Lanjarón is also called “spa-city”. Pedro Antonio de Alarcón compared it with “a dream of poets”, it surprises by the beauty of its white stamp laying on the slope of the Cerro del Caballo, in the Southern slope of Sierra Nevada, in the middle of an authentic landscaping spectacle that made exclaim in its day to the writer: "Stop and still! Let’s forget about the pen and let’s take the paint brushes ", phrase that decorates the pillar raised over the Fuente de las Adelfas to commemorate the visit of this Granada’s author to the region.

Near there the Viewpoint of the Cañona is located, called this way because it conserves several pieces of artillery used during the Independence War against the French troops. This place constitutes a privileged point to enjoy the beauty of the town and to admire its medieval castle, whose ruins overlook the wide and steep valley of the Lanjarón River.

The town has more than enough attractions to make its visit advisable any time of the year: good hotels and restaurants, a typical Hondillo neighbourhood of traditional Alpujarra’s architecture, beautiful gardens and leafy wooded avenues, a long main street with stalls with typical artisan objects of ceramics, cane and wicker.

And overall, Lanjarón has the most visited spa of Andalucia, where problems like the rheum, the arthritis and the affections of the liver and kidney find one of their best natural treatments.

The World-wide Health Organization has recognized Lanjarón like one of the places of more longevity of the planet. It is indeed the quality of its waters - together with the climate, the pure mountain air and the Mediterranean diet - allowing many of its citizens to live more than one hundred years.

History

Looking at its name, Lanjarón probably has its origin before the Roman time. Its name comes from the PreRoman name lanchar, which means “place abundant in water”.

During the Arab domination it acquired singular importance due to its strategic situation as natural gate of the Alpujarra. The important role that played during the Alhamares dynasty, at the first half of the XIII century has been verified.

Fernando the Catholic King conquered it in 1490 and its Moorish inhabitants rebelled again in 1500, revolt that was controlled by the Christians after an epic defence, to the point that the captain who defended the place preferred to throw himself from a tower before surrender. It participated in an active way against the Napoleonic troops in the Independence War, receiving its inhabitants the qualifying name of “cañoneros” since then.

Its waters, of course, stand out, which are bottled and commercialized in all Spain. Some products derived from the pig as the jam and the cured meat have also fame. In addition, the cuisine of Lanjaron includes a wide range of stews like the almonds soup, chestnuts and fennel stews, ribs with pumpkin and mushrooms, hen in sauce or rice with rabbit. One of its more peculiar traditions is to take chocolate with buñuelos accompanied by a glass of anise. The chestnuts pie, crème caramel with nuts and the dry figs cakes are other of its typical desserts.

Museums and monuments

- Almoravid castle: Only its ruins remain, that raised over a rocky promontory of the town. It was located about 300 meters of altitude, in a steep place of difficult access. Its location was superb, because it dominated, on one hand, the access road to the Alpujarra and, on the other, the one that communicated Granada with the Coast. The castle was surrounded by a wall defended by two great towers of rubblework, one to the north, semi-circular, and another one to the south, which is the Tower of the Homenaje, in whose interior the rain tank is located.

- Thermal Centre, Spa and Gardens: The spa, in Neomudejar style, is the most important of mineral-medicinal waters of Andalucia since the XVIII century, in whose last decade its properties were discovered.

- Mudejar Church of the Encarnacion: The church was built over the old mosque. Set afire in the Moorish revolts, it had to be reconstructed again. It has a Mudejar ceiling that reveals its Arab origin. In the XIX century it was built the present tower and the lateral door. In the interior the altarpiece of the main altar, in baroque style in its inferior part and churrigueresco in the superior one, stands out.