Yémeda

A village enclosed in the valley

Yémeda lies in the east of the province, in Serranía Baja (lower Serranía), enclosed in the Cabriel valley. It grew beside the river to use its valley fields and woodland: pine woods, steep slopes and riparian forest. The rubble-stone houses follow the slope; the church is the village centre. It is one of the Serranía’s smallest villages.

What trades and memory tell

In the 19th century Yémeda ceased to be a municipality and became part of Monteagudo de las Salinas, until regaining its town council before 1887. In 1878 permission was sought to use nearby sulphurous waters and open a spa.

In 2021 a Cardenete sheep flock still grazed within Yémeda’s municipality, with its shepherd, donkeys and a female dog, using stubble and woodland between the villages.

The baths of Yémeda

The baths made the village known beyond the province. Their cold sulphurous waters emerge at about 16 degrees and were taken for their healing properties; in 1878 they received a prize at the Paris Universal Exhibition. The spa closed to the public much later and was abandoned. In 2015 the owning family handed it to the Town Council for restoration, and the Provincial Council invested about 900,000 euros in a first phase: a basement was built and the second floor begun. But the complex stood in a flood-risk area, the Júcar River Basin Authority refused authorisation, the project was shelved in 2022 and almost two million euros in European funds had to be repaid. In 2022 the guest house and tower remained untouched.

A kilometre from the village, the Guadazaón forms a small waterfall at the Molino del Obispo, among riverside vegetation. Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles church has a Greek-cross plan, and villagers say the San Juan fountain receives sunlight only on 24 June.

Plan your visit

Yémeda takes a short walk, combined with Cardenete.

Before you travel

There are no facilities: bring water and food.

Combine with

Cardenete is 3 km away in a straight line and Víllora 11.5 km.