What to see and do in Benassal, a historic town in Maestrazgo de Castellón

In your car route through the Alto Maestrazgo it's worth stopping by benassal to take a walk through his old La Mola neighborhood, of Muslim origin.

La excursion through the interior of Castellón will take you through medieval towns where you will discover corners of its long history, such as, Baby cot o Catí.

Specifically, benassal It is a town that currently has about 800 inhabitants, whose origins date back to the Muslim occupation, being reconquered in 1234 at the same time as the Culla castle.

In later times it passed into the hands of the Order of the Temple, and then became a manor of the Order of Montesa.

benassal, like others towns of the Maestrazgo, during the 19th century he was the protagonist of the carlist wars.

What to see when visiting Benassal in Maestrazgo de Castellón

Below I am going to detail which are the better places to discover in Benassal.

La Mola neighborhood and the walls of Benassal

Undoubtedly, the old Muslim neighborhood La Mola It is the corner that will justify your stop in benassal.

It is a network of alleys that date back to the 13th century, and in which you will see houses of popular architecture, mostly not in very good condition.

For visit La Mola It is best to access through the so-called Mola Arch, which gives you access to a small square where the tourist office and the cultural center.

Currently this cultural center houses the Alto Maestrazgo Archaeological Museum and Carles Salvador Foundation.

During this walk you will also see some sections of the old wall, as well as some of the seven towers that at the beginning of the 14th century the fortification of Benassal had, like the Prison Tower or the round tower.

Another corner that will catch your attention is the façade of the Sánchez Cutanda palatial house, from 1729, with a baroque portico with Solomonic columns.

It's a shame that when I visited Benasal some time ago, the building was abandoned due to lack of resources for its restoration; Let's see if it has already been recovered.

Alto Maestrazgo Archaeological Museum

This museum collects archaeological objects recovered in this region, from the Paleolithic to the Muslim era.

In the same building is also the headquarters of the Carles Salvador Foundationa museum classroom created to preserve the legacy of this prestigious figure of Valencian literature.

Carles salvador resided in benassal, where he was a school teacher and a promoter of the orthographic normalization of the Valencian language, and who in 1951 published a Valencian grammar.

In the classroom-museum you can see a library that preserves copies in the Valencian language, as well as the emulation of a school from the beginning of the 20th century.

Church of the Assumption in Benassal

Together with Mola neighborhood you find the main church of Benassal, the of the Assumption, 17th century.

It is a building that was destroyed during the Civil War, so it is almost completely restored, but what will catch your attention is the sculptural group made of iron that represents la Last Supper, and which you can see in one of its chapels.

On an exterior façade it also has another sculptural set in iron with scenes from the history of the region.

Font d´En Segures Spa

Now outside the town center, just two kilometers along the road that goes up to Baby cot, you find the Font d´En Segura Spa.

In addition to the hotel facilities of the Spa, in the place you will see a rocky enclosure that houses a fountain with mineral-medicinal waters whose properties have been known since the 16th century.

For this reason the Benassal mineral waters They have earned great prestige.

Map: how to get to Benassal

In the next map you can check that benassal is in the High Mastery for the province of Castellón, one hour by car from the city of Castellón de la Plana, and 45 minutes from a place as visited in this region as it is Morella.

More Photos of Benassal in Castellón

Here you have more photos of Benassal, in the High Mastery of Castellón.