Logbook · 8 places

What to see and do in Alcaudete de la Jara

What to see and do in Alcaudete de la Jara (La Jara, Toledo): 8 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 1 Nature · 2 Activities · 1 Food and drink

When to go to Alcaudete de la Jara: festival calendar

November: El Calbote of Alcaudete (November 2)

Towns near Alcaudete de la Jara

Spain › Castilla-La Mancha › Toledo › La Jara › Alcaudete de la Jara

What to see and do in Alcaudete de la Jara

Alcaudete de la Jara
Village
Alcaudete de la Jara is a municipality in the comarca of La Jara, in the province of Toledo, with 1,720 inhabitants (INE 2025), of flat relief and crossed by the río Gévalo, which sustains a vega of olive groves and market gardens. Its name, probably formed from the Arabic prefix al and the Latin expression caput aquae, "head of water", would mean "the place of the springs". Set in a deep vega surrounded by hills, it enjoys a mild microclimate that has earned it the nickname "the Levante of Castile". Its church of the Immaculate Conception is known as the cathedral of La Jara for its size, and it also preserves the Torreón del Cura and cave paintings, while around All Souls' Day the villagers go out to the countryside to eat roasted chestnuts in the custom known as the calbote.
Church of la Inmaculada Concepción de Alcaudete
Monument
Parish church dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, popularly known as the cathedral of La Jara for its size and monumentality. Every 8 December the patronal feast is celebrated in its honour, known locally as la Función, the main religious event in the festive calendar of Alcaudete de la Jara.
The Priest's Tower
Monument
Historic tower preserved in the town, one of the most singular defensive and heritage features of the town centre.
Cave Paintings of Alcaudete de la Jara
Monument
Group of rock paintings found in the municipal district, evidence of the prehistoric settlement of the comarca of La Jara.
The Gévalo River as It Flows through Alcaudete
Nature
The river Gévalo, a tributary of the Tajo, crosses the municipal district from south to north-west, over mostly flat terrain, and sustains a vega of olive groves and market gardens. The village sits on its banks, in a deep vega, in a district whose altitude ranges between 730 metres in the south and 370 metres beside the river itself. The municipality's place name may derive from caput aquae, referring to the river and the springs of the area.
El Calbote of Alcaudete
Activity
El Calbote de Alcaudete de la Jara is the local version of a tradition of Celtic origin which, once Christianised, is celebrated on 1 November, coinciding with All Saints' Day, although in some places the culinary activities begin the evening before. It consists of going out into the countryside to roast chestnuts and hold family meals, accompanied by dried figs, walnuts and pomegranates, as well as other seasonal produce. It is linked to the chaquetía, a custom whereby children go from house to house asking for chestnuts, fruit and sweets, in the manner of today's trick-or-treating. The same festival is celebrated under the name calbote in other towns in Toledo, Salamanca, Ávila and Extremadura, while in other regions of Spain it goes by other names, such as magosto or castañada.
Thursday of the Comadres, Alcaudete
Activity
El Jueves de Comadres de Alcaudete de la Jara is celebrated on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday, as recorded in the town's festive calendar. It is a women's celebration of carnival origin that remains alive in the town in the days leading up to Lent.
The chorizo of Alcaudete
Food and drink
The domestic slaughter still marks the calendar of the village and its chorizo, seasoned with paprika and garlic and dried in the air of the Gévalo, is the product for which Alcaudete is cited in the gastronomic repertoires of the comarca.