Toledo
Toledo's illustrious main church ranks among the top 10 cathedrals in Spain. An impressive example of medieval Gothic architecture, its enormous interior…
Must-see attractions in Castilla-La Mancha
Toledo
This magnificent synagogue was built in 1355 by special permission from Pedro I. The synagogue now houses the Museo Sefardí, which provides a glimpse into…
Cuenca
The most striking element of medieval Cuenca, the casas colgadas (hanging houses) jut out precariously over the steep defile of Río Huécar. Dating from…
-
Catedral de Santa María de Sigüenza
Castilla-La Mancha
Rising up from the heart of the old town is the city’s centuries-in-the-making masterpiece – the Cathedral of Santa María. Begun as a Romanesque structure…
-
Castillo de Calatrava la Nueva
Castilla-La Mancha
This magnificent castle-monastery looms high in the sky some 35km south of Almagro, from where it once controlled the path into the Sierra Morena and…
-
Museo Paleontológico de Castilla-La Mancha
Cuenca
Cuenca’s cutting-edge palaeontology museum is a must for anyone interested in Spain's fascinating prehistorical record. Though anchored by its…
-
Museo de Arte Abstracto Español
Cuenca
From the outside, they look as if they’ve been sawn off from some high-altitude Tibetan temple, but, from the inside, Cuenca’s famous casas colgadas …
-
Castilla-La Mancha
Forced to play plain younger sibling to the (much) older and wiser Corral de Comedias in this famous theatre town, the Municipal occupies an 1860s…
Castilla-La Mancha
The fascinating archaeological site of Ruinas Romanas de Valeria is located just outside the village of Valeria, 34km south of Cuenca. Though not as…
Palacio de los Duques del Infantado
Castilla-La Mancha
The only reason to visit businesslike Guadalajara, aside from changing buses, is a pretty good one: the former palace of the illustrious Mendoza clan is…
Cuenca
Luring visitors in with its impressive old-looking facade (it was actually cleverly rebuilt in neo-Gothic style in 1902), Cuneca’s cathedral is well worth…
Monasterio San Juan de los Reyes
Toledo
This imposing 15th-century Franciscan monastery and church was provocatively founded in the heart of the Jewish quarter by the Catholic monarchs Isabel…
Toledo
It's hard to imagine that this 16th-century building was once a hospital. If only modern hospitals were equipped with the kind of ornate plateresque…
Toledo
This lively square has long been the hub of town. From 1465 until the 1960s Zocodover was the scene of the city's Tuesday market and successor to the Arab…
Toledo
In the early 20th century, an aristocrat bought what he thought was El Greco's house and did a meritorious job of returning it to period style. He was…
Castilla-La Mancha
Thespian or not, you could spend hours in Almagro’s illustrious museum just sifting through the highlights. Theatrical musings include a deftly sculpted…
-
Toledo
At the highest point in the city looms the foreboding Alcázar. Rebuilt under Franco, it has been reopened as a vast military museum. The usual displays of…
-
Parque Arqueológico de Recópolis
Castilla-La Mancha
Recópolis, a fascinating archaeological site, is a rarity. It was one of possibly only four cities that were built during the Visigothic era in Western…
-
Castilla-La Mancha
Take a photo of yourself standing in front of the Nacimiento del Río Mundo, send it to the folks back home and they will think that you have sidestepped…
-
Parque Arqueológico de Carranque
Castilla-La Mancha
This unusual late-Roman site was discovered in 1983 when a young agricultural worker came across a series of beautifully preserved mosaic floors hidden…
-
Castilla-La Mancha
Opening onto the plaza is the oldest theatre in Spain. The 17th-century Corral de Comedias is an evocative tribute to the golden age of Spanish theatre,…
-
Museo de los Concilios y la Cultura Visigoda
Toledo
Sometimes dismissively called the ‘Invisigoths’ due to the scant record of their presence, the Visigoths inhabit a little-known chapter of Spanish history…
-
Castilla-La Mancha
Consuegra’s atmospheric castle was once the stomping ground for the Order of St John of Jerusalem, sometimes known as the Knights Hospitaller, a famous…
-
Toledo
On the northern slopes of town you'll find a modest, yet beautiful, mosque (the only one remaining of Toledo's 10) where architectural traces of Toledo's…
-
Castilla-La Mancha
This museum of over 700 books all with the same title (you’ve guessed it – Don Quijote) is more interesting than it sounds. Included among its well laid…
-
Toledo
Erstwhile hospital, textbook example of Spanish-Renaissance architecture, veritable art gallery and glowing homage to El Greco, the Tavera is an…
-
Castilla-La Mancha
Castilla-La Mancha's best-preserved Roman ruins may date as far back as the 5th century BCE. The highlights are a Roman theatre and amphitheatre on the…
-
Castilla-La Mancha
Since she was a fictional heroine and largely a figment of Don Quijote’s imagination, this museum is obviously not the real house of the famous Dulcinea…
-
Castilla-La Mancha
This is how castles should look, with turrets, largely intact walls and a commanding position over the plains of La Mancha from the ramparts. Visitors are…
-
Convento de Santo Domingo El Antiguo
Toledo
This wonderfully disheveled 11th-century monastery contains one of El Greco's earliest Toledo works: The Assumption of the Virgin (1679), which fills a…
-
Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción & Museo Parroquial
Castilla-La Mancha
Walk from the Plaza de la Hora along Calle Mayor and you'll soon reach the massive Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción. Inside, the interesting…
-
Toledo
To get the ultimate photo of Toledo you need to cross the Río Tajo and climb the road on the other side to this strategic viewpoint. You can either walk…
-
Cuenca
The city’s history museum is comprehensive, but heavily weighted towards the pre-medieval age. The story kicks off in the Bronze Age, but the real scoop…
-
Castilla-La Mancha
Calle Mayor heads south up the hill from the cathedral to a magnificent-looking castle, which was originally built by the Romans and was, in turn, a…
-
Museo del Quijote y Biblioteca Cervantina
Castilla-La Mancha
For true Don Quijote fans, this museum is worth perusing for its audiovisual show – a humorous 3D invocation of the book – and old printing presses and…
-
Castilla-La Mancha
The extraordinary Ciudad Encantada, surrounded by pine woods, has limestone rocks which have been eroded into fantastical shapes by nature – you'll get a…
-
Toledo
Iglesia de Santo Tomé contains El Greco’s most famous masterpiece El entierro del conde de Orgaz (The Burial of the Count of Orgaz), which is accessed by…
-
Castilla-La Mancha
This museum dedicated to knives and knife-making is housed in a striking Modernismo Casa del Hortelano with turrets and swirls dating from 1912. The…
-
Cuenca
This huge modern-art gallery in the labyrinthine ex–Convento de las Carmelitas is a typical Cuenca synthesis of old and new. Stuffed with exhibits that…
-
Cuenca
A mole hill of tunnels lies under Cuenca's old town. Over time they have served multiple purposes as aqueducts, crypts and, most recently, air-raid…
