40.62° N · 0.10° W
What to see in Morella in a day or a weekend: castle, basilica and arcaded street, where to park, eat and sleep, 1 h 20 from Castellón.
Part of Unusual places to stay in SpainHorse riding routes in Spain
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Walk up from Calle del Hospital to the parade ground, at 1,072 m · 1 h · €5 · every day from 11:00.
Gothic, with the choir staircase coiled around a column and a 1719 organ with 3,693 pipes · 45 min · €4 with museum.
Free stroll under the Blasco de Alagón arcades and outside the walled enclosure, with the castle always above you · 1 h 30 · free.
Itineraries
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
Plan the trip
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
Spring and autumn, with mild days and fewer people than in August. In winter it is properly cold at a thousand metres, but it is truffle season and the town is quiet midweek.
How you travel
Choose how you're travelling and we'll tell you where to stay, how to get around, where to eat and which services you'll need. We only show the ways of travelling that make sense here.
Morella is visited on foot. You arrive by car on the N-232 or via Ares del Maestrat, park on Paseo Jaume I and don't touch it again until you go to Morella la Vella or leave.
You can get there without a car, but only Monday to Friday: the Autos Mediterráneo bus does not run at weekends or on public holidays. Once inside, everything is on foot. For Morella la Vella you need a taxi.
Who you're with
A trip with a toddler is not the same as one with a teenager. Pick yours to see what works and what to bear in mind.
Morella works with children because everything is short and close: a tower, a museum, a castle, each taking less than an hour. Slopes and steps are the only problem with a pushchair.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Why we like it: Three-star rural hotel with 16 double rooms, all outward-facing, in a mansion on the arcaded street, with a Morella restaurant and a lift.
Why we like it: Three-star hotel with 44 rooms beside the Sant Miquel gate, with a suite, a family room with balcony and triples, lift, restaurant and terrace.
Why we like it: Family-run two-star hotel with nine rooms inside the wall, renovated in 2006, with a Morella restaurant downstairs and dogs admitted with notice.
Why we like it: Transparent bubbles with a private plot in Tírig, next to the Museu de la Valltorta, with breakfast included and versions with a jacuzzi or their own pool.
Services for this trip
Where to eat
From set lunch menus to Michelin stars. We mark the price level and what to order at each place.
What to order: the Morella croquettes or the spoon-dish olla, the carpaccio of cured beef and Morella cheese with truffle oil and, for the main, the roast ternasco.
What to order: the traditional tasting menu, with cured beef from La Todolella, cheeses from Morella and Tronchón and Morella croquettes, and the ternasco cannelloni as a main.
What to order: the ternasco Morella-style or the partridge in oil, and for dessert the collà, the curd of the area.
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
40.88° N · 0.15° E
By car
40.36° N · 0.41° E
By car
40.07° N · 0.52° W
By car
40.34° N · 1.11° W
By carCar-free
Tips
The castle opens at that time and the arcades fill up mid-morning at weekends.
It is open from 10:00 to 11:15 and from 12:15 to 15:00. Organise the morning around that gap.
The blue-zone machines do not give change; the Moviltik app avoids the problem.
At a thousand metres, the afternoon turns much cooler, and it is windy at the castle.
Morella is an entire town inside a wall, on top of a crag in inland Castellón, with a castle above it all. It stands at about a thousand metres, in the Els Ports district, and you see it from far off as you arrive by road: it is the first photo of the trip. Inside there are sloping streets, a main street under arcades, a Gothic basilica with an enormous organ and restaurants where truffle, lamb and Morella croquettes are the way it has always been. You can see it in a day; with a night, you enjoy it without rushing.
By car. From Castellón it is about 100 km and 1 h 20 via Sant Mateu (CV-10 and N-232), or 1 h 25 via Ares del Maestrat (CV-15 and CV-12), which is more bends and scenery. From Valencia, 170 km and about 2 h 10 along the A-7, the CV-10 and the N-232. From Vinaròs and the Baix Maestrat coast, 45 minutes along the N-232, and from Peñíscola, an hour. From Zaragoza it takes about two hours via Alcañiz and Monroyo.
Without a car you can only go midweek: Autos Mediterráneo leaves the Castellón bus station from Monday to Friday at 10:15 and 15:30. On Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays there is no bus, so a Sunday trip without a car is not possible.
Outside the wall. Inside, only residents park and you may enter solely to load and unload, along narrow streets. Visitors leave the car in the blue zone on Paseo Jaume I, along the wall: you pay from 10:00 to 18:00, €1 for the first hour and €3 for up to eight hours, in cash (the machines do not give change) or with the Moviltik Morella app. From there you walk in through the Portal de Sant Miquel, where the tourist office, the Sant Miquel Towers and the dinosaur museum are. For motorhomes there is a municipal area with 36 spaces and full services.
Start in the morning at the Portal de Sant Miquel: the towers open at 10:00 and their scale model gets you oriented. Then go up the arcaded Calle Blasco de Alagón to the town hall and the Basilica of Santa María, with its spiral staircase up to the choir and the organ of 1719. Before lunch, or just after, climb to the castle: an hour there and back and the best view of the district. In the afternoon, go out of the wall and walk round the outside to see it whole.
If you go at the weekend, the 12:00 guided tour sorts out the morning: two hours, with the basilica included. And if you stay the night, reserve a place for the rock paintings of Morella la Vella, 6 km away, with free sessions from Tuesday to Sunday.
The Bergantes valley, 4 km away, is the other half of the trip. In the Fàbrica Giner complex are the Saltapins adventure park, with zip-line circuits from age 3, and the starting point of the Els Ports mountain bike routes, from 17.7 to 58 km. Nearby leave the horse and cart rides, bookable all year. And depending on the season, the villages of the district have their own guided activity: the lavender fields of La Todolella in June and July, and the saffron harvest at La Mata in October and November.
One day covers the wall, the arcaded street, the basilica, the castle and a long lunch. With a night you add the towers and the museum without hurrying, a walk round the wall at sunset and the paintings of Morella la Vella the next morning. For a Sunday outing, plan to leave home at 9:00 from Castellón or 8:30 from Valencia.
Spring and autumn are best: mild days and good light on the stone. In July and August it is cooler than on the coast, but there are more people, especially under the arcades. In winter it is properly cold and sometimes it snows; in return, it is black truffle season and the restaurants serve it in special menus. Watch out for closures: the towers and the museum close on Mondays, and on 25 and 26 December and 1, 6 and 7 January almost everything is shut.
For eating, Casa Roque, open since 1980 at Las Cinco Esquinas, and the Mesón del Pastor, since 1975, serve Sunday lunch; book. La Fonda Moreno is the simple option, with budget set menus and takeaway food. To sleep inside the wall, the Hotel Rey Don Jaime, beside the Portal de Sant Miquel, the Hotel Cardenal Ram, on the arcaded street, or the Fonda Moreno, the only one of the three that admits dogs, with notice.
Questions
About 1 h 20 by car via Sant Mateu, 101 km. Via Ares del Maestrat, 1 h 25.
About 2 h 10, 170 km, along the A-7, the CV-10 and the N-232.
Only to load and unload. You park outside, on Paseo Jaume I.
€5, €4 reduced and free for children under 6. It is open every day from 11:00.
From Castellón, Monday to Friday, with Autos Mediterráneo. There is no service at weekends.
Yes: castle, towers, a dinosaur museum with an escape room and short distances, and 4 km away the Saltapins adventure park, from age 3. A baby carrier is better than a pushchair.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/spain/valencian-community/morella
