Is Albacete Worth Visiting in Spain?

With last Thursday being Thanksgiving in the U.S., we decided to take advantage of the holiday by taking a day trip from Alicante to Albacete — about an hour away by train, halfway between here and Madrid.

To be completely honest, Albacete is a city I’d never really heard of and never really thought about. Even when you search Google Images for pictures of Albacete, most of the photos are of picturesque pueblos in the surrounding areas. But something about its somewhat forgotten status, along with the fact that it seems to be a place you pass through on the way to other places, gave me the idea that it might be something like the American Midwest. Flyover country, as we often hear.

Those of us from the Midwest, though, know that it’s full of hidden gems and places waiting to be discovered, if only people were to give them a chance. So… is Albacete worth visiting? Keep reading for my verdict.

Albacete, Spain

Distance from Alicante: 169 km/105 miles
Distance from Madrid: 264 km/164 miles

Albacete is located in the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha, which doesn’t get much respect. In fact, “La Mancha” means “the stain” in Spanish. And I can see how they got there — pull up a map of Spain’s autonomous communities and find Castilla-La Mancha. Though I tend to think it looks like a heart.

Castilla-La Mancha, the third largest community, is most famous for being the setting of the famous Spanish novel, Don Quixote. In Toledo, the only other city in Castilla-La Mancha I’d ever visited, they really play up the whole Don Quixote thing, so I was guessing Albacete would be the same.

We arrived in Albacete via OUIGO train around 8:45 a.m., and we left at about 3:45 p.m. And seven hours was definitely plenty of time. After pulling into the Albacete-Los Llanos train station — which was very cute, by the way — we started walking toward the city center. I wasn’t sure if I was imagining the faint smell of manure, but Matt confirmed he smelled it, too. 😂 We figured that’s what you get when you’re surrounded by farmland, and it disappeared when the early-morning fog lifted.

On our way to breakfast, we came across two of Albacete’s most important sights. The Catedral de San Juan Bautista de Albacete is the city’s cathedral, though it wasn’t as outwardly impressive as many other churches and cathedrals we’ve seen in Spain. We didn’t go in, but apparently it is free to visit.

And right across from the cathedral is the most interesting-looking building in Albacete: the Casa de Hortelano, covered in green tiles and built in an eclectic modern style. While originally built in 1912, these days the building is home to Albacete’s famous museum, Museo Municipal de la Cuchillería de Albacete. Otherwise known as the knife museum.

The knife museum only costs €3 per person for a general adult ticket, but truthfully we weren’t too interested in visiting, so we preferred to spend our time outside looking at the green tile façade. I know there must be people out there who are into knives, so I’d definitely say you should visit the museum, if that’s you. 🙂

Continuing on to the city center, we found the Pasaje de Lodares, another of Albacete’s icons. When I say that it’s basically a “covered shopping street,” it doesn’t really describe accurately how beautiful the whole thing is. There are ornate balconies stacked in levels above you, while the glass ceiling allows light to pass through. Apparently there are only two other similar “modernist galleries” in all of Spain — one in Valladolid and another in Zaragoza — though I’ve been to both other cities and never came across them.

Near Pasaje de Lodares, you’ll find most of Spain’s typical clothing stores. I was super happy because they had a full-sized Sfera, unlike the tiny department we have in El Corte Inglés here in Alicante. 🥲 I have to say that Albacete had some good shopping. Beyond the resgular stuff, they also had Mulaya (a favorite from my days in Madrid), Cortefiel, and an El Corte Inglés Outlet!

And if you’re not so into the shopping, you might like Albacete’s parks. This is one thing that I think Albacete does really well. First, we wandered through the Parque de los Jardinillos, along the Paseo de la Feria. It was pretty cute, though it seemed to be suspended in a state of “waiting for Feria.” Albacete hosts its annual fair — one of the most important fairs in all of Spain — in September each year. But much of the fair’s infrastructure seems to have a permanent place in the park, which made it seem a little bit forlorn in November. You’ll also find the Puerta de Hierras, or the Iron Gate, which is opened to signify the official start of the fair.

The other park we visited — which Matt absolutely loved — was Parque Abelardo Sánchez. This is the largest green space in the city, and it was really nice to be surrounded by grass and trees for a bit. (We don’t get much of that in Alicante.) And with the yellow leaves and cooler temperatures, it actually felt like fall there. (It’s still felt a lot like late summer in Alicante.)

While we didn’t see any peacocks wandering through the park, we did enjoy the Retiro vibes it gave off as we strolled through. At some point, the doors to one of the park’s buildings opened and a large horde of children spilled out — on closer inspection, there’s an elementary school in the park! And the kids took their recess playing along the park benches and the grass, no playground equipment required.

After lunch at Goiko Grill (not a typical “Albacete” meal, but it was Thanksgiving and I loooove Goiko Grill) we started making our way back to the train station. We passed a few pretty pretty buildings, like those at the corner of C/ Marqués de Molins and C/ Concepción that don’t seem to have a name, though they reminded me of Gran Vía in Madrid. We also passed the very cute Plaza del Altozano, which was all decorated for Christmas.

Is Albacete Worth Visiting?

So, back to the question at hand. Is Albacete worth visiting?

Matt and I both say: No. Especially if you have a limited amount of time to spend in Spain.

Harsh, I know! I’ve actually never really been to a city in Spain that I wouldn’t recommend to other people. Even the tiny pueblo where I worked as a language assistant for two years had its charms. But though I was hoping for hidden gems and “pure Spain” culture in Albacete — I found a city that was pretty much a generic version of any Spanish city, without anything that really made it stand out.

There is one thing I really, really appreciated about Albacete though: In the seven hours we spent there, I didn’t hear a single word of English. I didn’t hear anything other than Spanish. After having visited, it makes sense — who else would be in Albacete except Spanish people?

Okay, now the two caveats to my verdict of Albacete not being worth visiting. I think it COULD be worth visiting if:

• You love knives and are really interested in knife culture, the history of knives, etc.
• You visit during the Feria de Albacete in September.

Want to decide for yourself whether Albacete is worth visiting? Here’s how to get to Albacete from Alicante or Madrid.

How to Get From Alicante to Albacete

Train: From Alicante’s main train station, Alicante/Alacant-Terminal, can take a high-speed train with Renfe or OUIGO, which will get you there in about 45 minutes. Even though we only booked a few days in advance, our OUIGO tickets only cost €18 per person, round trip, so we thought it was a pretty good deal. Iryo also offers tickets from Saturday-Monday, but they were much more expensive, so I don’t recommend them unless you get a great deal.

How to Get From Madrid to Albacete

Train: From Madrid’s smaller train station, Chamartin-Clara Campoamor (which is currently under construction but definitely getting closer to being less chaotic) you can take either a Renfe, OUIGO, or Iryo (also only Sat-Mon) high-speed train to Albacete. The journey should take about an hour and 40 minutes each way. Again, OUIGO seems to have the cheapest tickets, but Renfe has the most trains available.

 

So, now you know what I thought about visiting Albacete. We did have a good day together exploring, and I’m glad we went, but I’m not sure we’d go back unless it was for Feria.

What do you think? I normally don’t post such controversial takes, but I’d love to hear if you think I got it wrong. Let me know in the comments! 🙂

-Cathy

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