Hita Between City Walls, Literature and Landscape

Hita offers travelers medieval architecture, literary connections and hillside paths. When choosing Hita as a destination, you can focus on the old town and its history, the Festival Medieval de Hita, or the paths and views. These different themes can be taken into account when planning your stay.

Old Town, Architecture and Historic Traces

Hita’s old town is designated a Bien de Interés Cultural, meaning a protected cultural asset of cultural interest. One kilometer of the medieval city wall remains, spread across five sections. The Puerta de Santa María was built starting in 1441 and is a prominent landmark of the city’s Gothic military architecture.

The Plaza del Arcipreste is also known as Hita’s Plaza Mayor. In the 15th century, it was the city’s marketplace and also Hita’s main Jewish quarter. The Iglesia de San Juan was built in the Mudéjar style during the 15th and 16th centuries. Its tower is an exception, as it is built in the Herrerian style.

At the upper edge of the old town are cave houses known as “bodegos.” They are accessed through façades made of adobe or stone. More than a hundred wine cellars were also built beneath the old town’s houses during the Middle Ages. These details add further aspects of the town’s medieval history to its visible architecture.

Literature and Museum Spaces

In the Casa-Museo del Arcipreste, the room dedicated to the Libro de Buen Amor displays reproductions of medieval manuscript pages and several editions of the work. The display may change. Hita is also home to a tourist office and museum spaces dedicated to the archaeology of the comarca and to ethnography. Together, these subjects offer different ways to explore literature, archaeological finds and life in the region.

Festival Medieval de Hita

The Palenque de Hita was built in 1970 at the foot of the city wall as a venue for the jousting tournaments of the Festival Medieval de Hita. Equestrian games are held there every year, on foot and on horseback. Beforehand, the participating knights practice ring tilting, fighting the Estafermo and throwing javelins at targets or small wooden towers.

The festival also includes temporary exhibitions, staged guided walks and other accompanying activities centered on Hita’s history and literary significance. The specific program varies with each edition. At the Botarga de Hita, a procession accompanied by music makes its way from the Plaza to the Palenque on Saturday afternoon, where a battle between good and evil takes place. Medieval lunches and dinners on the hill are also part of the festival; the program may vary. If you want to plan your trip around an event, check the dates and program in advance.

Hillside Paths and Views

Local paths start in the old town, run along the foot of the hill and lead to a stream, a spring and a medieval bridge. The “La algarada de Álvar Fáñez” section of the Camino del Cid also passes through the Hita area. Here, you can follow the Camino del Cid on foot along the long-distance GR-160 trail, which is marked in red and white. The local paths lead to named destinations on the hillside, while the Camino del Cid is a marked long-distance route through the area.

From the summit of Hita’s hill, where a mighty castle once stood, the view stretches across the broad Henares plain as far as Alcalá. The hilltop also offers views over the valley; only a few remains of the fortifications and towers have survived. The view from the summit and the paths at the foot of the hill thus offer different perspectives on Hita’s landscape.

Discover more destinations: Rillo De Gallo, Carabias, Torija, Hiendelaencina, Algar De Mesa, Pastrana, Ruguilla, Albendiego

For the main travel overview: Guadalajara.