Priego

The entrance to the Serranía

Priego lies in the north of the province, between the Alcarria and the Serranía. The Escabas passes a few metres from the town centre after crossing the Estrecho de Priego, limestone gorges with walls up to 400 metres high, and the Trabaque and Guadiela also meet in the surrounding area. There is a market on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Stone and power

The oldest structure is the Torreón de Despeñaperros, of Arab origin. The 16th-century Palace of the Counts of Priego is now the town hall. Remaining buildings include the Hospital del Dulce Nombre de Jesús, a shelter for the poor founded in 1525, the so-called Casas de la Inquisición, the Puerta de Molina in the town wall and San Nicolás de Bari church, with a 32-metre Renaissance tower. Outside the town are the ruins of the Romanesque San Roque hermitage and the medieval Allende bridge. The convent of Nuestra Señora del Rosal, dating from around 1525, retains its Plateresque church and three ranges of the cloister.

What trades and memory tell

Priego is one of Cuenca’s main pottery centres, with workshops still open. The district is willow-growing country. The Museum of Ethnography and Folk Arts preserves the woollen blankets woven here from the mid-19th century to the last third of the 20th, and the trade of river timber drivers who took logs down the Escabas to the Guadiela: The gancheros of the Escabas and Guadiela.

From 30 January to 1 February 2026, Priego’s library hosted the third Bibliocatessen: forty librarians and people from the book world from twelve provinces. The previous event had been held in Tragacete in 2024. They visited Jesús Parra’s pottery, San Miguel de la Victoria convent and the old centre, and there was a recital of short stories among the shelves.

The railway that was to pass through Priego

On 10 June 1929 a delegation of almost two hundred people from Aragón and Castilla la Nueva presented the Minister of Public Works with plans for an electric railway from La Roda to Tarazona, conceived as part of a line linking France with Cádiz. From Cuenca it would climb to Priego, then cross Serranía Alta through the narrows towards Beteta and the Guadalajara boundary, on the way to Molina, Calatayud and Tarazona. It needed 65 tunnels, some over five kilometres long, and gradients up to 3.5%, so the locomotives had to be electric, powered by new reservoirs on the Alto Tajo and Guadiela. The budget was 265 million pesetas, and architect Luis Vegas was to design a different station for each major town. The railway would carry mountain timber and resin, iron from Cueva del Hierro and Priego marble. It was never built.

Routes

The PR-CU 42 (short-distance trail), Ruta del mirador del Rodenal, is a 14 km circuit climbing from 862 to 1,298 metres. PR-CU 43 follows the Escabas riverbank and La Cerroya.

Plan your visit

The old centre, museum and Allende bridge fit into a morning. PR-CU 42 needs a day. Priego is a good place to enter the Serranía along the Escabas.

Before you travel

Confirm museum opening times with the town hall.

Combine with

Cañamares is 6.5 km away in a straight line and Fuertescusa, up the Escabas gorge, 12.2 km.