🧱 Three gates, two walls

Peñíscola Old Town and Walls

Which phase of wall each stretch belongs to, when each gate was opened and why, and where a town surrounded by sea got its drinking water. The inventory, piece by piece.

What everyone calls “the walls” is really the lower enclosure of the castle, built in pieces over five centuries and moulded to the shape of the rock. This page goes through it element by element — gates, bastions, springs, lighthouse, church — with the date of each and the source it comes from.

It is the inventory rather than the stroll. The visit to the castle itself (what you see inside, hours, tickets) has its own page, and the long chronology from the Iberians to tourism is in our history of Peñíscola.

One enclosure, three fronts

The town council’s monograph divides the enclosure into three fronts. They are worth keeping in mind, because each one answers to a different way of defending a place:

The east face, above the cliff: curtain walls fitted into the rock, medieval with 18th-century additions, from the low Maset battery to the Bufador.
The south face, looking over the harbour: medieval stretches from the Fortín del Bonete to the Santa Ana battery.
The west and north fronts, the ones facing land: the Renaissance fortification, from the Santa María bastion to the Artillery Park.

The medieval wall

Nothing identifiable survives of the Muslim enclosure and there are no plans earlier than 1578, so the medieval work you see is Christian, from the 13th to the 15th century. It was a smaller enclosure than today’s: Antonelli’s plan shows that in the 15th century the circuit ran from the Font de Dins wall, through the houses facing the Plaza de les Caseres, to the Maset batteries. On the south side the wall rose some 9 metres above the sea, polygonal in plan with cube-shaped towers.

The finest piece of that period is the wall-walk of the Muralla de la Fuente (the Fountain Wall), buried under later paving until it reappeared during the 1997 restoration: a 35-metre walkway of lime concrete and stone slabs, carried on ashlar corbels and strung between the three towers of that stretch.

Antonelli’s Renaissance wall

Artillery changed everything. Charles V had already planned to strengthen the stronghold, as at Ibiza, Palma, Mahón or Melilla, and Felipe II entrusted the work to his lieutenant Vespasiano Gonzaga and to the engineer Giovanni Battista Antonelli (Juan Bautista Antonelli in Spanish sources). The sources do not share out the roles in the same way: the municipal monograph credits the design to Antonelli, while the town council’s website makes Gonzaga the author of the design and Antonelli the director of works. According to the council’s 1999 leaflet, the wall took almost three years to build and cost 95,000 pounds (libras, the money of the day).

The difference shows the moment you compare it with the medieval stretch. Narrow wall-walks and small tower platforms were no use for moving cannon, so the towers are flattened into star-shaped bastions, hollow inside — casemated vaults for arsenals, canteens and powder stores — with terraces on top for the batteries. The walls are sloped ashlar with a continuous cordon marking the change of plane, and the corners carry overhanging sentry boxes such as the Balcón de Pilatos (Pilate’s Balcony). It is the same repertoire Felipe II’s Italian engineers applied at Ibiza, Tabarca and Palma.

The project was meant to close the circuit from the Artillery Park all the way to the Portal de Sant Pere, but it was never finished: it stopped at the Santa María bastion. That is why the Renaissance front breaks off there and the rest of the south side is still medieval.

The three gates

Portal de Sant Pere, the sea gate. Benedict XIII opened it through the medieval wall to have a way in by sea, with its own landing stage. The monograph places it in the 15th century and the town council’s website dates it to 1411. It is a large segmental ashlar arch with the coat of arms of the Pope Luna on the keystone, carved by Filibert Bertalla. In the 18th century it was blocked and filled in for military reasons; it was reopened at the beginning of the 20th century and, once the harbour existed, became a land entrance. According to the council’s website, until the fishing harbour of 1925 the sea reached the foot of the wall.

Portal Fosc, Felipe II’s gate. The “Dark Gate” is the entrance of the Renaissance front, at the top of the Felipe II ramp. A white stone façade with rough rustication and military motifs, the king’s coat of arms and cartouche above, and inside a vault that turns through 90 degrees into the Guard Room before a second arch opens on to the town. It was the main gate until the 18th century. Some authors attribute it to Juan de Herrera, the architect of El Escorial; the municipal sources do not document that attribution beyond those “some authors”.

Puerta de Santa María, the cart gate. The third and last, from 1754. Ferdinand VI authorised cutting through the Santa María bastion because the townspeople had to haul their harvest by cart up the steep Portal Fosc. A gate opened for farming needs in a wall designed for war.

Fresh water on a rock surrounded by sea

Peñíscola was coveted for its position, but also for something less obvious: it has water. At least 12 springs are recorded around the rock. The two that matter are the Font de Dins (“the inner spring”), the one with the greatest flow, rising at several points at the foot of the Muralla de la Fuente and the Santa Ana battery, and the Font de Sant Pere, at the base of the Bufador battery.

From the Font de Dins a vaulted conduit under the Santa Ana battery carries the water to the Font de la Petxina (the Shell Fountain) and the wash-house at the foot of the Santa María bastion. The conduit has often been called Roman; the monograph points out that no material evidence proves it. Having the richest spring right there explains why walls of different periods pile up in that corner: it was the first thing that had to be protected.

Until the 1960s people went down to a small square next to the Santa Ana chapel with a wash-house and a spout. Then a catchment building was put up against the wall, later separated from it. According to the council’s website, that Casa del Agua (Water House) is now used for exhibitions; the 2026 monograph adds that the point of the spring visible through a skylight in the back courtyard cannot be visited.

The Bufador

Nobody built it: it is a natural tunnel through the rock the town stands on, open to the sea. On stormy days the water surges up through it violently and with a loud roar. It also marks the end of the fortification of the east face, which begins at the low Maset battery.

The lighthouse

The present building dates from 1892. Its light reaches 35 nautical miles, about 65 kilometres, with a sequence of one and two flashes every 15 seconds. Before electricity the signal was a bonfire, and the street next to it keeps the name: Farons. Beside the lighthouse stands the Magatzen, the powder store built in the 18th century when the castle could no longer hold its garrison.

The Museu de la Mar

The sea museum occupies the Baluarte del Príncipe (Prince’s Bastion), the easternmost point of the enclosure, possibly medieval in origin and remodelled in the 18th century as artillery barracks. From 1912 it was a school — hence its nickname, Les Costures — until it was abandoned in 1969; the local Escuela Taller restored it from 1993 and it was fitted out as a museum in 1996. It has three sections (history and archaeology, fishing, and marine fauna), ship models and three aquariums with Mediterranean species. We do not publish opening hours because we have not found current ones in an official source: ask at the tourist office.

The parish church and the Pope Luna treasure

The church of Santa María is easy to walk past and has more layers than almost any building in the old town. It was raised after the conquest as a single nave with a timber roof on pointed arches, from which a door in the Romanesque tradition survives. After a fire it was rebuilt with rib vaults — the monograph places this in the first half of the 15th century, the council’s website in the mid-14th — whose bosses show the Virgin and Child, a crucifix, Saint Peter and Saint James; and in 1725-1739 the nave was lengthened and its orientation reversed under a barrel vault with lunettes.

Inside is the Parish Treasure: what remains in Peñíscola of the jewels Benedict XIII kept in the castle — the rest was dispersed between Tortosa, the County of Foix and Rome. All the pieces have been listed as a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain’s highest heritage protection) since May 2016. The main ones:

Processional cross of Benedict XIII, Gothic, from the Sant Mateu school of silversmiths, with a rock-crystal centre and the arms of Pedro de Luna, of Valencia and of the Piety.
Chalice of the Pope Luna, gilded silver, 15th century, with Limoges enamels reproducing his coat of arms.
Lignum Crucis reliquary of Clement VIII, Gothic, 15th century.
Processional cross of Felipe II, silver, with a Valencia hallmark of 1587.

The hermitage of the Virgen de la Ermitana

Next to the castle, on a site where there was already a religious building in the 6th century. The present sanctuary was built between 1708 and 1714 at the initiative of the governor of the stronghold, Sancho de Echevarría — the same man who held out during the siege of the War of the Spanish Succession — with very fine ashlar work and a façade that builds the bell tower into the gable, an unusual solution in Valencian Baroque. In front of it, in the Plaza de Armas, the dances in honour of the patron saint are performed on 8 and 9 September.

The castle, in one line

Built by the Knights Templar between 1294 and 1307 on the Arab alcazaba, turned into a papal palace by Benedict XIII, and declared a national historic-artistic monument in 1931. Everything about the visit — what you see, hours and tickets — is on the Peñíscola Castle page.

The houses: 510 homes in 27 streets

Inside the walls there are some 510 homes in some 27 streets, narrow, steep and broken, that keep the medieval street plan. The houses themselves, though, are almost all later than the Peninsular War, because the siege of 1814 left the town in ruins. The commonest type is the fishermen’s and farmers’ house: ground floor and two storeys in a single, very deep bay, with the living rooms and kitchen at the front and the bedrooms behind, without direct light. The 1999 leaflet compares it with the town house of Ibiza rather than with the rural houses of Benicarló or Vinaròs, and singles out Calle San Vicente and Calle Santa Bárbara as the streets with the best-preserved groups. White dominates today, but blues, greens and earth tones used to be mixed into the lime.

Quick inventory

Each element with its period and the key fact, as the sources give them:

Element	Period	Key fact
Portal de Sant Pere	15th century (1411 according to the council’s website)	Opened by Benedict XIII as a sea entrance, with a landing stage. Pope Luna’s arms on the keystone, carved by Filibert Bertalla.
Muralla de la Fuente	Probably 14th-15th century	From the Portal de Sant Pere to the Santa Ana battery. Its original wall-walk reappeared buried in 1997: 35 metres on ashlar corbels.
Fortín del Bonete	15th century	Start of the medieval south front, which runs to the Santa Ana battery.
Portal Fosc	16th century, Renaissance front	Coat of arms and cartouche of Felipe II, vault turning at a right angle and Guard Room. Main land entrance until the 18th century.
Balcón de Pilatos	16th century	Overhanging corner sentry box, typical of Antonelli’s bastioned fortification.
Artillery Park	16th century, with an 18th-century powder store	Ramps, tunnels and ditches from Antonelli’s project; today gardens visited along with the castle.
Puerta de Santa María	1754	Opened by order of Ferdinand VI so that harvest carts could get in.
Baluarte del Príncipe and Museu de la Mar	Possibly medieval origin, shaped in the 18th century	Artillery barracks; a school from 1912 (Les Costures) to 1969; a museum since 1996.
Font de Dins and Casa del Agua	Spring; catchment building from the 1960s	The largest of at least 12 springs on the rock. Vaulted conduit under the Santa Ana battery to the Font de la Petxina and the wash-house.
Bufador	Natural	Tunnel through the rock open to the sea; in a storm the water surges up with a roar. At its foot, the Font de Sant Pere.
Lighthouse	1892	Range of 35 miles (65 km); one and two flashes every 15 seconds.
Parish church of Santa María	13th century, rebuilt after a fire and enlarged in 1725-1739	Door in the Romanesque tradition, rib vaults with musician angels. Houses the Parish Treasure.
Hermitage of the Virgen de la Ermitana	1708-1714	Commissioned by the governor Sancho de Echevarría, next to the castle; Valencian Baroque with the bell tower built into the façade.
Castle	1294-1307	Templar; papal palace of Benedict XIII. National historic-artistic monument in 1931.
Houses	Mostly after 1814	About 510 homes in about 27 narrow, steep streets on a medieval plan.

A walking route in order

To see all three periods without retracing your steps: start at the bottom, at the Puerta de Santa María and the Font de la Petxina; climb the Felipe II ramp to the Portal Fosc; wander through Calle San Vicente and Calle Santa Bárbara to the church and its Treasure; carry on to the Plaza de Armas, the Ermitana and the castle with the Artillery Park; look out from the lighthouse and the Museu de la Mar in the Prince’s Bastion; go down to the Bufador; and finish past the Casa del Agua, the Muralla de la Fuente and the Portal de Sant Pere, by the harbour.

If you would rather go with a guide, there are guided tours of the old town, and the Gran Hotel Peñíscola publishes a commented route through the castle and the old town (in Spanish). For a bed inside the enclosure or at its foot, the choice is short and gathered in old town hotels.

Sources

This page is based on the Peñíscola town council’s monograph Ciudad antigua y patrimonio, 2026 edition (PDF, consulted 21 October 2026), checked against the printed leaflet of the Peñíscola Municipal Tourism Board, La ciudad antigua (1st edition, August 1999), which is the source of the cost and duration of the Renaissance wall and of the description of the traditional house. The 1411 date of the Portal de Sant Pere, the name of the church, the present use of the Casa del Agua, the 1925 harbour and the September dances come from the attractions page of peniscola.es (consulted 21 October 2026).

Where the sources disagree — who authored the Renaissance design, when the church burned — the text says so. We do not publish opening hours or prices we have not seen in a current source; the full criteria are on our methodology page.

Seeing the walls from outside

There are very few hotel beds inside the enclosure and no parking, so almost everyone stays on the Playa Norte, along Avenida Papa Luna. The avenue is numbered from the old town outwards, which makes the number on the door a fair measure of the walk back to the walls.

The Gran Hotel Peñíscola is at number 132, on the seafront, 3,806 m in a straight line from the castle: a four-star with a spa and its own car park, from 69 € a night, with the largest volume of reviews of any hotel on this portal — 4,203 on Booking at 8.1/10 (12 October 2026) and 12,026 on Google at 4.2/5 (15 October 2026). It runs its own shuttle bus for guests in summer and at Easter. It closes in winter: last night of the season 7 November 2026, reopening 26 February 2027.

Rates and availability →

Frequently asked questions

How old are the walls of Peñíscola?

They belong to several periods. The south and east stretches, above the cliff, are medieval: built between the 13th and 15th centuries, with 18th-century additions on top. The landward front, from the Santa María bastion to the Artillery Park, is the Renaissance fortification Felipe II commissioned in the 16th century, designed by Giovanni Battista Antonelli. According to the council’s 1999 leaflet, that work took almost three years and cost 95,000 pounds of the time.

What is the Portal Fosc?

The “Dark Gate”, the Renaissance gate of the landward front. Its façade is white stone with rough rustication, Felipe II’s coat of arms and a cartouche, and inside a vault turns at a right angle into the Guard Room. It was the only land entrance to the town until the 18th century. Some authors attribute it to Juan de Herrera; the municipal monograph records that attribution without treating it as certain.

Why was the Puerta de Santa María opened?

For the carts. Until 1754 the harvest came in through the Portal Fosc, which is on a slope. That year Ferdinand VI authorised cutting through the Santa María bastion to open a third, lower gate, at the townspeople’s request. It is the most recent gate in the enclosure.

What is the Font de Dins and can you visit it?

It is the spring with the greatest flow of the at least twelve around the rock, at the foot of the Muralla de la Fuente and the Santa Ana battery. It supplied the town, and from the 1960s it was tapped for the public water supply through a building set against the wall. That building, the Casa del Agua, is used today as an exhibition space according to the council’s website; the 2026 monograph specifies that the point of the spring visible through a glass skylight cannot be visited.

How far can you see the Peñíscola lighthouse?

The present building dates from 1892 and its light reaches 35 nautical miles, about 65 kilometres, with a sequence of one and two flashes every 15 seconds. Before electric light, bonfires were lit, which is where the name of the street next to it, Farons, comes from.

What pieces belonging to the Pope Luna survive in the old town?

Those of the Parish Treasure, in the church: Benedict XIII’s Gothic processional cross, with a rock-crystal centre and the arms of Pedro de Luna; his 15th-century gilded silver chalice with Limoges enamels; the Lignum Crucis reliquary of Clement VIII; and a processional cross of Felipe II with a Valencia hallmark of 1587. They have been listed as a Bien de Interés Cultural since May 2016. The rest of the castle’s jewels ended up in Tortosa, the County of Foix and Rome.

Also in English

The rest of what we publish in English:

The detailed guide is in Spanish

The Spanish site goes further: the Game of Thrones locations street by street, the town’s festivals and events, the Serra d’Irta natural park, day trips from Peñíscola and a page for every hotel with its reviews broken down by theme.

Go to the Spanish site