What to see on a getaway to Chinchón and enjoy its Plaza Mayor
Very close to Madrid, 45km away, is one of the most beautiful villages that can be visited from the capital.
It won’t take you long to visit this wonder built around a square that you can never forget, because Chinchón is a town built around its best-known image.
But Chinchón is much more than its Plaza Mayor and getting lost in its streets admiring the architecture of its houses is an adventure that you should not miss.
The places to see in Chinchon
The Plaza Mayor of Chinchon
The Plaza Mayor is undoubtedly the best known place in Chinchón.
It is a typical Castilian square with the particularity that its shape is irregular and where all kinds of events have been held since it began to be built in the 15th century and was completely closed in the 17th.
The green color is predominant on its balconies, a total of 234 that surround the square, of the 3-storey buildings to which you should direct your gaze and under which we can find numerous bars and restaurants, making this square a place with a lot of ambient.
In this multipurpose square you can find a market as well as a bullfight or even a film shoot. And from here your walk through the town should start. Leaving aside the fountain at one of its ends, a steep slope begins that will take you to the next destination.
The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and the Clock Tower
From the Plaza Mayor itself and forming an exceptional ensemble with it, we can see the imposing Church of Our Lady of the Assumption.
Its beautiful façade emerges above the balconies of the Plaza Mayor and inside we can find an interesting altarpiece presided over by a painting of the Assumption of the Virgin, by Francisco de Goya.
Strolling up to this church, a mixture of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles, we will admire the houses of the town and enjoy it.
If we continue walking we will reach the nearby Clock Tower, which was next to a church destroyed by the French in 1808. In fact, the tower was also destroyed but was rebuilt years later.
Not to be missed are the views of the town, and the Plaza Mayor, from the wall next to the tower.
Other places to see in Chinchon
A few meters from the Plaza Mayor is another point of interest that you can visit in Chinchón, the Convent of San Agustín, which is currently a Parador de Turismo.
It dates from the 17th century, although it was restored in 1982 to become a Parador. Theology, Latin and grammar classes were also taught there, becoming in the 18th century a benchmark for humanistic education.
Continuing along the same street towards the outside of the town we find another convent, that of Las Clarisas, from the 17th century and of which we must highlight its church and its cloister.
Much further from the center is the Castillo de los Condes, a fortress that has watched over Chinchón since the 15th century and is very well preserved, despite the damage it suffered in the War of Secession and the War of Independence. From the castle you have good views of the town but you cannot visit its interior because it is privately owned.
