Logbook · 5 places

What to see and do in El Puig

What to see and do in El Puig (L'Horta Nord, Valencia): 5 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 1 Activities · 1 Historical milestones

When to go to El Puig: festival calendar

September: Festivities of la Mare de Déu de El Puig (September 2-18)

How far each place is from the centre of El Puig

Towns near El Puig

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What to see in Puçol 3 km · 4 places
What to see in Massamagrell 3.2 km · 7 places
What to see in Museros 4 km · 8 places
What to see in Massalfassar 4.5 km · 1 place
What to see in Emperador 4.9 km · 1 place
What to see in Albuixech 5.2 km · 1 place

Spain › Valencian Community › Valencia › L'Horta Nord › El Puig

What to see and do in El Puig

El Puig
Village
El Puig de Santa Maria, known simply as El Puig, is a municipality of L'Horta Nord, 18 km north of Valencia, dominated by two hills: the Montanya la Patà, with the remains of a castle, and that of Santa Bàrbara, with its hermitage. It was a Muslim stronghold that Christians called Puig de Cebolla, a distortion of the Arabic Jubal·la, hill; it was conquered by El Cid Campeador before he took Valencia, although it later returned to Muslim hands. Its terrain combines the foothills of the Sierra Calderona to the west with the coastline, where the beach of El Puig and its second-home residential development lie. The municipality is home to the Real Monasterio de Santa María del Puig, and its residents are known by the demonym puchencos.
Royal Monastery of Santa María del Puig
Monument
The Real Monasterio de Santa María del Puig stands in El Puig, only 14 km north of Valencia, and was founded, already in the 13th century, at the will of James I the Conqueror in 1240, three years after the Battle of El Puig was fought on this very spot in 1237, the decisive engagement for the Christian conquest of Valencia. The Virgen del Puig was considered for centuries the patron saint of the Kingdom of Valencia. The monastery, conceived as a monastery-castle-fortress, still holds religious services and can be visited in part: the cloisters, the Royal Hall, the Gothic Hall of James I -with a reproduction of the king's sword- and, inside, the National Museum of Printing and Graphic Work, with rooms recreating the small artisan workshops of the 15th century.
Charterhouse of Ara Christi
Monument
An old charterhouse located in the municipal area of El Puig (L'Horta Nord, Valencia), founded at the will of the widow Elena Roig, according to her will of 1582 and a codicil of 1584; the monks took possession of the monastery in 1585. The bulk of the construction, in Renaissance style influenced by the Charterhouse of Aula Dei in Zaragoza, was built between 1620 and 1660 under priors Pere Mateo and Francesc Almenar, with a severe façade topped with pinnacles, sgraffito work from the 1640s, and several cloisters of classical proportions. Since 1999 the complex has been restored and converted into a luxury hotel resort with a golf course.
Festivities of la Mare de Déu de El Puig
Activity
Festivities of El Puig, a Valencian town located about fifteen kilometres north of the city of Valencia, in honour of the Mare de Déu del Puig, patron saint of the former Kingdom of Valencia according to the chronicle of James I. The devotion is centred on the monastery of El Puig, built on the site where the king's troops fought the decisive battle for the conquest of the city of Valencia. From 2 to 18 September the town celebrates its main festivities, with religious and traditional events in honour of the Virgin, music, gunpowder displays and gastronomic activities, centred on the liturgical feast day of 1 September.
The battle of the Puig
Historical milestone
The Battle of Puig de Santa María was fought on 15 August 1237 near El Puig, when the troops of James I, with Bernat Guillem d'Entença commanding on the ground, defeated the army of the taifa of Valencia by the hill of Enesa, within the campaign of the Aragonese king to conquer the city. The victory was decisive: it left the capital without outer defence, consolidated Christian control over Valencian territory and smoothed the way for its conquest the following year, in 1238, a turning point in the advance of the Kingdom of Aragon in the Reconquista. The village of El Puig, dominated by the hills of Montaña la Patà and Santa Bárbara, keeps the legend that the horse of James I made water spring forth with a blow of its hoof on the former.