Baños de la Encina

By the mid-19th century Baños de la Encina had a recorded population of around 1,770 people, and the town received an entry in Pascual Madoz's monumental geographical and statistical dictionary of Spain and its overseas territories. In 2021 it was admitted to the association Los Pueblos Más Bonitos de España, the national register of Spain's most beautiful towns.

Several buildings and sites in Baños de la Encina are listed in the General Catalogue of Andalusian Historical Heritage. The most significant is the Castillo de Burgalimar, the Moorish castle that dominates the town. The Church of San Mateo holds a painting in its Sagrario that is attributed to Murillo.

Two hermitages stand out in the town itself. The Ermita del Cristo del Llano contains a notable rococó camarín, the ornate alcove-chamber behind the altar. The ruined Ermita de Santa María del Cueto has largely disappeared, but excavations carried out during remodelling work around the Burgalimar castle uncovered part of a wall and part of a small underground cistern that once sat beneath it.

Outside town, among the olive groves, stands the Ermita de la Virgen de la Encina, built on the spot where, according to local tradition, the Virgin appeared to a farmer beside an evergreen oak. A romería pilgrimage to this shrine takes place on the second Sunday of May. About a kilometre before it, on the same road, is the smaller Ermita de Jesús del Camino, which draws its own short pilgrimage on the first Sunday of May.

On the upper part of town stands an old windmill, built in dressed stone and restored in recent years. It was fitted with sails for ornamental purposes and now houses a small museum inside.

Further out, the Bronze Age settlement of Peñalosa has been the subject of extensive academic study, carried out by researchers from the University of Granada with funding from the Junta de Andalucía.