Baños de la Encina: Castle Tour with Local Guide & History

4.52

(65 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

You know that feeling when you step through an old gate and the air just shifts? That’s what hit me at the Castillo de Baños de la Encina. The walls are this sandy color, rough under your hand — fourteen towers plus that big Christian one standing like they’ve been waiting for you. Our guide, Carmen, waved us over right away. She started talking about the Almohads and I realized I’d never actually seen a Muslim castle up close before, not like this. There was a breeze coming off the hills and you could smell wild thyme somewhere nearby.

I kept getting distracted by the view — olive groves rolling out forever, little white houses below. Carmen pointed out some weird marks in the stone (she called it tapial?) and explained how they mixed river pebbles and lime to build these walls. I tried to imagine doing that by hand in the 12th century. At one point she laughed because I mixed up “alcazarejo” and “alcázar” — Spanish is trickier than it looks, honestly. We ducked into a shadowy corner where they’d found Copper Age remains; it smelled faintly of earth and something metallic, like old coins or tools.

The best part was when she showed us the double cistern — “water ark,” she called it — and told us about how people lived here during sieges. It got quiet for a second while we listened to our footsteps echoing off the stones. I didn’t expect to feel so connected to people who lived here hundreds of years ago, but there’s something about touching those walls that makes history feel less distant. And then someone’s phone went off with a reggaeton ringtone and we all cracked up — so yeah, not exactly medieval silence.

I still think about that view from the top tower, honestly. The sun was starting to dip behind Sierra Morena and everything looked golden for a minute. If you’re even half interested in castles or Spanish history, this day trip to Baños de la Encina is worth it just for that feeling alone.