On Location: Spain’s hidden heartlands – adventures far from the coast

Frigiliana sits above the coast, a whitewashed Andalusian village where narrow cobblestone streets climb the hillside. 

Our guide, Marie Jose, paused the group at a viewpoint overlooking town and offered a perspective that would define much of the journey ahead. 

"We have lots of visitors, but we still feel the community is our own," she said, explaining how locals work to preserve the town's buildings and keep it clean. 

It's a delicate balance many small Spanish towns maintain: welcoming tourism while preserving local identity.

It was the first day of a five-day journey through Andalucía and Castilla-La Mancha, where PAX joined select travel media from the U.S. and Canada on the tourist office of Spain's southern route, part of the first edition of "Spain is Much More.” 

This coordinated road-trip campaign in October sent six groups of international journalists through different Spanish regions simultaneously.

The itinerary deliberately bypassed Spain's well-trodden coastal circuits in favour of interior destinations where tourism infrastructure exists, but crowds remain manageable. 

Frigiliana, home to roughly 3,200 residents, set the template: a Moorish-Mudejar quarter largely unchanged for centuries, and a tourism economy that supplements rather than dominates local life.

The village is home to Europe's only remaining operational sugarcane molasses factory, Nuestra Señora del Carmen, housed in a 17th-century building. 

After exploring its bougainvillea-lined streets, we sampled arropías (sweets made from sugarcane honey) and local wines produced from small domestic vineyards.

Jaén's olive oil culture

The landscape shifted dramatically as we moved north into Jaén province. 

Sixty million olive trees blanket the hills here, producing roughly 20 percent of the world's olive oil. 

The region has built a tourism sector around oleotourism, inviting visitors into mills, offering tastings and positioning olive cultivation as both agricultural heritage and contemporary industry.

At SCA El Alcázar-Olibaeza mill in Baeza, we walked through the complete production. 

The scale was impressive, with industrial machinery handling tons of olives while maintaining strict quality standards.

From there, we moved to Úbeda for a guided tour through the historic centre and its main monuments. 

The city earned UNESCO World Heritage status in 2003 alongside neighbouring Baeza, recognition of the Renaissance architecture that defines both towns. 

The following morning brought an Iberian lynx observation in Sierra de Andújar Natural Park. 

The park hosts over 200 of the endangered cats, the world's largest population. 

After hours of driving through the reserve, our guide Paco finally spotted a small tawny form far off in a valley. 

We took turns peering through binoculars, each trying to hold the distant cat in frame long enough to confirm what we were seeing. 

The mountain snack that followed featured Olavidia cheese, a 2022 World Cheese Awards winner produced in the region, along with other local specialties like Guarromán pastries and partridge pate.

From there, we drove to Baños de la Encina for lunch at Bury, a restaurant gaining recognition for elevating Jaén's culinary scene. 

The restaurant takes its name from the Arabic word for the town's imposing 1,000-year-old castle, and the connection shows in the cooking. 

Dishes blend Mediterranean techniques with North African influences, showcasing local products like Jaén's olive oil, regional cheeses and game from the surrounding sierra.

After lunch, we explored Baños de la Encina's historic quarter, where the architecture tells the story of centuries of occupation. 

The Almohad castle dominates the skyline, a 12th-century fortress with massive stone walls that remain remarkably intact. 

From the castle, we walked to the baroque camarín of Cristo, a richly decorated chamber that contrasts dramatically with the castle's austere military design. 

The tour concluded with a sampling of cucharro, a regional specialty. 

The dish is simple but representative of rural Spanish cooking: hollowed-out bread prepared with olive oil, salt, garlic and tomato.

Manchego cheese and theatrical traditions

The next morning found us at Finca Las Terceras, a family-run cheese producer in the heart of Castilla-La Mancha where the air smells faintly of salt and sheep. 

Our guide Tomas led us through the facility with the ease of someone who's explained Manchego production thousands of times but still finds it fascinating.

The dairy maintains its own flock of 2,500 Manchega sheep, each producing roughly one litre of milk daily. 

"Five litres for a single wheel," he explained.

What makes it authentic, Tomas emphasized, is the designation of origin certification. 

The standards are strict: salt baths at specific temperatures, controlled drying periods, natural mold development that gets cleaned with olive oil every 60 days. 

Lunch followed at Restaurante Retama inside Hotel La Caminera, where Michelin-starred chef Miguel Ángel Expósito applies techniques learned at restuarants like Mugaritz, Martín Berasategui and Can Jubany to regional ingredients including wild rabbit, estate-raised partridge and local olive oils.

The food arrived in careful compositions that looked almost too precise to disturb. 

The flavours were unmistakably regional: earthy, rich, grounded in centuries of La Mancha tradition but executed with modern technique.

By late afternoon, we'd arrived in Almagro, a town that exists in a kind of theatrical time warp. 

The Corral de Comedias, a 17th-century theatre, has retained its original structure, complete with wooden balconies, painted columns and a courtyard where audiences once stood.

We filed into the venue and watched actors in period costume perform a brief musical sketch. 

Afterward, we wandered through workshops where artisan lacemakers worked with thread so fine it was nearly invisible, their hands moving in patterns passed down through generations.

Wine region and windmills

Day four took us into wine country, specifically to Encomienda de Cervera, a third-generation winery sitting atop some of the most unusual soil in Spain.

The estate sprawls across 2,000 hectares of olive groves and 60 hectares of vineyards, all planted in volcanic soil from a dormant crater that last erupted 2,000 years ago. 

Horten, the general manager, walked us through the property, explaining how that ancient eruption created the mineral-rich soil that defines the estate's terroir.

The journey concluded with an informal lunch inside one of Consuegra's iconic windmills, the structures that inspired Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote. 

The building creaked in the wind. The view stretched endlessly across La Mancha's flat plains. 

The food was simple, honest and unfussy, exactly right for the setting.

The bigger picture

That evening, over dinner at Paradores Congress Palace in Segovia, Miguel Sanz, managing director of Tourspain, addressed the group during closing remarks.

"This is a new activity we're doing to showcase that Spain is much more than the beautiful islands of the Canaries, it's much more than Costa del Sol, it's much more than the resorts in the Mediterranean, it's much more than all the places you've visited before," Sanz said. 

"We wanted to promote and showcase places in the middle of nowhere in the peninsula, but with extreme beauty."

Every participant stayed exclusively in Paradores properties throughout the trip, a deliberate choice according to Sanz.

Raquel Sanchez, president of Paradores, outlined the network's scope and mission. 

The state-owned company manages nearly 100 hotels and restaurants across Spain, with the upcoming opening of Parador de Ibiza creating representation in every Spanish region.

"Our establishments are located in truly exceptional settings that reflect the diversity and richness of each space's heritage,” said Sanchez. 

“Many are placed in iconic buildings, such as ancient castles, convents, palaces and monasteries, which have been restored to preserve their history while offering every modern comfort.”

Indeed, Parador Málaga Golf, where out journey began, sits beside a golf course designed by Tom Simpson. 

Parador de Úbeda occupies a 16th-century Renaissance palace located on the monumental Plaza Vázquez de Molina. 

In Jaén, the Parador crowns Santa Catalina hill next to an 8th-century Moorish castle, offering panoramic views over olive groves stretching toward Sierra Morena.

Parador de Almagro is housed in a reconstructed 17th-century Franciscan convent. 

The final night at Parador de la Granja brought the group to an 18th-century mansion built by King Carlos III for his sons.

The network also serves an economic development function. 

"Through our work, we help preserve unique buildings, keep local traditions alive and generate jobs and economic growth," Sanchez explained. 

"This model helps us promote authentic, less-crowded destinations, bringing tourism to places that are often overlooked."

Sanz expressed optimism about Spain's tourism potential beyond its established beach destinations. 

"I hope that you discovered a new Spain," he said. 

"If we are number one with our southern beach destinations, imagine when the people of your countries also discover all of the destinations that you have discovered."

He concluded by acknowledging the cultural stewardship required to maintain these destinations. 

"We owe the people of these villages that have kept their heritage. They have kept their traditions. They have kept their culture. They have kept their gastronomy. They have preserved it in a way that now we can enjoy it," Sanz said.

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