Alcázar de San Juan

Location

It is 93km from the provincial capital of Ciudad Real, 105km from Toledo and 157km from Madrid.

Tourist information

Alcázar de San Juan Tourism Office
Goya, 1
Phone: +34 926 551 008

Ciudad Real Tourism Office
Alarcos, 21
Phone: +34 926 000 037

How to get there

Road transport

Alcázar de San Juan, in the heart of La Mancha, contains, in its Santa María la Mayor’s Church (belonging to the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem), Miguel de Cervantes’s baptism certificate.
The presence of Cervantes in the town that was his cradle is palpable, being a tradition that dates back to the 17th century.
Statues dedicated to his characters Don Quixote and Sancho Panza as well as to the author himself pepper the city, such as the monument in homage to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza located in the Plaza de España and the monument to Cervantes in the Plaza de Santa María, in front of the church of the same name.
All around its town centre there are big old houses and structures where a precious pink stone is seen to appear, testifying to distinguished lordships to which they once belonged.
The arrival of the railroad in 1854 profoundly changed the economic structure of the town, turning it into the area’s economic engine.

Special trips in Alcázar de San Juan

The Torreón del Gran Prior (Grand Prior’s Tower) dating back to the 13th century, the Cubillo, leftover from the medieval defensive elements, Santa María la Mayor’s Church, the Trinidad Church and Santa Quiteria’s and San Francisco’s Churches, Semana Santa (Holy Week), San Juan’s Festivals, the Moors and Christians Festival, Alcázar’s Festivals and Fairs, the Feria de los Sabores (Flavours Fair) and the Carnivals which are considered to be of Regional Touristic Interest.