The modern part of Pamplona contrasts sharply with the medieval walled city with its winding streets, squares and historical monuments. Unlike other cities where the old town has been kept separate from the new suburbs, in Pamplona the two blend together, combining tradition and modernity in a single space. A good example of this are the city walls, rebuilt in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. These unusually long walls encircle the city, running parallel to the River Arga.

Pamplona's Gothic style Cathedral, rebuilt between 1397 and 1530, is one of the most important religious buildings in the whole of Spain. It stands on the site of a former Romanesque church, and remains of this previous building can be seen in the Navarra Museum, together with its Refectory. The Gothic cloister is considered to be of great beauty and one of the most perfect of its kind in Europe.

In the Diocesan Museum, the former canon's refectory built in 1330, two outstanding relics can be seen - the Lignum Crucis and the Holy Burial ¿ and the alabaster Royal Mausoleum, crafted in the year 1415 in the purest Burgundian style, can also be admired in the central nave.