Valencia
From the City of Arts and Sciences to the Carmen neighbourhood. Discover 2,000 years of Valencian history with audio guides.
Explore Valencia Peñíscola, Spain
Peñíscola Audio Guide
Walk the walled town of the Papa Luna with 30 audio stops narrated by experts. From the Templar castle to the Sierra de Irta, every corner of the crag keeps a story worth hearing.
Peñíscola Audio Guide
What to see in Peñíscola with the EarGuide audio guide
Peñíscola concentrates eight centuries of history on a crag of barely five hectares: Papa Luna Castle, raised by the Templars between 1294 and 1307 and turned in 1411 into the third papal seat in history alongside Rome and Avignon; the Renaissance walls Philip II commissioned from Vespasiano Gonzaga and the engineer Antonelli between 1576 and 1578; the old town, a Historic Ensemble since 1972, with the crack of the Bufador through which the sea breathes; the Sanctuary of the Virgin of the Ermitana, of 1708-1714, with cannons carved into its doorway; the fishing harbour begun in 1922 after the storm that killed 34 of the town's sailors; the Playa Norte, five kilometres of sand where the battle of Valencia from 'El Cid' was filmed; and the Sierra de Irta Natural Park, with Torre Badum of 1554 above the cliff.
With the EarGuide Peñíscola audio guide, every place reveals its history through professional narration prepared by guides who know the town inside out. Unlike a free walking tour or a conventional guided visit, you set the pace, the order and the stops. No groups, no timetables, no internet connection.
No internet needed
Download the routes before you head out and explore without using data.
Smart geolocation
The narration starts by itself when you reach the point of interest.
01
Templar Fortress
Papa Luna Castle
The fortress that warrior monks raised on a crag standing in the sea ended up being, alongside Rome and Avignon, the third place on earth ever to serve as the seat of a pope. Find out what to see at Papa Luna Castle.
Papa Luna Castle crowns the rock of Peñíscola 64 metres above the Mediterranean, with a perimeter of some 230 metres and walls averaging 20 metres in height. The Templars built it between 1294 and 1307 on the site of an Arab citadel of which no trace has been found, driven by Master Berenguer de Cardona and Commander Arnaldo de Banyuls: golden stone, pointed barrel vaults and not a gram of surplus ornament.
A century later, on 21 July 1411, Benedict XIII — Pedro Martínez de Luna, the Papa Luna — installed his pontifical seat here and turned that barracks of soldier monks into palace, chapel and papal library. The contrast survives intact: in these rooms without marble or frescoes a pope who never accepted ceasing to be one lived, governed and died, and here the smallest conclave on record was held.
Parade ground — The bare heart of the Templar fortress, today a festival stage
Pointed-vault basilica — The austere nave Benedict XIII turned into a pontifical chapel
Gothic hall — Where tradition places the three-cardinal conclave of 1423
Terraces 64 metres up — Parapets over the open sea, the tombolo and the white village
Papa Luna staircase — 147 steps cut into the cliff, closed to the public
14 min of audioTemplar Architecture
01 Papa Luna Castle
02
Renaissance Fortification
Renaissance Walls and the Portal Fosc
Three gates, three centuries and a single ring of stone: the one a pope opened to the sea in 1414, the one Philip II armoured against the corsair in 1578 and the one the wars ended up walling shut. Find out what to see on the walls of Peñíscola.
The walls of Peñíscola enclose some five hectares and half a thousand houses on the crag, but they are not a single work: medieval curtains of the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries survive on the south and east faces, alongside the so-called Muralla de la Fuente of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries finished off by the Santa Ana battery, and a Renaissance landward front already conceived for artillery. That modern front, executed in essentials between 1576 and 1578 under Philip II, is the joint work of Vespasiano Gonzaga, prince of Sabbioneta and viceroy of Valencia, and the engineer Juan Bautista Antonelli.
The gate that sums it all up is the Portal Fosc, dated 1578: an Italian-inspired round arch in white stone, its rusticated jambs ornamented with balls and the king's coat of arms over the keystone. Its name is not poetic but descriptive — 'fosc' means 'dark' in Valencian — because crossing it means passing through a tunnel in half-light. It was the town's main entrance until the eighteenth century and is still the right way into the old town.
Portal Fosc — 1578 arch with the coat of arms of Philip II and the cartouche of Vespasiano Gonzaga
Iron-bound leaf and sentry box — The original door clad in nailed iron strips and the cylindrical watch post
Battered walls — Sloping ashlar designed to absorb artillery impacts and deflect them
Baluarte del Príncipe — Viewpoint over the cliff, home of the Museu de la Mar since 1996
Portal de Sant Pere — Benedict XIII's gate to the sea, with the keys and the crescent moon
10 min of audioMilitary Engineering
02 Renaissance Walls and the Portal Fosc
03
Historic Ensemble
Old Town
A whitewashed maze packed onto a rock the sea very nearly left as an island, with a crack through which the Mediterranean breathes beneath the houses. Find out what to see in the old town of Peñíscola.
The old town of Peñíscola stands on a tombolo: a rocky peninsula joined to the mainland only by a sand isthmus that storms could cover, leaving the crag isolated. That is where its name comes from, from the Greek 'Chersonesos' translated into Latin as 'paene insula', almost an island. Within its walls fit some five hectares of sloping streets, dazzling lime-washed façades and a handful of buildings that sum up eight centuries of history. It has been declared a Bien de Interés Cultural, in the category of Historic Ensemble, since 26 October 1972.
What makes this maze different is not its postcard but its acoustics. Beneath the houses, a natural crack some seven metres deep opened by marine erosion connects the streets with the water: the Bufador. On stormy days the sea charges in through the lower mouth and the compressed air comes snorting out of the upper opening, in the middle of the street. A town that can be heard from the inside and that also has freshwater springs within the rock.
Portal Fosc — A vault turning ninety degrees that leaves the passage blind for a few metres
Calle Mayor — The cobbled slope Tyrion and Varys walk down in 'Game of Thrones'
Church of Santa María — Early Gothic, Baroque enlargement of 1725-1739 and a bell tower of 1862
Casa de les Petxines — A façade entirely clad in seashells, completed in 1961
El Bufador — The seven-metre crack through which the sea roars beneath the streets
12 min of audioWalled Town
03 Old Town
04
Valencian Baroque
Sanctuary of the Virgin of the Ermitana
A Baroque church welded to the castle of the Papa Luna, with cannons and war drums carved into its doorway instead of saints. Find out what to see at the Sanctuary of the Virgin of the Ermitana in Peñíscola.
The Sanctuary of the Virgin of the Ermitana was built between 1708 and 1714 in Valencian Baroque, attached directly to the castle, at the top of the crag of Peñíscola. It is not a free-standing chapel: its defensive features make it part of the fortified complex, and the wall of the Templar and papal castle literally serves as its support. It was commissioned by Sancho de Echevarría, military governor of the stronghold, as a reward for the population's loyalty to the Bourbon cause during the War of the Spanish Succession.
The giveaway detail is at street level. Against the custom of decorating religious doorways with sacred motifs, the ashlars on either side of the main door carry carved cannons and war drums, and above the mixtilinear cornice with pinnacles that crowns the façade stands the coat of arms of Philip V. Few Spanish churches display so frankly that they are, in fact, a prize of war in stone.
Carved cannons and drums — Military motifs on the ashlars of the main doorway
Coat of arms of Philip V — Framed by the mixtilinear cornice with pinnacles on the façade
Echevarría's bell tower — A square two-storey tower bearing the governor's arms
Shrine chamber of the patroness — The Mare de Déu de l'Ermitana, a 1953 copy of the burned carving
Esplanade of les danses — Stage of the September festivities, documented since 1664
8 min of audioPatroness of Peñíscola
04 Sanctuary of the Virgin of the Ermitana
05
Working Harbour
Fishing Harbour
Peñíscola took eleven years to build its harbour, and it did so after the night the sea took thirty-four of its sailors. Find out what to see at the fishing harbour of Peñíscola.
The fishing harbour of Peñíscola stretches along the foot of the crag, with the castle of the Papa Luna and the white village as a permanent backdrop. Its first stone was laid in 1922, and that same year Joan Feliu founded the Pòsit de Peñíscola, the local fishermen's organisation whose heir, the Cofradía de Pescadores San Pedro, today holds the administrative concession of the fish market. In 2010 the fleet based here numbered 30 trawlers and 19 small-gear boats.
Before 1922 there was none of this. Sailing boats sheltered in natural coves such as the raconada of the Porteta, at the foot of the walls, and a staircase partly cut into the rock came down from the castle to serve as an emergency landing stage. On the night of 31 January to 1 February 1911, the Candelera storm killed some 140 fishermen between Barcelona and the gulf of Valencia; Peñíscola was the worst-hit town on the whole coast, with 34 sailors dead. The harbour is the answer to that night.
Monument to the sailors — The stone bearing names beside the entrance to the harbour precinct
Trawler quay — High-hulled boats with nets and trawl doors in plain sight
Harbour fish market — A descending auction every working afternoon from 16:00
Peñíscola prawn — The catch that underpins local cooking and the suquet de peix
Breakwater — A view of the harbour mouth and the seaward flank of the crag with the castle above
8 min of audioSeafaring Culture
05 Fishing Harbour
06
Tombolo and Cinema
Playa Norte
Five kilometres of golden sand with a fortified town rising out of the sea at the far end, and a stretch of shore where Hollywood filmed the battles of 'El Cid'. Find out what to see at the Playa Norte of Peñíscola.
The Playa Norte — Platja Nord — is a stretch of some five kilometres of fine golden sand that starts at the foot of the old town of Peñíscola and runs north almost as far as the boundary of Benicarló, reaching a width of seventy metres. It flies the Blue Flag, the Q for Tourist Quality of the Spanish Institute for Tourist Quality, the AENOR Green Flag and the Qualitur flag of the Valencian tourism agency, and it has a promenade, showers, a children's area, a sports zone and a tourist office.
What sets it apart from any other Mediterranean beach lies to the south: the walled old town crowned by Papa Luna Castle, perched on a crag of Jurassic limestone that was originally an islet. The sandbar joining it to the coast disappeared with the storms and formed again in summer, turning the town into an island. That coastal dynamic, already described in the eighteenth century by the naturalist Cavanilles, is catalogued by the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain as a Site of Geological Interest under the code IB223.
Tombolo of Peñíscola — Site of Geological Interest IB223, a landform unique in the region
Five kilometres of sand — A shore up to 70 metres wide running towards Benicarló
Seafront promenade — Palms, benches and viewpoints, flat and good for cycling
Location of 'El Cid' — The battle of Valencia was filmed here in the winter of 1960-1961
Quality flags — Blue Flag, Q for Quality, AENOR Green Flag and Qualitur
8 min of audioCoastal Walk
06 Playa Norte
07
Natural Park
Sierra de Irta and Torre Badum
Twelve kilometres of cliffs, dwarf fan palm and undeveloped coves south of Peñíscola, crowned by a solid tower of 1554 that lit bonfires whenever corsair sails appeared. Find out what to see in the Sierra de Irta and at Torre Badum.
The Parc Natural de la Serra d'Irta and its Marine Nature Reserve were declared by Decree 108/2002 of 16 July of the Valencian government, and protect 7,743 hectares on land and 2,448 at sea across Peñíscola, Alcalà de Xivert and Santa Magdalena de Pulpis. Inside lie around twelve kilometres of undeveloped coast, considered one of the last virgin stretches of the Valencian Mediterranean. The range is organised in two mountain alignments separated by the Estopet valley and culminates in the Campanilles peak, at 572 metres, from where it drops to the sea in cliffs.
Its most eloquent built element is Torre Badum, a circular watchtower raised in 1554 according to the inscription bearing the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Valencia from the time of Charles I. It stands some eleven metres high, 5.75 metres in diameter at the base and 5.25 at the top, and is solid up to about six metres, above which opens a single vaulted circular chamber. It has no door at ground level: access was through a raised opening reached by a ladder that was afterwards withdrawn, precisely to guard against the corsairs it was watching for.
Torre Badum — A 1554 watchtower with no ground-level door, above a cliff of some 97 metres
Peñíscola sea lavender — Limonium perplexum, its only population on earth within 0.344 hectares
Slopes of margalló — The only palm native to continental Europe, with kermes oak and mastic
Pebret and Russo beaches — The park's only two fine-sand coves, with no services
Casetes de volta — Dry-stone shelters with barrel vaults, from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries
8 min of audioProtected Coast
07 Sierra de Irta and Torre Badum
Frequently asked questions
Questions about the Peñíscola audio guide
How much does the Peñíscola audio guide cost?
The EarGuide app is free. The Peñíscola audio guide includes 7 walking routes with 30 audio stops covering the castle, the walls, the old town, the sanctuary of the Ermitana, the harbour, the Playa Norte and the Sierra de Irta. It is available inside the EarGuide app.
Do I need an internet connection to use the audio guide?
No. EarGuide works entirely offline. Download the routes over WiFi before you set out and you can use the audio guide with no connection and no data use throughout your walk around Peñíscola. The map shows your GPS position in real time even without coverage.
What languages is the Peñíscola audio guide available in?
The narration of the Peñíscola audio guide is available in Spanish and English, prepared by guides and experts in the history of the Maestrazgo and the Western Schism.
How long does the full tour take?
The audio guide brings together 7 independent routes with some 58 minutes of narration in Spanish — around an hour — spread over 30 audio stops. Walking them takes considerably longer: each route is best enjoyed over 30 to 90 minutes depending on how much you walk and how long you look. You can do them separately or string several together in a single day.
Is the audio guide better than a free walking tour or a guided visit?
They are different experiences. The EarGuide audio guide lets you walk Peñíscola without timetables or groups, pause and resume whenever you like, and replay any explanation as often as you need. It suits independent travellers, families and anyone who prefers a more flexible and deeper tour than a conventional free walking tour.
Which landmarks and points of interest does it include?
The Peñíscola audio guide covers 7 main sites: Papa Luna Castle, the Renaissance walls and the Portal Fosc, the old town, the Sanctuary of the Virgin of the Ermitana, the fishing harbour, the Playa Norte and the Sierra de Irta with Torre Badum.
Do I need to buy tickets separately?
Yes for the sites visited from the inside. Papa Luna Castle is managed by the Diputación de Castellón and has its own admission, as do some of the museum spaces within the walled enclosure. The streets of the old town, the walls from the outside, the harbour, the Playa Norte and the Sierra de Irta Natural Park are all freely accessible.
Download the Peñíscola audio guide free
The EarGuide app is free and puts every Peñíscola audio guide in your pocket. Offline, at your own pace.
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