Mula

Mula's skyline is defined by the Castillo de los Vélez, a Renaissance fortress sitting on bare rock above the town. Built by the Marquis of los Vélez to assert feudal control, not to defend the townspeople, it retains a keep, a barrel-vaulted central nave, and a cistern, and was once accessed by a drawbridge through the old Muslim alcázar walls. A legal dispute over ownership has kept it closed; it is a declared Bien de Interés Cultural (BIC).

The church of San Miguel stands in the main square alongside the clock tower, also a BIC. It holds a painting museum donated in 1940, with works attributed to Ribera and Mengs among others. Nearby, the Real Monasterio de la Encarnación, a Clarisan convent built across several centuries and also a BIC, preserves a cloister and a bell tower from an earlier hermitage on the same site.

The church of Santo Domingo de Guzmán was built over a former mosque, its origins linked to Alfonso X's conquest of Mula in 1244; the current Renaissance building dates from 1557. The Baroque Ermita de Nuestra Señora del Carmen, another BIC, houses the city's patron saint. The convent of San Francisco, founded by the Marquis of los Vélez, now partly houses the Museo Ciudad de Mula, opened in 2015, which displays the town's archaeological collections.

Outside town, the Santuario del Niño Jesús de Balate is a Baroque pilgrimage church in the hamlet of Balate. The wider old town is designated a historic-artistic ensemble, and includes the Casa Pintada, a Baroque palace with a museum of works by local artist Cristóbal Gabarrón, as well as the Iberian archaeological site of El Cigarralejo, dating to the fifth and fourth centuries BC.

Mula sits roughly 80 km from San Javier airport and 110 km from Alicante (El Altet). Hourly buses connect the town with Murcia and Caravaca; additional lines run to Jaén and Molina de Segura. The bus station is at Calle Senda de la Morera s/n, 30170, tel. 968 660 713.

The nearest train stations are Calasparra and Murcia, both under 35 km away. For food, Restaurante El Hogar offers a daily set menu for €9 and a weekend menu for €10, with tapas and home-made desserts. Restaurante El Casino runs a weekday set menu (Tuesday–Friday, including vegetarian options) for €10.

Bar la Esquina on Calle Cucharadas serves beers for €1. Venta Magdalena is known locally for rice dishes cooked over wood fire. Bar Salazar is noted for its cured roe, mojama, octopus, and potatoes.