Heritage towns in Aragón

A medieval fortress town in the Aragonese Pyrenees, where a castle and Romanesque collegiate church rise above the confluence of two rivers on the route to the high mountain passes of Huesca.

A hilltop village in Huesca whose very name echoes its Arabic and fortress past, sitting above a river gorge with a collegiate church consecrated in 1099 and a castle that once guarded the frontier between Muslim and Christian Aragón.

A Pyrenean stone village in Huesca, Aragón, where narrow medieval passageways thread between ancient houses and bears still roam the surrounding mountains.

A cathedral city on the Camino de Santiago in Huesca, Aragón, where the founding betrothal of the Crown of Aragón was signed and George Orwell recovered from a war wound among its riverside streets.

A mountain valley town in Huesca where the Crown of Aragon was born, the river Aragón Subordán runs past megalithic monuments and a surviving Romanesque monastery church that once housed 150 monks.

The first Romanesque cathedral in Spain, a complete Renaissance citadel, and a position astride the Camino de Santiago at the foot of the Pyrenean pass of Somport make Jaca one of Aragón's most historically layered towns.

A high Pyrenean town in Huesca, Aragón, where a Romanesque church and a Renaissance palace stand against a backdrop of Spain's tallest peaks, including the 3,404-metre Aneto.

A medieval town in Huesca with a pentagonal arcaded plaza, three surviving city gates, and a Gothic-Renaissance basilica built into the rock above the Ésera river, on the edge of the Aragonese Pyrenees.

A Templar stronghold rising from sandstone above the Aragonese plains, where James I of Aragon grew up under castle custody and medieval kings convened their courts for centuries.

A castle of Arab and Lombard origins crowns a hillside above the Ara river valley in the Aragonese Pyrenees, with one of the largest churches in the range rising below it in the old town.

A mountain town in the Aragonese Pyrenees, sitting at 891 metres where the Ara river runs through the broad Valle de Broto, with the high peaks of Sobrarbe rising to over 2,000 metres on every side.

The former capital of the County of Ribagorza, Benabarre sits in the Aragonese Pyrenean foothills of Huesca, its medieval quarter and count's castle marking a town whose history runs from Roman settlement through Arab rule to the courts of Aragón.

The capital of the Los Monegros comarca in Huesca, Aragón, where a Carthusian monastery founded in 1507, a Romanesque hermitage above the Alcanadre river, and one of Spain's largest inland lakes sit within a few kilometres of each other.

A former royal city of the Crown of Aragón, sitting on a history that runs from Iberian settlement through Muslim rule to medieval parliament, Tamarite de Litera carries more weight than its size in Huesca suggests.

A medieval fortress town in Teruel, Aragón, whose Moorish castle, intact city walls, and ochre-red rooftops trace a thousand years of contested rule above a river gorge.

A hilltop town in Teruel where a Gothic-Renaissance church, a medieval archbishop's castle, and prehistoric rock art above the Martín river mark out centuries of layered history in Aragón.

One of Aragón's most intact medieval ensembles, Mirambel's complete circuit of walls, Renaissance palaces, and centuries-old streets earned it protected monument status as an entire urban quarter.

A fortified hilltop town in Teruel's Maestrazgo region, Cantavieja preserves a medieval street plan, a porticoed main square, and a castle that changed hands repeatedly during Spain's brutal Carlist Wars.

A walled medieval town in the highlands of Teruel, its porticoed main street, intact gateways and UNESCO-listed rock art spanning thousands of years of continuous human presence.

A hill town in Teruel whose urban core has been declared a site of cultural interest, standing above the Mora valley in the mountains of Aragón.

A walled hilltop town in Teruel with a Templar castle, a plateresque church, and a medieval gateway still standing, straddling the Camino del Cid in the high Maestrazgo of Aragón.

A medieval castle crowns the hilltop above a Gothic bridge and walled old town on the Matarraña river, making this Teruel town one of the most complete surviving ensembles of medieval Aragonese architecture.

The UNESCO-listed capital of Teruel province, its skyline defined by four Mudéjar towers and the world's most important medieval timber ceiling, a city whose bull-and-star symbol traces back to its founding legend of 1171.

A castle town on the Guadalope river in Teruel, where a medieval Calatrava fortress, Gothic murals, and a Renaissance main square mark one of Aragón's most historically layered stops.

A castle-crowned medieval town in Teruel, Aragón, where a Gothic collegiate church with one of the widest single naves in all of Spain rises above walled streets and ancient gateways.

A walled hilltop town in Teruel whose intact medieval gateways, baroque convents, and noble palaces earned it the Europa Nostra prize and a place among Spain's most celebrated historic villages.

A Aragonese hill town above the Río Martín where a ducal castle, a Mudéjar collegiate church, a converted synagogue, and one of Teruel's most complete Calvary routes speak to a layered past of Christians, Jews, and Muslims living side by side.

A well-preserved medieval town of 572 people in Teruel's Matarraña comarca, where five ancient gateways still stand, a Templar bridge crosses the river Matarraña, and the limestone mountains of the Puertos de Beceite rise at the edge of the old streets.

A hilltop town in Teruel where Bronze Age rock carvings, a ruined Carlíst-destroyed castle, and centuries of frontier conflict have left their mark on every stone.

A walled medieval town on the Río Martín in Teruel, its Gothic-Mudéjar church, ancient gateways, and deep Aragonese history tied to the Order of Santiago make it one of the most distinctive stops in the region.

A walled medieval town in Zaragoza province, its four Romanesque churches, 16th-century tunnel and 1639 monumental fountain marking it as one of Aragón's most historically layered stops.

Birthplace of Ferdinand II of Aragon, this hilltop fortress town in Zaragoza province still wears its medieval skin — castle, walls, Romanesque crypt and Renaissance palaces stacked up the same rocky outcrop they have occupied for a thousand years.

A city of layered stone and brick in Zaragoza province, where a Gothic-Mudéjar cathedral, a Renaissance bishop's palace and a tightly packed medieval quarter earn it the old nickname of "the Aragonese Toledo."

A fortified Aragonese town set on a rocky outcrop above two rivers, its six Romanesque churches, castle, and medieval street plan standing largely unchanged since the twelfth century.

An ancient Celtiberian mint town on the Aragonese plains, its castle hill, cave wine cellars, and mud-brick collegiate church carrying layers of Roman, Moorish, and medieval history.

A city of Moorish castles, UNESCO-listed mudéjar towers, and Roman roots stretching back to the time of Augustus, standing in Zaragoza province as one of Aragón's most historically layered stops.

A town on the Ebro in Zaragoza province where a Gothic collegiate church holds one of the largest known fragments of the True Cross, and a hilltop castle of the Knights of St John once stood above a medieval city famous across Spain for its glassmakers.

A town on the Jalón river in Zaragoza province where Celtiberian foundations, a Muslim-built castle, and a grand baroque church mark out more than two thousand years of continuous occupation.

A fortified town on the Jiloca river in Zaragoza province, where a Muslim castle in rammed earth, three mudéjar churches, and a medieval watchtower survive from more than a thousand years of layered history.

A Jalón river town of Mudéjar towers, three castles, and Celtiberian roots deep enough to appear in the Roman road maps of Antonine — Ateca has been a crossroads of Aragón since long before Spain existed.

A medieval stronghold on the Jalón river in Zaragoza province, Ariza crowns its hilltop with a Moorish castle cited in the Cantar de Mío Cid and surrounds it with a Gothic church, a palace, and the layered memory of two kingdoms fighting over the same ground for centuries.

Birthplace of the controversial Pope Benedict XIII and seat of one of Aragón's great noble dynasties, Illueca rises above the Jalón valley with a castle-palace that spans mudéjar, Renaissance and baroque in a single building.

A village in Zaragoza province where a UNESCO-listed Gothic-Mudéjar church, built by the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, crowns the hilltop above a castle declared a site of cultural interest.

Belchite, in Zaragoza province, carries three thousand years of layered history — Celtiberian, Roman, Arab, and Aragonese — and its bombed-out old town stands today as one of Spain's most haunting and intact ruins.

Longares, in Zaragoza province, is defined by a hall church of three equal-height naves and a Mudéjar tower that predates it, rising together as a quiet landmark of Aragonese brick craftsmanship.

A small Aragonese town in Zaragoza province, Mesones de Isuela holds a castle and a parish church dedicated to the Assumption within its municipal boundaries.

A spa town on the Jalón river in Zaragoza province, where thermal springs used since Roman times flow beneath the ruins of a Muslim castle and a Mudéjar church tower.

A village in the Zaragoza hills where a collegiate church blends Romanesque, Mudéjar, and Renaissance in a single building, and the ruins of an old castle watch over the surrounding countryside.