SIt would be strange if these enclaves hadn't appeared on one or more lists of ‘the most beautiful’ or ‘most charming villages in Spain’. Some have even managed to achieve a very well-deserved first place.
Rutas Culturales de España selects five of the most unique and beautiful towns on its itineraries. To the attractions mentioned, we.

Santillana del Mar (Cantabria)

RCE Route to which it belongs: Routes of Rock and Prehistoric Art

For the record, Santillana del Mar is no secret, quite the opposite: the Cantabrian village is known, very well known, and has been attracting visitors for decades. How long? Nobody knows, but as far back as 1938, the French writer Jean-Paul Sartre dropped a phrase in his novel ‘La Nausea’ that pointed to it: “There (…) there is Santillana. The most beautiful village in Spain…”

It's been almost 100 years since then, and Santillana continues to top the rankings of Spain's most beautiful villages, year after year. A large part of this is down to its natural charm (it's situated in the heart of the green Cantabrian countryside), its cobbled streets (which aren't many, barely a handful, and form an almond shape), the collegiate church that closes off the village to the north (with 42 capitels of spectacular Romanesque style in its cloister), and a generous selection of shops selling souvenirs and, very importantly, pastries, cured meats and other Cantabrian delicacies: it would be a terrible idea to visit Santillana and not return with sobaos pasiegos, quesadas or wild boar salami.

Beyond these and other charms (popular stone and wood architecture, very noble houses with coats of arms), Santillana was fortunate to be born next to one of the first museums in human history. And that is no exaggeration: just 2.5 kilometres from the village, atop a hill, lies the Altamira cave, one of the most beautiful and moving examples of cave art. It was discovered in 1879 and the impact was such that Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola (the Santillana neighbour who presented it to the world) was taken for a charlatan for years. The Neo-Cave, a faithful reproduction of the original cave, and the interesting adjoining museum allow visitors to learn about the paintings and the merits of those first artists.

2. Albarracín (Teruel, Aragón)

RCE Route to which it belongs: The Way of El Cid

It so happens that when a town has a spectacular profile and has been, in the past, an impregnable stronghold, you have to climb hills. In Albarracín, all of this happens (including climbing the hills), but it matters little as it is done with the pleasure of discovering a unique town, of reddish stone (the same colour, of course, as the strata that emerge from the nearby mountains) and which twists like a snake, adapting, as best it can, to capricious terrain.

Hemmed in by the reliefs of the Sierra de Albarracín and the Montes Universales, Albarracín took advantage of the scarce space created by the Guadalaviar River to build itself. These difficulties in raising a city in an impossible location are apparent in every corner and monument: in its Cathedral – built in the 16th century with hardly any facade as there was no physical space; in the castle and walls that climb the hills or in the Portal de Molina, the street where the eaves of the houses seem to collide, so close are they. Incidentally, it is there that you will find La Casa de la Julianeta – quite a challenge to the forces of gravity – or the very crooked Casa de los Navarro.

Albarracín is one of the places the Cid passed through on his comings and goings across the geography of a Spain divided between Moors and Christians. In these lands, the Castilian hero received a spear thrust to the neck that almost killed him, so he would have had little desire to discover other treasures hidden in the area, such as the Ródeno pine forests or the 25-kilometre-long Roman aqueduct that leads to another town associated with the Cid, Cella. Ten of those kilometres were literally carved into the walls of the Guadalviar canyon, bringing to light one of the most singular Roman engineering works in Europe. It is enough to travel along the A-1512 road to discover the unsettling holes made in the walls.

3. Hervás (Cáceres, Extremadura)

RCE Route to which it belongs: Vía de la Plata Route

Although Hervás is the destination, its context should not be overlooked: this charming Extremaduran village is located in the Ambroz valley, a privileged interlude between the Sierra de Béjar and the Jerte valley, famous for its spring blossoms. Another fact about its location: Hervás sits on the banks of the Vía de la Plata route, the trail popularised by the Romans that cuts across western Spain from north to south.

The heart of Hervás is its Jewish Quarter, perhaps one of the most attractive Hebrew neighbourhoods in Spain. The urban layout of this quarter dates back to the Middle Ages, explaining this phenomenal labyrinth of narrow streets and low houses with wide overhangs to protect against the harsh weather of the Sierra de Béjar: very hot summers, cold and humid winters with abundant rain.

Hervás does not preserve its synagogue (the Jews were expelled by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492) but it does have a church that dominates (and intimidates) the landscape: Santa María de la Asunción de Aguas. The temple, with its large, blank walls, actually looks like a castle as it was founded by the most popular warrior monks of the Middle Ages, the Knights Templar.

4. Osuna (Seville, Andalusia)

RCE Route to which it belongs: Paths of Passion

When the Spain we know did not exist and the Iberian Peninsula was a soup of scattered tribes, the land on which Osuna stands already hosted something akin to a city. This was 3,000 years ago, when the Tartessians roamed here. Then came other inhabitants: Romans, Goths, Muslims, and Christians who would leave their mark (and fragments of their buildings) on what is one of the most manageable and charming towns in the heart of Andalusia.

It's easy to describe Osuna because it fits the (idyllic) image one has of rural Andalusia: a cluster of pale houses crowded around a hill (and atop it, the gigantic monumentality of the Collegiate Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, backed by the University of the Purísima Concepción), all surrounded by an orderly army of olive trees. Among the houses, there are palaces and stately homes; more, many more, religious buildings, and spacing it all out, the Plaza Mayor. The formula for getting to know it? Wander and wander.

Osuna remains in its place all year round. It doesn’t move from there. But there is an absolutely unique and special moment to discover the most mystical side of the town: during the Easter week celebrations, when churches spill their artistic treasures into the streets (with carvings by distinguished artisans such as Juan de Mesa or José e Mora) and the brotherhoods parade the floats in a unique style, the 'ursaonés', which only occurs here.

5. Medina de Pomar (Burgos,castilla y León)

RCE Route to which it belongs: The Emperor Charles V's Routes

It is easy to get to Medina de Pomar because this town in Burgos stands at a crossroads where roads converge from all four cardinal directions. It is easy to find because it overlooks a plain carved out by two rivers, the Nela and the Trueba, in the heart of the Merindades region. This part of Burgos is closer to the Cantabrian Sea than to the vast grain-growing plains that characterise the great Spanish plateau.

From the outset, it was through here, under the Puerta de la Cadena, that Emperor Charles V passed when he came from Laredo and was heading to a monastery in Extremadura to retire after, let's say, a rather eventful life: he had to manage one of the most extensive empires in history. It was easy for Charles V to reach Medina but he had trouble leaving it because he was suffering from indigestion that confined him to bed for an entire weekend in 1556.

The illness kept Charles V in bed, but had he gone sightseeing, he would have discovered the Velasco Castle (15th century) which, apart from a dozen tiny windows, appears to be solid stone; its Romanesque churches (and he would have shivered at the tiny hermitage of San Millán, from the 12th century), or the House of Salinas, a beautiful example of a noble and emblazoned building.

Such is the connection with the emperor that, once a year, in the second fortnight of September, a historical reenactment of various moments of his life is celebrated. Among these, the entry of Charles V's court stands out, accompanied by the authorities of Cantabria, arriving in Medina de Pomar, with more than 200 people dressed in period costume receiving the Emperor.