Complete tour: Castle + visit to walled Peñíscola

A guided tour with passion that will stay with you.

The Peñíscola tour with Castle tickets will be offered with radio guides if circumstances require it to ensure the best tour quality, at no extra cost to the customer.

The guided tour of Peñíscola starts at our office on the central Calle Mayor nº 18.

After introductions, we’ll start the tour by heading to the gates of the Castle.

We’ll visit the Castle, its austere rooms, and relive the fascinating stories that unfolded within its walls: the rise and fall of the knight monks Templars, who built it. We’ll stop at the Chapel and the Gothic Hall, which served as an audience chamber, making it one of the only three papal seats in history with the presence of Benedict XIII, Pope Luna. Why was Peñíscola chosen?

We’ll answer that by explaining this extraordinary history.

From the impregnable battlements of this medieval bastion, we’ll also enjoy superb views of the Mediterranean. You’ll love it!

After visiting the Castle, we’ll continue our tour discovering the legacy that Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines and Muslims left in this part of the Mediterranean. The town’s historic centre will also bring pleasant surprises, like the famous House of Shells. Do you know why they decided to decorate the outside of this home in such a unique way?

Our walk through the narrow streets will take us to the Pilate’s Balcony and the Battery of Oblivion, an impressive example of the Renaissance walls of Peñíscola.

Finally, we’ll wrap up the tour with Castle tickets by passing the Church of Santa María, the Town Hall Square, and returning to the central Calle Mayor where we started our tour.

Want more? See more tours, guided visits and activities in Peñíscola:

https://www.vivepeniscola.com/tours/secretos-de-peniscola/

A taste of what we’re going to visit…

The Templar-Pontifical Castle of Peñíscola began construction in 1294 and was completed in 1307. This fortress occupies the highest part of the rocky promontory where the town stands. Peñíscola is an entirely walled fortress, connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of sand that, until relatively recent times, would disappear when there were storms at sea.

Peñíscola is known as “the City in the Sea” because of this unique location.

The castle was built by the Templar knights. They built the castle in the image and likeness of those they had previously built in the Holy Land.

Today, the monument preserves all the hallmarks of a Templar work, making it one of the clearest examples of these features. It showcases Gothic architecture with a strong pure Romanesque character and an austere Cistercian style. It has a perimeter of 230 metres and an average height of twenty metres, and stands 64 metres above sea level. Its resemblance to Miravet Castle, built 150 years earlier, is particularly striking.

In 1319, with the dissolution of the Order of the Temple, the castle passed into the hands of the Order of Montesa, who expanded the fortress.

During the War of the Spanish Succession, the city declared its support for Philip V and withstood the terrible sieges by the English forces of Archduke Charles in 1705 and 1707.

Peñíscola Castle is in perfect condition, although it is missing a quarter that was destroyed in 1814, during the War of Independence. It was condemned to a harsh and relentless siege by Spanish troops trying to retake the city occupied by the French. They had to subject it to heavy bombardment of more than 60,000 cannon shots, which devastated much of the houses near the castle and part of the fortress, leaving marks on the walls of Peñíscola that are still visible today.

After the Carlist Wars, in which the city defended the liberal cause, the fortress’s military importance declined rapidly.

It has the privilege of having been one of the three Papal Seats, along with the Vatican and the Palace of Avignon.

The final refuge where Benedict XIII, Pope Luna, withdrew, and who would go down in history as the Unyielding One or the Pope of the Sea.

The guide will wait for you at our office, Calle Mayor nº 18