipal Theater). The various festivities carried out in Gijón include: * The Iberoamerican Book Fair, in May * The Semana Negra in July * The Feria Internacional de Muestras de Asturias * The Gijón International Film Festival * The Semana Mágica Festival, in December. The

, completed in 1955, contains the LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial (Laboral Center of Art and Industrial Creation). The center was inaugurated on March 30, 2007 as an interdisciplinary space to promote artistic exchange and foster the relationship between society, art, science, technology and the creative industries. In recent years, Gijón has become a stop city for the

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; ) is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, Montreal, Saint-Michel, Montreal, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Jun ...

. The performances of the Cirque du Soleil have been very successful in the city. In July 2004, Saltimbanco arrived and in the summer of 2007, they presented Alegría in Gijón, the first time that this tour stopped in northern Spain. During the summer of 2009, Cirque du Soleil returned to Gijón with the Varekai show. Gijón is the birth place of several notable people, like

Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos (born Gaspar Melchor de Jove y Llanos, 5 January 1744 – 27 November 1811) was a Spain, Spanish Spanish Enlightenment literature, neoclassical statesman, author, philosopher and a major figure of the Age of Enlighte ...

, statesman, author, philosopher and a major figure of the Age of Enlightenment.

Film

José Luis Garci José Luis García Muñoz (born 20 January 1944), known professionally as José Luis Garci, is a Spanish film director, Film, producer, critic, TV presenter, screenwriter and author. One of the most influential film personalities in the history o ...

filmed most of the footage from the film '' Volver a empezar'' in the city during the early 1980s. The film would later win an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. In the early 1990s there was a boom in indie music bands in the town, which became known as the "Xixón Sound". The comedy Mortadelo & Filemon: The Big Adventure was also filmed in part in the City of Culture of Gijón. In 2009, the Laboral and its surroundings were converted to the University of Oxford for Fernando González Molina's film, Brain Drain. Amalia Ulman’s 2021 film “El Planeta” was shot in and discusses Gijon.

Museums and art galleries

* Museum of the Asturian People * Railway museum of Asturias * Nicanor Piñole museum * Campo Valdés Roman Baths Museum * Juan Barjola Museum, a museum about a local painter, also interested in

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

art * Evaristo Valle museum, local painter museum placed in a mansion at the outskirts * International Bagpipe Museum contains

bagpipe Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...

s from around the world, focusing on the Asturian musical heritage and bagpipes. * Atlantic botanical garden * Archaeological park Campa Torres. * Revillagigedo Palace and museum at Marqués square, near the City Hall * Gijón Aquarium * Roman Town of Veranes * LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, an exhibition center for contemporary art, science, technology and advanced visual industries

Universities

There are two campuses located in Gijón, one of the

and other of the

National University of Distance Education The National Distance Education University (, UNED) is a distance learning and research university founded in 1972 and is the only university run by the government of Spain. The headquarters is located in Madrid, with campuses in all Spanish aut ...

University of Oviedo

* Gijón Polytechnic School of Engineering. Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Computers and Systems Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Telecommunication Engineering. * School of Civil Navy. * Faculty of Commerce, Tourism and Social Sciences "Jovellanos". Public Administration and Management, Trade and Marketing, Tourism and Social work.

National University of Distance Education (UNED)

Gijón also has a delegation of the UNED, where different disciplines can be studied by distance.

Sports

In team sports, Gijón's professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team,

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting is a Spanish professional association football, football club from Gijón, Principality of Asturias. Founded on 1 July 1905, it plays in the ...

, currently plays in the Spanish second division. CP Gijón Solimar is one of the most important women's

roller hockey Roller hockey is a form of hockey played on a dry surface using wheeled skates. It can be played with traditional roller skates (quad skates) or with inline skates and use either a ball or puck. Combined, roller hockey is played in nearly 60 cou ...

teams in Europe as it is five times champion of the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

Círculo Gijón Círculo Gijón Baloncesto y Conocimiento () is a professional basketball club based in Gijón, Asturias that currently plays in LEB Plata, the Spanish basketball league system, third tier of Spanish basketball. History Círculo Gijón Baloncesto ...

is the main

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team of the city, and plays in Spanish basketball third tier. Gijón Baloncesto, folded in 2009, was the most important team of this sport in Gijón, and played four seasons in the

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

, the most important national league in Europe. A women's basketball club, CD Basket Mar, existed in Gijón between 1997 and 2018. CSI Gijón is Spain's official

show jumping Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows ar ...

horse show A horse show is a judged exhibition of horses and pony, ponies. Many different horse breeds and equestrianism, equestrian disciplines hold competitions worldwide, from local to the international levels. Most horse shows run from one to three days ...

which is held annually in Gijón's equestrian facility. There is also a private

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

in Gijón with more than 33,000 members, Real Grupo de Cultura Covadonga, the biggest club in Asturias. Its handball section plays in the third division, where also plays AB Gijón Jovellanos, and its women's volleyball team plays also in the Spanish second league. Not far from Gijón, there are several ski resorts in

, the main being Valgrande-Pajares. The city's

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : "related to the sea") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo ...

houses an important fleet of yachts and is the base for many

water sports Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms ...

, being Royal Astur Yacht Club the most important

yacht club A yacht club is a boat club specifically related to yachting. Description Yacht clubs are mostly located by the sea, although there some that have been established at a lake or riverside locations. Yacht or sailing clubs have either a mar ...

in town. In 2022, the city will host an ATP tennis tournament for the first time.

Sports venues

The biggest sport centers in Gijón are Estadio El Molinón, with 30,000 seats, Plaza de Toros de El Bibio with 12,000 and Palacio de Deportes with 5,000 seats. Games were played in town during the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national footbal ...

. The city has in total 13 public sport centers (in Spanish: ''Centros Municipales Integrados'') with swimming pools, gyms and saunas. Swimming pools are free for children up to age 14.

Economy

For much of the 20th century the town was heavily dependent on mature heavy industries, but at the end of the

Francoism Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the ...

employment began to expand rapidly along with the city's population which by 2007 stood officially at 277,897 for Gijón proper, and approximately 380,000 for the total Gijón agglomeration. The port is at the center of many of the local businesses. Apart from directly port related activities, the economy is based on tourism, steel (

), other metallurgy, livestock rearing and fisheries.

Transport

Airports

Gijón is served by

Asturias Airport Asturias Airport, is the only international airport of Asturias, Spain, in Castrillón. Traffic consists primarily of scheduled domestic flights and some seasonal scheduled international flights. In 2012, the airport handled 1,309,640 passengers ...

, about from the center of the city; it is located in the municipality of Castrillón. The airport is connected to the city by the A-8 motorway, the N-632 national highway and scheduled bus service ( Alsa).

Seaport

The service offered by LD Lines has been canceled in Gijón. The closest Ferry services are now in Santander and

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

. However, Gijón still has a good freight service by El Musel

Public transport

Gijón currently has 18 bus lines and four more (owl) lines. The owl services work on Friday and Saturday nights, and daily in the months of July and August.

Railway

The city is served by the Gijón Railway Station.

Roads and highways

Government

PSOE The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

governed the city from 1979 to 2011, the longest continuous period since Spain's transition to democracy. Carmen Moriyón, the current mayor, was elected mayor on 17 June 2023. She is a member of Asturian Forum.

Councillors distribution in local elections

Notable people

* Lara Álvarez (born 1986), journalist and television presenter * Carolina del Castillo Díaz (1867–1933), Spanish painter * Pablo Carreño Busta (born 1991), tennis player * Miguel Dongil y Sánchez (born 1987), historian * Luis Enrique (born 1970), football manager and former football player * Alberto Entrerríos (born 1976), former handball player * Natalia Estrada (born 1972), actress, model, and television presenter * Pipi Estrada (born 1957), journalist, television personality * Susana Estrada (born 1950), actress, vedette, and singer * Abelardo Fernández (born 1970), football manager and former football player *

(1744–1811), statesman, author, and philosopher * Blanca Romero (born 1976), actress, model, and singer *

Sara Torres Sara Torres Rodríguez de Castro (Gijón, 1991) is a Spanish poet and novelist. In 2014, she won the Gloria Fuertes Prize for children's poetry. For her first novel, ''Lo que hay'', she received the "Javier Morote" Award, awarded by CEGAL () (Spa ...

(born 1991) is a Spanish poet and novelist

International relations

Twin towns/Sister cities

Gijón is twinned with:Ayuntamiento de Gijón
*

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

, United States *

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Niort Niort (; Poitevin: ''Niàu''; ; ) is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department, western France. It is the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres. The population of Niort is 58,707 (2017) and more than 177,000 people live in the urban area. Geography T ...

, France (since 1982) *

Novorossiysk Novorossiysk (, ; ) is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It is one of the largest ports on the Black Sea. It is one of the few cities designated by the Soviet Union as a Hero City. The population was History In antiquity, the shores of the ...

, Russia (since 1986) *

Puerto Vallarta Puerto Vallarta ( or simply Vallarta) is a Mexican resort city near the Bahía de Banderas on the Pacific coast of the Mexico, Mexican state of Jalisco. Puerto Vallarta is the second largest urban agglomeration in the state after the Guadalajara ...

, Mexico * Smara, Western Sahara

References

External links

Gijón Municipality

Official Touristic website of Gijón
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gijon Municipalities in Asturias * Populated coastal places in Spain Port cities and towns on the Spanish Atlantic coast Populated places established in the 5th century BC