Castell de Cabres

The last bend of CV-105 climbs so steeply that the Mediterranean, 40 km away, slips beneath the bonnet. At 1 129 m you crest the rampart of the Maestrazgo and roll onto a ridge no wider than a cricket pitch. Eight houses, one church, one bar: that is the entire street plan of Castell de Cabres. The engine cools, the wind starts, and the only sound is the clicking of a thousand pines on the limestone below.

Stone, sky and silence

No one is quite sure when the place stopped trying to be bigger. The 19th-century cadastral map shows 120 inhabitants; the 2023 roll call lists eight year-round souls. They keep the keys to the church, the tractor shed that doubles as a fire station, and the ledger for the two rural houses that accept guests. Everything else is altitude.

The village sits on the roof of Valencia province, higher than Ben Nevis’s summit. Winter nights drop to –8 °C and snow can arrive overnight, blocking the approach road for days. Summer afternoons reach 30 °C but by 9 p.m. the thermals have emptied and you will want a fleece. The air is so clear that on still evenings the lighthouse at Oropesa twinkles like a low star.

What the place lacks in monuments it returns in horizon. Walk fifty paces past the last cottage and the ground shears away into the Barranc de l’Infern, a gorge that funnels eagles and thermals north toward Aragón. The castle that gave the settlement its name survives as two courses of masonry: enough to perch on while you eat your sandwich, not enough for a photograph that will impress anyone on Instagram. The real keep is the sky itself – huge, dark by ten o’clock, and sprayed with shooting stars once the moon sets.

Walking without way-markers

Footpaths radiate like spokes, but the tourist office is a noticeboard bolted to a wall. If you want to walk, buy the 1:30 000 Maestrazgo map in Castellón beforehand or download the GPX files from the regional park website while you still have 4G. A straightforward circuit heads south along the ridge to the abandoned hamlet of Mas de Cabres (4 km, 90 min). Stone terraces still hold almond trees; wild boar have ploughed the earth between them. For something stiffer, drop 600 m into the Barranc de la Maimona and climb out at Font de la Vila, an eight-kilometre loop that takes three hours and requires knees that still owe you favours.

Spring brings the gentians and the smell of damp pine; October flames with rowan and maples that no one has planted. After rain the limestone turns black and every gully rattles with water; in July the same tracks are powdery grey and you will meet no one except the odd shepherd on a mule. Mobile reception dies within 500 m of the village, so leave a route plan on the bar counter if you are walking alone.

Where to lay your head and fill your stomach

Accommodation is limited to two licensed casas rurales. Casa Rural La Font de la Vila has three bedrooms, thick stone walls and a wood-burner that devours a whole olive trunk overnight. Casa Rural El Bovalar is slightly larger, with four rooms and a roof terrace that faces the sunrise. Both cost around €90 per night for the house, not per person, and they are usually booked by the same extended family for the December long weekend or Easter. Reserve early or be prepared to drive back down to Rossell, 25 min away, where the Hotel Cervol has ten rooms and central heating that actually works.

There is no shop, petrol station, cash machine or chemist. The bar, simply called “Bar Castell”, opens when someone phones first: 964 17 _ _ _. Ring the night before and Marisol will cook. The menu never changes: tomate de mata (mountain tomato) crushed onto toast with local olive oil, conejo con boletus (rabbit and wild mushrooms) and a half-litre of house red for €14. Portions are mountain-sized; ask for “medio” if you are not hauling rucksacks all day. Vegetarians get an omelette and the same toast. Payment is cash only; the nearest ATM is in Castellfort, 22 km of hairpins away.

What passes for a festival

San Antonio, 17 January, is the only date the village might feel crowded. Emigrants drive up from Castellón and Valencia, light two bonfires in the square, bless two dogs and a mule, then disappear inside houses for brandy and almond cake. If you arrive that weekend you will park on the verge 500 m away and share one of the casas with second cousins. Any other time you will have the place to yourself.

August brings the patronal fiestas, but they are really a family reunion. A sound system appears, playing Spanish pop at living-room volume until 1 a.m.; the bar stays open till 2. Fireworks are modest – three rockets and a wheel that sometimes fails to spin. The upside is that Marisol lays on paella for anyone who buys a €5 ticket; the downside is that every bed within 30 km was booked last Christmas.

Getting there – and away again

The closest airports are Valencia (2 h 15 min) and Castellón (1 h 45 min). Hire a car, leave the AP-7 at junction 43, follow the CV-10 and then the N-232 toward Morella. After Traiguera take the CV-105 signposted “Castell de Cabres – 29 km”. The final 12 km twist through holm-oak forest, with sheer drops and passing places barely wide enough for a Transit. Snow chains are compulsory equipment from December to February; the Guardia Civil sometimes set a checkpoint at 900 m and turn unprepared cars back.

There is no bus. A twice-weekly service from Castellón to Rossell stops 14 km short and the driver will not accept bicycles. If you are determined to arrive under your own steam, cycle to Rossell and phone the village in advance; someone with a 4×4 will usually come down for €20.

When to cut your losses

Come in late April for orchid meadows and daytime temperatures of 18 °C. Come in mid-September for russet beech and 10-hour hiking light. Do not come in July expecting a cool retreat unless you can handle 32 °C sun and no shade on the ridge. Do not come after heavy snow unless you have winter-driving experience and emergency supplies; the Guardia will not attempt a rescue until the road is clear.

And do not come at all if you need souvenir shops, night-life or somewhere to plug in an electric car. Castell de Cabres offers altitude, emptiness and a front-row seat to some of the darkest skies in mainland Spain. Stay two nights, walk one gorge, eat one rabbit and you will have ticked every box the village cares to offer. Drive back down the corkscrew road and the temperature rises a degree every two minutes; suddenly the Mediterranean glitters, the phone pings back into life, and the 21st century re-starts.