Parador de Alarcón

A castle hotel that has been standing since the Moorish period, perched on a hill above the Júcar River, which loops around the town of Alarcón like a moat nature forgot to finish. The Parador is a state-run historic hotel, so the rooms sit inside thick medieval stone walls and the restaurant leans into old Castilian cooking, with traces of Moorish influence still in the recipes. Outdoor trails run just beyond the ramparts.