Logbook · 9 places

What to see and do in Benicàssim

What to see and do in Benicàssim (La Plana Alta, Castellón): 9 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 2 Nature · 1 Activities · 2 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

How far each place is from the centre of Benicàssim

Hermitage of Sant Miquel del Pi Bartolo 4.4 km
Desert de les Palmes 7.4 km

Towns near Benicàssim

What to see in Orpesa 7.2 km · 10 places
What to see in La Pobla Tornesa 7.6 km · 5 places
What to see in Cabanes 11 km · 5 places
What to see in Castelló de la Plana 12 km · 10 places
What to see in Borriol 12 km · 5 places
What to see in Vilafamés 12 km · 8 places
What to see in Vall d'Alba 16 km · 5 places
What to see in Almassora 17 km · 8 places

Spain › Valencian Community › Castellón › La Plana Alta › Benicàssim

What to see and do in Benicàssim

Benicàssim
Village
Benicàssim is a coastal municipality in the comarca of la Plana Alta, in the province of Castellón, with about 20,500 inhabitants that multiply in summer through tourism. It is famous for its beaches and for the Benicàssim International Festival. Its name comes from the Arabic banī Qāsim, "the sons of Casim". It extends between the sierra of the Desierto de Las Palmas, to the west, and the Plana de Castellón, with Mount San Miguel or Bartolo (729 m) as its main height. It has almost 7 kilometres of fine-sand beaches, among them Voramar, awarded a blue flag, where villas from the early 20th century are preserved that gave Benicàssim the nickname "Biarritz de Levante". Within its municipal territory there are 204 caves and potholes, among them that of Cantalar, with prehistoric remains.
Hermitage of Sant Miquel del Pi Bartolo
Monument
The hermitage of Sant Miquel is situated at 728 metres above sea level on the Pico Bartolo, within the Desert de les Palmes range, with views over this landscape and the coast of Benicàssim. The peak itself, 729 metres according to the article on the range, was formerly known as the Mont de Sant Miquel, after the same saint to whom the hermitage is dedicated, before taking the name Bartolo.
Desert de les Palmes
Nature
The Desert de les Palmes Natural Park, declared in 1989 by the Generalitat Valenciana, covers about 3,200 hectares of mountains and Mediterranean pine forests across the municipalities of Benicàssim, Cabanes and Orpesa. Despite its name, it is not a desert: it takes the name from the Carmelite congregation, which calls its places of spiritual retreat “desert”, and which is present in the park with an old monastery and a new one. The second part of the name refers to the margalló, the only palm tree native to Europe, abundant in the area. Among its heritage are the ruins of the Montornés castle, from the Muslim period, the hermitage of les Santes (1617) and the Ermitori de la Magdalena, to which the people of Castelló de la Plana have made pilgrimage since 1378. The vegetation, regenerating after the fires of 1985-1992, combines cork oaks, holm oaks and strawberry trees.
Greenway from Benicàssim to Orpesa
Nature
A former railway line turned into a greenway linking Benicàssim with Orpesa along the coast.
Festival Internacional de Benicàssim (FIB)
Activity
A music festival held every summer in Benicàssim, in the province of Castellón, since 1995, considered one of the most important in Spain. It mainly features pop, rock, independent and electronic music acts, alongside parallel activities in theatre, fashion and film. Its line-ups have included artists of the stature of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, LCD Soundsystem, Radiohead, Scissor Sisters, Oasis and Pet Shop Boys, among many others.
Tower of Sant Vicent de Benicàssim
Monument
A 13.93-metre watchtower built between 1597 and 1599, in Renaissance style, to defend the coast of Castellón from Berber and corsair attacks; its construction was decided at the Cortes de Montsó, given the insecurity caused by these attacks, with the Olla de Benicàssim being one of the preferred landing places for corsairs and Berbers. It was declared Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection), in the category of historic monument, on 3 December 2001. Today it houses the Centre d'Interpretació Torre de Sant Vicent, opened in 2018.
The settlement charter of Benicàssim
Historical milestone
Doña Violante de Casalduch granted a settlement charter to resettle a district left almost empty by fear of Berber attacks; the township was not consolidated until Francisco Pérez Bayer built the church in 1769.
The first summer villa of Benicàssim
Historical milestone
In 1887 the beach's first bathing house was built and after it came the Modernista villas of well-off Valencian families, which gave the place the nickname of the Biarritz of the Levante.
The liqueurs of the Desert de les Palmes
Food and drink
The Discalced Carmelites of the convent in the sierra have distilled since the nineteenth century liqueurs of herbs gathered in the Desert de les Palmes, in sweet and dry versions that have become a product of the municipality's identity.