Solán de Cabras

Waters with a reputation

Solán de Cabras, in the municipality of Beteta, is known across much of the world for its water. It has a spa and a well-tended garden. Its springs were said to cure ailments of the skin, ears, bones and kidneys. The limestone gorges have green, blue and orange tones, with pines, oaks, box, lime trees and aromatic plants.

A minister’s recovery and a Royal Site

It is said that a shepherd discovered the water’s virtues when he saw his sick goats recover after bathing in the spring. The documented record begins in 1746, when physician Pedro Gómez de Bedoya included it in his account of Spain’s medicinal waters. The site was almost inaccessible until, in 1775, Pedro López de Lerena, accountant for municipal revenues in Cuenca, came to take the waters for a serious illness and left cured. He ordered baths and a guesthouse built, ready in 1777, and when Carlos III appointed him finance minister he secured the declaration of Royal Site, signed by Carlos IV in 1790. Water collected in an ashlar chamber and flowed to a fountain and five baths named after saints: San Joaquín, La Concepción, San Mateo, San Pedro and San Lorenzo.

The summer of 1826

Fernando VII had been married three times without an heir. In summer 1826, trusting the spring’s reputation for fertility, Queen María Amalia of Saxony arrived with her court on 6 July, and the king joined her later; they returned to Madrid on 12 August via Guadalajara, because there was no road from Cuenca. Architect Antonio López Aguado had prepared what became known as the Baños de la Reina for them. No heir resulted, but the journey gave the spa a lasting reputation: 2026 marks two hundred years.

Plan your visit

Combine with

The Cruz de Solán viewpoint, on the PR-CU 90, a PR (short-distance trail), overlooks the spa.