Modoo, known as the Calatrava (in honor of the architect who designed it), is a shopping mall…read morelocated in Oviedo city center. It's only a couple of blocks away from the Llamallique station and a short walk from Oviedo station, a few buses stop nearby, so it's quite well located. THE GOOD It's my favorite mall of central Oviedo, not counting Intu/Parque del Principado. There's a Primark, H&M, Pull and Bear, Springfield, Shana, Benneton, El Corte Inglés (accesories, woman, men, and supermarket), Sephora and others. There's a coffee shop in the first floor, and a Burger King, a restaurant and a pizza place on the second floor. The shops are open until 10 pm and the restaurants on the second floor usually close between 11 pm and midnight. As usual in Oviedo, the shops don't open on Sundays except for 10 designated Sundays a year. The restaurants open daily, although if you're used to having lunch before 1 pm you might have to wait around for Burger King to open. Wifi is free, but spotty at best. I recommend using H&M's (password is shopatHM if I'm not mistaken) or sitting in front of the uncomfortable plastic benches in front of El Corte Inglés and fill out a form with your name, email and postal code. There are two networks, named something like MODOO and Modoo-Free-Wifi but they rarely work. If you have the time to sit at Burger King it might take about 10 minutes for the network to connect. THE BAD This might not be criticism directly for Modoo, but I think it's weird that shops don't open on Sundays. I don't wanna hear about how 'workers need days off too' cause I'm sure there's a lot of unemployed people in Spain more than willing to work weekends and holidays, but I guess that wouldn't be cheaper for the employers. The main problem with the Calatrava, and I mean the building itself, is that it has an enormous amount of leaks. You might find pots in the middle of the corridors collecting the water dripping from the ceiling. Mr. Calatrava didn't do such a great job, it seems. I also heard the spikes were supposed to move up and down, but the mechanism is broken. As it happens a lot in Spain (perhaps in Europe as a whole too, I don't know), you are actually not allowed to take photographs inside the mall. I'm sure both yelpers and millenials have an issue with that. There's a lot of empty shops. At least half of the mall itself is empty shops, and it's really depressing. They tried to add some fancy multicultural photographs to the empty Windows and showrooms, though. They should really work on getting their wifi fixed. THE UGLY Even though the building is absolutely amazing (it looks very cool and you can see it from the top of Monte Naranco), it's a shame that it can look so desolated. This isn't happening just to Modoo, Los Prados has the same problem, but the building is so unique that it really makes it the poster boy for wasted opportunities. I spent a lot of time in Modoo during my almost 3 month stay in Oviedo and it would be a shame to see more stores disappear without being replaced. It's a really beautiful building and I wish that they could work on making it more prominent. Otherwise, it just seems like a waste. Modoo itself gets three stars, but the building design deserves at least 4.

Before I publish my review, Los Prados has an average score of four stars. 'How?' I wonder,…read morecomparing it to the other few malls in Oviedo. Even if there's not a lot to compare it to, it definitely isn't a four star mall. First of all, it's located like 2.5 kilometers away from the city center (which, to me, is Oviedo station), so it's not exactly within walking distance for every day shopping, and if you have a car then nevermind. You could take a bus, definitely, but for that money you might as well go to the Intu Asturias mall. The area doesn't have that much around it, either. The best thing about Los Prados is probably the Carrefour, one of my favorite grocery stores. It's very difficult to find a Carrefour in Oviedo (even when in Madrid you can't throw a rock around without hitting a Carrefour express) so this is a life saver. If this mall gets any stars, trust and believe it's thanks to Carrefour! The mall itself looks desolated half the time. There aren't a lot of stores (which Modoo also suffers from: the lack of actual stores in the mall), and the few with presence in Los Prados are expensive and boring. No H&M, no Primark, no Forever21. Nothing to browse or to impulse buy. I found the food court lackluster as well, and don't get me started on the cinemas. I have an issue with cinemas in Spain in general (imagine a world where everything you want to watch is dubbed in Castillian Spanish... Children's movies, sure, but everything is dubbed), but these are so pricey! And to watch a blockbuster film from 4 months ago, dubbed? No, thanks... Oviedo definitely deserves better, but everyone is so complacent... Let film companies know we can read! The bathrooms are a mess, and they smell of urine sometimes. They should rarely do so. Next! I wouldn't choose to spend a rainy Saturday (cause, as with everything big here, it closes on Sunday) here. I'd rather go to Intu, or if I'm too lazy to take the train, even Modoo. Maybe this was impressive for Oviedo back in 2008, but it's 2017.

Salesas is only a couple of blocks from my mom's flat, so I would use it as a shortcut almost every…read moreday. It's a four story mall (five if you count the parking lot), consisting mostly of El Corte Inglés. If I had to use one word to describe Spain, it would probably be "slopey". I don't know if that's a word, though. If you access Salesas from either entry at ground level and then take the escalators either all the way down or all the way up, you'll always exit at ground level. The building takes advantage of the terrain and makes it a wonderful way to avoid going uphill. The lowest level has a restaurant (too pricey for me), a cured meats shop, candy shop, roasted chicken stand, pharmacy, Hipercor, Burger King, pet store, accesories, smoking shop, optometrist, shoe and cellphone repair, building supplies, watch repair shop... I'm probably forgetting something. Second and third level are El Corte Inglés shops. Inside there's also a post office and an insurance company. Fourth level has a café, several cellphone stores (including Vodafone), shoes, mens apparel, beauty salon, party dresses, etc. Unfortunately, only Hipercor and El Corte Inglés make Salesas worth visiting, and sometimes not even. Salesas is very convenient and extremely well located. The wifi works great at both BK (password is burgerking) and El Corte Inglés. The post office located near the stationary area in the second floor was a great idea. It's open Monday to Saturday and closes at 10 pm. Unfortunately the restaurant and Burger King also close at 10 pm.

Lots of options! I loved that they had a small maternity collection too. I wish they had more…read moreitems on sale, but I was a few weeks early for the big sales.

Why is Oviedo frozen in time? In a world where Los Prados has a 4 star rating and Carrefour only 3…read more(before I post my reviews), I wonder what happened in 2008 to blind people so much to what's going on here. I spent almost three months in Oviedo, since my mother was living there and I was trying to see if I could join her (I couldn't and went back to my home country) and I was constantly baffled by how complacent people are about their lack of choices. Carrefour is not exactly near the city center (almost 2.5km), but it's the best and closest grocery store I've been to. I have walked or taken the bus to Carrefour just to buy stuff I couldn't find in Mercadona, Hipercor or Más y Más, at a really affordable price. They have a huge selection of fruits, meat, vegetables, baked goods, electronics... basically anything you need. Sure, Hipercor also offers this, but their inflated prices are insane. Carrefour maintains a lower price with their off-brand alternatives, plus offers a really comprehensive foreign goods section (which, in my case, really helped those three months of uncertainty pass by). The free wifi works great, which is a rare but wonderful treat. There's really useful lockers near the entrance for you to leave your stuff and take your time browsing around the supermarket. If you can go to Carrefour for your monthly shopping, do so. If you're in Oviedo on holiday, skip Los Prados entirely: it'll only make you sad.