Village
Nules is a coastal municipality of La Plana Baixa, in Castellón, with 14,315 inhabitants (2025), between the Sierra de Espadán and the coast, with four beaches and the Estany de Nules, a lagoon declared a natural site. The place name is not documented until 1178, when the founding charter of Tortosa Cathedral cites Nullis within its diocesan boundaries; in 1238 the Arabs of Nules castle — today Villavieja — surrendered to James I, who in 1251 granted the town to Guillermo Ramón de Moncada. In 1953 the Clemenules clementine, a spontaneous mutation that became the most widely planted mandarin in Spain, appeared in an orchard in the municipality. It stood on the front line in 1938 and had to be rebuilt; it retains the Roman villa of Benicató and the procession of les Barraquetes, with reed huts at Corpus Christi.
Activity
Nules celebrates San Bartolomé in the week of 24 August, its most notable festival, with bulls and activities by local clubs, and the Virgen de la Soledad in the first half of October, with bous al carrer and the Juegos Florales in Valencian.
Monument
Nules preserves a rich religious heritage with four churches and numerous hermitages spread across the municipality. The old church of la Sangre, from the 16th century, now functions as a History Museum and preserves sgraffito work similar to that of the chapel of la Soledad. The church of la Sagrada Familia, from the 17th century, occupies the former convent of the Discalced Carmelites; that of la Inmaculada dates from the 18th century, and the archpriest church of San Bartolomé and San Jaime, from the 20th century, is the main parish. Among the hermitages stand out that of el Calvario (17th century), that of San Miguel (18th century), that of San Blas, with fabric spanning the 14th to the 18th century, and that of San Joaquín, from the 20th century, as well as the 18th-century chapel of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad.
Monument
The old church of the Blood of Nules, today the municipality's history museum, in the Castellón comarca of Plana Baixa, began to be built around 1598, already in the 16th century, with the help of the Town Council, which contributed through local labour days, linked to the Brotherhood of the Blood of Jesus, documented since 1597. In the early 19th century its deterioration began, as General Suchet and his troops occupied it during the Peninsular War; after the French invasion it was left in a lamentable state and never reopened for worship, being used later as a school by the Town Hall. The brotherhood, refounded in 1940 as the Brotherhood of the Nazarenes of the Most Pure Blood, then lost a large part of its original heritage.
Monument
Mascarell is a walled medieval settlement, a hamlet of Nules, with its own church and town hall. It arose after the expulsion of the Muslims from nearby Burriana in 1233, and its first surviving document dates from 1310. The wall, built in 1553 of rammed lime, earth and brick, forms an almost square enclosure with a tower on each side and two gates, the Portal de Valencia to the east and the western one; the old moat now serves as an irrigation channel. The church dates from the late 17th century, with sgraffito decoration, and the town hall from the late 18th. With 199 inhabitants in 2019, it is the only fully walled settlement in the Comunitat Valenciana, a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) since 1995; it holds festivities in August and a medieval fair since 2007.
Nature
Archaeological site of a Roman villa located in the municipality of Nules (La Plana Baixa, Castellón), with occupation dated between the 2nd century BC and the 4th century AD. Its mosaics, found during excavations at the site, are preserved and displayed today at the Museum of Fine Arts of Castellón.
Nature
The Estany de Nules is a freshwater coastal lagoon formed by the abundant upwelling of groundwater in the municipality's marshland, declared a Paraje Natural Municipal (a municipal-level nature protection designation in the Comunitat Valenciana) by the Generalitat Valenciana in December 2004. It lies at the end of the group of marshes of Nules, one of the best preserved of those that once extended along the coast of the Tarongers, and has survived agricultural transformations and the urbanisation of the coastline. It has been part, since 2002, of the Catalogue of Wetlands of the Comunitat Valenciana and is included in the proposal of Sites of Community Importance of the Natura 2000 network.
Curiosity
Nules received the title of Most Loyal and Most Faithful town on 26 May 1709, granted by the queen regent Maria Luisa Gabriella of Savoy, wife of Philip V, in recognition of the town's loyalty during the War of the Spanish Succession. Nules had remained loyal to the Bourbon side, although in 1706 it was temporarily occupied by the Habsburg supporters; once liberated, it again supported Philip V, which earned it the royal title for the loyalty it had maintained and carried out in his service.
Activity
Patron saint festivities of Nules (Castellón) in honour of Saint Bartholomew, patron saint of the town, held in the week of 24 August, in the height of summer. The programme begins with the cridà or chupinazo of the peñas, which gather in their premises dressed in distinctive colours, and continues with the traditional bullfighting events, open-air dances and top-level music performances. They are the most notable festivities of the city's festive year.
Activity
A traditional and unique religious festival of Nules held on the Thursday following Corpus Christi: the Blessed Sacrament is carried in procession through the plaza Mayor, which fills with cane huts occupied by children. According to tradition, it recalls that the first settlers lived in huts while they built their houses. Lost in 1973, it was revived in 1992, and in 2010 it was declared a fiesta de Interés Turístico (an official tourist-interest distinction awarded by the regional government).
Historical milestone
The town was turned in 1938 into a front line during the offensive on the Levante and was flattened by the bombing and the artillery; once the war was over, much of the town center had to be rebuilt.
Food and drink
A spontaneous mutation of the clementina fina that appeared in an orchard of the district in 1953, with thin skin and a sweet flavor; it became the most planted mandarin in Spain and carries the village's name around the world.