Monasterio del Espino can host company conventions, training days, family celebrations and weddings, with work rooms, private dining rooms and bedrooms in the same building. It is a 15th-century Gothic monastery listed as a Bien de Interés Cultural, on the old Bilbao to Burgos road at Santa Gadea del Cid, in the north of the province of Burgos. The venue does not publish a maximum number of guests, so the team sizes each event on request.
Seminars and company events
For conventions, the monastery offers several work rooms that are matched to the size of the group and fitted with the equipment a working session needs. Menus are written for each group. The team also runs activities around the meeting: outdoor training, team building and social commitment programs. The list on the official site includes team baking, traditional games, tasting courses, paintball, multi-adventure, hiking, canoe outings and environmental improvement projects.
The location is the main argument for a regional meeting. The monastery sits less than 100 kilometers from five provincial capitals, and the site counts about three million people within that radius. Vitoria, Burgos, Bilbao and Logroño are all within reach for a one-day meeting.
The kitchen also caters for business use: working lunches, coffee breaks, cocktails, openings, business meetings and training sessions.
Weddings and receptions
Weddings are the main activity. Couples choose between two settings on the same estate. The 1435 wing is the original building, with its church, the Patio de San Alfonso and its gardens, and the cloister, whose glazed courtyard holds the main dining room. A large planted balcony at the back looks over the countryside and is used for the cocktail. La Quinta is built around the Patio de los Castaños, a chestnut courtyard below the monastery, and suits a wedding held entirely outdoors, with a glazed hall that opens onto the garden. Guests can stay from the day before the wedding to the day after, and the team can serve a simpler country lunch on the following day. Baptisms, communions, anniversaries and family reunions are held in private dining rooms sized to the group.
Rooms and capacities
The official site names the church, the Patio de San Alfonso, the cloister dining room, the rear balcony, the Patio de los Castaños and the glazed hall at La Quinta. It gives no square meters or capacities for these spaces, so ask the team for the figure that matches your layout.
Accommodation
Bedrooms are in the 1435 wing. The site gives two figures, 38 bedrooms on one page and 44 on another, so confirm the number before you plan a residential seminar.
Catering
Catering is in-house. A young kitchen team led by Álvaro Cantera prepares the cocktails and the seated menus, mixing traditional and modern cooking. Menus are flexible and built around each client and budget.
History and setting
The monastery grew from a shrine linked to a Marian apparition recorded in 1399, and a Benedictine community built the house that followed. The current building dates from the 15th century. After the convent was sold at auction on April 22, 1879, it passed to the Redemptorists. The building was recently refurbished for events. The estate has grown about ten hectares of lavender.
Getting there
Santa Gadea del Cid is on the old road between Bilbao and Burgos. Frías, the Valle Salado at Salinas de Añana and Haro, the Rioja wine town, are each about 20 minutes away by road, which gives options for a group excursion.
