Logbook · 3 places

What to see and do in Hontanar

What to see and do in Hontanar (Montes de Toledo, Toledo): 3 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 1 Activities

When to go to Hontanar: festival calendar

September: The human towers of the Cristo del Buen Camino (first Sunday of September)

Towns near Hontanar

Spain › Castilla-La Mancha › Toledo › Montes de Toledo › Hontanar

What to see and do in Hontanar

Hontanar
Village
Hontanar is a municipality in the comarca of the Montes de Toledo whose name comes from the Latin fontana aqua (spring water), after the springs that existed in the territory. It lies in a valley surrounded by high sierras, on the border with the province of Ciudad Real. It belonged to the old community of the Montes de Toledo, dissolved in 1837, and was probably founded in the mid-14th century following the depopulation of Malamoneda due to health problems. From that deserted settlement it preserves a 12th-century castle and a defensive tower, besides the church of San Andrés Apóstol in the village itself. It has 139 inhabitants (INE 2025). Its notable festivity is that of the Cristo del Buen Camino, during which residents build human towers, a tradition uncommon in the comarca.
Castle and tower of Malamoneda
Monument
The castle and tower of Malamoneda stand in Hontanar, at the foot of the Sierra del Puerco, next to the deserted village and archaeological site of the same name. The tower, square in plan, was built in the 13th century and, together with the castle, served as a stronghold and refuge for the inhabitants of Malamoneda, whose houses, uninhabited today, are still preserved. The area was reconquered in the 12th century, although there is evidence of Roman and Bronze Age occupation. In 1210 the knight Alfonso Téllez received the territory from Alfonso VIII, and in 1226 he sold it to the archbishop of Toledo, Rodrigo Ximénez de Rada; it later passed to the crown under Ferdinand III. Nearby is a necropolis with more than a hundred tombs cut into the rock, and a hermitage occupied until the 19th century by the Order of Saint Jerome.
The human towers of the Cristo del Buen Camino
Activity
A festival in honour of the Christ of the Good Way, celebrated on the first Sunday of September in Hontanar, in which the townspeople build human towers, a tradition uncommon in the Montes de Toledo. Today the towers reach two levels, compared with the three that were once built.