Outside the extremes of winter and summer, the wild, sparsely populated district of Teruel can be mesmerising. In May, the mountains are dotted with gorse and apple blossom and the fields are a sea of poppies. In the autumn, when the oaks and maples change colour, it is more beautiful still. It feels remote, yet Teruel is only a 90-minute drive from Valencia. You can walk for hours without seeing another soul except, perhaps, an abuelita (granny) hunting for rare herbs or truffles. The historic centre of the town of Teruel contains some spectacular gems, notably some of the country's finest Mudéjar architecture, built by Moorish craftsmen under Christian rule and included on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1986.

LA CASONA DEL AJIMEZ
Calle San Juan 2, Albarracín (00 34 978 710 321; www.casonadelajimez.arrakis.es). There are no luxury hotels in Albarracín, but there is an intriguing alternative: La Casona del Ajimez, opened four years ago by Albarracín native Javier Fernández. Backing onto the ruins of the 10th-century Castillo at the top of the town, with fabulous views over the rooftops below, the 200-year-old house was formerly a priest's residence and is a haven of peace. The hotel's name derives from the Arabic for window. It has six rooms, inspired by all the faiths. The hotel is an Aladdin's cave of odd pieces asking to be picked up and there are dusty bottles of sweet wine and dishes of chocolate fruits in each room. Dinner reflects the rich, local home-cooking, expect to eat trout and venison. If the weather's good, breakfast is served in a lovely garden below the castle. £

HOSPEDERIA EL BATAN
Carretera Comarcal 1.512, Tramacastilla (00 34 978 706 070; www.elbatan.net). Sebastián Roselló and Maria José Meda run the Hospedería El Batán, an old wool factory converted into a wonderful inn. It's only a short drive from Albarracín, yet, reached by a bridge over the river and fronted by a little waterfall, it could be in the middle of nowhere. The food is highly rated and the dining room is packed at weekends. Roselló describes the menu as 'a mix of traditional and creative'. The menu de dégustación could feature carpaccio of cod, suckling kid and a wonderful bocadito de cremoso de café. The eight rooms and casita are comfortable and elegantly rustic, with heavy cotton bedspreads and wrought-iron detailing to complement the wooden beams. There is also a roomy salon with a fireplace for snuggling up in, with a TV and board games. £

LA TORRE DEL VISCO
Fuentespalda (00 34 978 769 015; www.relaischateaux.com/torrevisco). From Mirambel, it is only a 90-minute drive to the Torre del Visco, which bills itself as the most remote hotel in Europe. Now a gracious Relais & Châteaux property set in 220 acres of formal rose gardens, olive and almond trees and wheat fields bordered by a river, it counts the King and Queen of Spain among recent guests. Now restored, the hotel has 14 rooms and suites (which are equipped with VCRs). All are distinct, but feature a similar combination of tasteful furnishings set off with a mix of contemporary Spanish art, local carpentry and antiques (a Fernandino bed, an 18th-century marriage chest), much of it collected over the years. So far, most of the guests, who have also included the ravishingly handsome singer Miguel Bosé, son of a celebrated torero, have been Spanish. While guests eat, the staff mill about chopping up herbs and vegetables from the kitchen garden. Lunch and dinner are served in the more formal dining room: main courses might include pigeon à deux cuissons or gilt-head bream followed by one of the Torre's exquisite ice creams, made on the premises from goat's milk. ££

ROKELIN
Calle Tozal 33, Teruel (00 34 978 612 013). Part of a small chain of bars/shops serving local meats and cheeses. Open Mon to Sat 9.30am to 3pm and 6pm to 2am.

LA MENTA
Calle Bartolomé Esteban 10, Teruel (00 34 978 607 532). The best restaurant in town. Open Mon to Sat 1.30pm to 3.30pm and 9.30pm to 11.30pm.

RESTAURANTE BUJ
Avenida del Maestrazgo 6, Cantavieja (00 34 964 185 033). Open daily in summer; weekends only off-season; booking is essential.

TASCA
Las Tejas, Mirambel (00 34 964 178 271). An authentic local which is particularly good for a platter of hams and cheeses. Open daily.

IN TERUEL

TORRE DEL SALVADOR
There are four Mudéjar bell towers, the most exotic being the 14th-century Torre del Salvador (which you can climb) and Torre de San Martín. Both are built of red brick studded with green and white ceramics, with two towers each, one enclosing the other, with a stairway in between. The other towers, adjoining the cathedral and San Pedro church, are older and more sober in style. Torre del Salvador, Calle El Salvador, Teruel. Open Tues to Sun 11am to 2pm and 4.30pm to 7.30pm.

CATEDRAL TERUEL
Visit the cathedral to marvel at its gorgeous Mudéjar coffered ceiling, nicknamed the 'Sistine Chapel of Mudéjar art', which is decorated with Islamic motifs and a panoply of Gothic figures. Open daily 11am to 2pm, 4pm to 8pm.

IGLESIA DE SAN PEDRO
San Pedro church is also home to the town's most celebrated residents: Isabel de Segura and Diego de Marcilla, the star-crossed amantes of Teruel, believed to have lived in the 13th century. Their remains were exhumed in 1555 and transferred to the baroque Mausoleo de los Amantes where their hands remain inches apart in a gesture of impossible love. Their tragic history gives Romeo and Juliet a run for their money. Falling in love at the tender age of 15, the nobles were unable to wed as Diego was a second son without an inheritance. Isabel's father gave him five years to make his fortune in the Crusades, which he did, returning a rich man on the appointed day only to find that Isabel had married another that very morning. When he requested a kiss, Isabel, as a married woman, very properly refused, at which point he died at her feet of a broken heart. She finally kissed him at his funeral and promptly expired beside him. Mausoleo de los Amantes, Iglesia de San Pedro, Teruel. Open daily 10am to 2pm; 5pm to 7.30pm (Sun 10.30am to 2pm).

FESTIVALS
The story of the star-crossed lovers is brought to life every February during Las Bodas de Isabel de Segura, when everyone frolics around in medieval garb, buys love potions at a medieval market, and expires at each other's feet. But the town's most popular festival is the Vaquilla del Angel in July, said to be a quieter version of Pamplona's San Fermín. It is a riot of drinking, dancing and the inevitable bulls in the streets plus some controversial toros de fuego (bulls with blazing torches attached to their horns). Vaquilla del Angel (the 'angel's heifer') refers to the origins of the town, supposedly founded on the spot where a little bull stood under a star and bellowed.

IN ALBARRACIN

The first sight of Albarracín can't fail to make the heart leap, with its medieval murallas (ramparts) draped over the hillside, dominated by a square tower. The city itself - tall, thin houses jostling for space along steep, narrow streets - is held in a loop of the Guadalaviar river. You could wander these largely unprettified streets for hours, admiring the infinite variations on a theme of stone and plaster walls, heavy wooden doors and shuttered windows, wrought-iron grilles and doorknockers. If you arrive in time, clamber up the murallas to watch the sun set. Albarracín has a history as unique as its geography: from 1170 until 1379 it was an independent Christian kingdom. In 1172 it was declared a diocese. But other, earlier, civilisations also left their mark, such as the powerful Ibn Razín dynasty of Berbers who established an independent taifa in the area in the 11th century and gave the town its name. Albarracín owes much of its current state of health to the Fundación Santa María, which is gradually restoring its buildings and reanimating them as cultural entities, with immense taste.

CATEDRAL Y MUSEO DIOCESAN
The town's flagship is the Palacio Episcopal, part of which is now a museum linked to the 16th-century cathedral. A tour of the bishop's rooms takes in an elaborately painted baroque chapel overlooked by a trio of creepy frescoed figures, the first fully visible to worshippers, the second half-hidden by a grid, the third barely seen at all. Catedral y Museo Diocesano, Plaza de Palacio, Albarracín (00 34 978 710 093). Open daily in winter 10.30am to 2pm, 4pm to 6pm; and in summer until 8pm.


IGLESIA DE SANTA MARIA
The 16th-century Iglesia de Santa María - used for classical concerts - is now undergoing a major restoration project. Behind it stands the imposing 13th-century Torre de la Doña Blanca. There are two legends surrounding this stone tower, whose bright shadow falls over the river on moonlit summer nights. In one, the Doña Blanca was an Aragonese infanta loved by all except the future queen, so she fled to hid. In the other, she was a Jewish lady who made the tower her home when the Jews were expelled from the town. Either way, she only showed herself at the full moon in August when, clad in a white gown, she went down to bathe in the river. The tower now hosts high-quality art exhibitions; you can also climb to the top for superb views. Torre de la Doña Blanca, Albarracín (00 34 978 710 093). Open daily in winter 10.30am to 2pm, 4pm to 6pm; and in summer until 8pm.

THE SIERRA DE ALBARRACIN
El Batán is an ideal base for exploring the Sierra de Albarracín, 1,300sq km of mountains and pine forests, all of it more than 1,000 metres high. You can do this by horse, mountain-bike, four-wheel-drive or on foot; but whatever you do, try to make it to the nearby barranco hondo, a gorge so narrow that the rocks almost touch (it is said that a Christian escaping the Moors on horseback was able to jump from one side to the other, leaving hoof prints in the rocks). You can walk or drive to the beginning of the gorge (go early enough and you might spot a deer or wild boar en route), then either wade through the river or scramble along the top.

THE MONTES UNIVERSALES AND CASTILLO DE PERACENSE
It is worth taking a drive through the Montes Universales (which houses some of the tallest pine trees in Spain) to the extraordinary Castillo de Peracense, an amalgam of deep-red sandstone and tiered battlements toppling over a windswept plain. You have to ring a bell to be let in, but it's worth it to breathe in lungfuls of fresh air. Castillo de Peracense. Open daily July to August; otherwise weekends only (Sat 10am to 2pm and 4pm to 6pm; and Sun 10am to 2pm).

CANTAVIEJA
A high spot, in every sense, is the magnificent medieval town of Cantavieja, perched on a 1,300-metre escarpment, lord of all it surveys. Park by the porticoed Plaza Mayor and stock up on local hams and cheeses at Altabas Artesanos, where an old man in a cap salts and cures some 3,000 whole hams every year. There's a highly regarded restaurant here, El Buj. Alternatively, you can drive on to Mirambel for a platter of ham and cheese at the Tasca las Tejas. The village, notable for its intact medieval walls, 16th-century aristocratic mansions and minuscule population of 150, has a pure, dream-like quality.

TOURING

VALENCIA TO ALBARRACIN
This takes around 90 minutes. Head north on the A7, then right onto the N-234 at Sagunto. After lunch in Teruel, drive to Albarracín (N-330 to Zaragoza, then turn left to Gea de Albarracín; 30 minutes) in time to see the sunset.

ALBARRACIN TO TRAMACASTILLA
This takes around 15 minutes. Turn left under the tunnel out of Albarracín continuing, via Torres de Albarracín, to El Batán.

TERUEL TO FUENTESPALDA
Takes four hours excluding stops. Take the A-226, via Cedrillas and the Villaroya pass, to Fontanete, continuing to Mirambel for lunch. Follow signs to Morella, then up to Monroyo on the N-232. Turn right onto the A-1414 to Peñarroya de Tastavins and Fuentespalda. The Torre del Visco sign is on the left, between Fuentespalda and Valderrobres.

MONROYO TO VALENCIA
Take the N-232 from Monroyo, joining the A-7 to Valencia before Vinarós.

AIRPORT
The nearest airport is Valencia, about a 90-minute drive from Teruel.

AIRLINES FROM THE UK
British Airways (0845 773 3377; www.ba.com) flies daily from Gatwick to Valencia. Iberia (0845 601 2854; www.iberiaairlines.co.uk) flies daily from Heathrow to Valencia. Hertz (0870 599 6699; www.hertz.co.uk) has an office at the airport.

Teruel province is elevated and winter temperatures regularly drop below zero. It is most beautiful in spring or autumn. The best month is September.

Teruel tourist office (00 34 978 602 279).
Fundación Santa Maria de Albarracín (00 34 978 710 093)