Hotels in Úbeda

Úbeda is one of the finest Renaissance towns in Spain, and with neighbouring Baeza it shares a UNESCO World Heritage listing for a concentration of sixteenth-century palaces and churches that would look more at home in Italy than in the Andalusian interior. Much of it was shaped by architect Andrés de Vandelvira and paid for by Francisco de los Cobos, secretary to Emperor Charles V. The result is the honey-stoned Plaza Vázquez de Molina and the Sacra Capilla del Salvador, framed by an endless sea of olive groves, since Jaén province is the heart of Spanish olive-oil country.

The town also keeps a living pottery tradition with distinctive green-glazed ceramics. Be honest: Úbeda is out of the way, with no train station of its own and limited public transport. It gets fiercely hot in summer and is very quiet after dark, so it suits slow, architecture-minded travellers more than anyone wanting nightlife. Stay inside the monumental old quarter near Plaza Vázquez de Molina so the palaces are on your doorstep in the cool of morning and evening.