Getaways from Jaén: day trips and destinations close by.

The A-316, the most used exit

The most used exit is the A-316 to the east. In 45 minutes it reaches Úbeda and Baeza, with Baeza on the way, and from Úbeda, via Torreperogil and Peal de Becerro, the A-315 and A-319 climb to Cazorla and the Sierra de Cazorla, an hour and a half away. To the south, the A-44 leads to Granada and, via the A-395, to Sierra Nevada; continuing towards Motril and Órgiva you reach the Alpujarra. To the south-west is Priego de Córdoba and the Subbética, an hour away. To the north, the A-44 to Bailén and the A-4 via Despeñaperros lead to La Mancha: Almagro and the Lagunas de Ruidera.

Without a car the options are few. Alsa links Jaén with Úbeda, which has a bus station but no train, and with the Cazorla station, on Avenida del Guadalquivir; the bus does not go into the sierra and there are few on Sunday. For the 4x4 through the reserve zone the bus can work, if the first one reaches Cazorla before the pick-up.

Úbeda and Baeza, two Renaissance towns almost side by side

Under an hour are Úbeda and Baeza (45 minutes): two Renaissance old towns nine kilometres apart, with the Sacra Capilla del Salvador, the Sinagoga del Agua and Baeza cathedral.

Between one and one and a half hours are Priego and Zuheros (60 minutes), with the Barrio de la Villa, the Fuente del Rey and the Cueva de los Murciélagos, and the Sierra de Cazorla (90), with the Cerrada del Utrero, the source of the Guadalquivir and the tracks of the reserve zone.

At nearly two hours are Almagro (110 minutes), with the Corral de Comedias and Calatrava la Nueva, and Sierra Nevada (110 to the slopes, 115 to the Albergue Universitario). These are Sundays with an early start.

From two hours onwards the trip goes better with a night: Antequera and El Torcal (120 minutes), the Alpujarra (140), Ruidera (145), the Caminito del Rey (150) and Cabo de Gata, almost three hours away. Riópar and the Chorros del Río Mundo are about two hours twenty away.

Úbeda and Baeza look their best with the olive harvest

In winter, the snow is less than two hours away: a Sunday of skiing or snowshoeing to the Veleta, from December to March and with chains for the A-395. From November to January, with the olives in the fields, Úbeda and Baeza look their best, and the 4x4 through the Cazorla reserve zone is not cancelled for rain or snow.

In spring the Cazorla rivers run full: the Cerrada del Utrero and the source, with the Linarejos waterfall in full flow, or the Borosa to the Cerrada de Elías on the weekend in the sierra. It is also the season for Ruidera, from April to June, and for the dramatised visits to the Almagro Corral, at weekends from April to June.

In July and August Úbeda and Baeza and Priego are not recommended; if you go, monuments in the morning and a walk at dusk. In August Almagro is very hot. Summer is for the sierra and for the sea at Cabo de Gata.

In autumn, October is the month of the stag rut in Cazorla and of the forest changing colour; in Priego and Zuheros, from October to March, the cave adds an afternoon session on Sundays.

A Sunday in Úbeda and Baeza, with lunch in a convent

• 45 minutes away: Úbeda and Baeza in a Sunday. The Sinagoga del Agua and El Salvador in the morning, lunch in a Baeza convent and the cathedral with its tower in the afternoon.
• Towards the Subbética: Priego and Zuheros. Priego's Baroque and the Fuente del Rey, lunch in Zuheros and the Cueva de los Murciélagos by reservation.
• Towards La Mancha: Almagro, the Corral de Comedias and Calatrava. The dramatised visit at 13:00, aubergines and pisto, and the castle-convent in the afternoon.