Town in Spain
15 things to see12 of them free
A UNESCO Renaissance town in the olive country of Jaen, paired with nearby Ubeda under a single 2003 World Heritage listing. The Old University of Baeza where Antonio Machado taught, the Jabalquinto Palace, the Baeza Cathedral, and the Lions Fountain square make it a showcase of Spanish Renaissance architecture surrounded by endless olive groves.
Budget travelers get a town where the best of it is free. Wandering the cobbled old centre and admiring the Jabalquinto facade and the main squares costs nothing, while the cathedral interior and Machado’s classroom in the Antonio Machado Lecture Hall are low cost. Rooms and meals sit well below Madrid prices, so an overnight here pairs naturally with Ubeda and the gateway city of Jaen. Come in spring or autumn for mild weather and cheaper rates. The inland summer gets brutally hot.
What to see
12 of these cost nothing at all.
A 16th-century triumphal arch attached to the Puerta de Jaen on the Plaza del Populo, the Lions Fountain square in the heart of Baeza. It is free to see at any hour, set into the old city gate rather than fenced off as a paid monument, so it costs nothing to walk through and photograph.
A preserved classroom inside the Old University of Baeza where the poet Antonio Machado taught French between 1912 and 1919. The room is kept the way he left it, down to the wooden desks and the lectern, so it reads less like a museum exhibit and more like a working hall that the teacher just stepped out of.
The Renaissance cathedral on Plaza de Santa Maria, the dominant monument of UNESCO-listed Baeza and built over the town's former main mosque. The square out front and its exterior cost nothing to admire, so even a no-spend visit gets the best of it.
One of the few surviving Romanesque churches in Andalusia, dating to the 13th century. Most of the region's old architecture is Moorish or Renaissance, which makes this small, plain stone church a genuine rarity. It is free to enter and quiet, an easy stop while exploring the UNESCO-listed center of Baeza.
Renaissance fountain at the heart of the Plaza del Populo, the square also known as the Plaza de los Leones in its honour. Four stone lions carry a central column topped by a female figure, and the carvings are widely believed to be reused Ibero-Roman pieces brought from the nearby ancient settlement of Cástulo.
Renaissance fountain on the Plaza de Santa María in Baeza, the square that faces the Baeza Cathedral. Free to admire, built in the 16th century, and one of the most photographed corners of the old town.
A 19th-century olive oil estate on the outskirts of Baeza, home to the Museo de la Cultura del Olivo and set among the endless olive groves of Jaen province. The grounds and the old mill buildings cost nothing to look over, and the olive culture museum inside charges a low entry fee.
A late-Gothic palace in Baeza whose flamboyant Isabelline facade is one of the most photographed sights in the UNESCO old town. It now houses part of the International University of Andalusia, and the exterior and inner courtyard cost nothing to admire.
Olive oil museum at Hacienda La Laguna, a short drive outside Baeza in the heart of Jaen province's olive country, set inside the estate's historic oil mill. Exhibits and a guided tasting cover the full story of Andalusian olive culture, from the grove to the press to the bottle. Entry is paid but low cost.
Renaissance university building in the UNESCO old town of Baeza, founded in 1538 and home to the Antonio Machado Lecture Hall, the preserved classroom where poet Antonio Machado taught from 1912 to 1919. The courtyard and building are free to wander.
The long arcaded main square at the heart of Baeza, free to walk through at any hour and the natural place to start exploring the town's UNESCO-listed Renaissance core.
One of the best-preserved Renaissance civic squares in Andalusia, free to walk through at any hour. It gathers the Fuente de los Leones, the Puerta de Jaen and the Arco de Villalar, and the old butcheries on a single open space in the heart of Baeza.
A 16th-century city gate on the Plaza del Populo in Baeza, built into the old town wall and topped with the imperial coat of arms. Free to walk through at any hour as part of a stroll around the monumental centre.
A seventeenth-century Baroque seminary in the UNESCO old town of Baeza, best known for a facade covered in vítores: large painted inscriptions left by graduating students to mark their degrees, traditionally daubed in red pigment said to be mixed with bull's blood.
A surviving defensive tower from the old Moorish fortifications of Baeza, standing in the monumental centre near the cathedral and the main avenue. Free to admire from the outside as part of a self-guided walk through the UNESCO old town.
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