Photograph: The Alcazaba of Badajoz and the Espantaperros tower by Carlos Teixidor Cadenas, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Badajoz is the capital of the province of Badajoz in Extremadura, western Spain, a city of about 150,000 people on the left bank of the Guadiana river, close to the Portuguese border. Its old town climbs a limestone hill above the river to the walls of the Alcazaba, the Moorish citadel built by the city's founder and rebuilt by the Almohads, and across the border lies the Portuguese city of Elvas, with which Badajoz runs a cross-border eurocity partnership.
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Plenty of travellers pass Badajoz on the A-5, the road that connects central Spain with Portugal, without ever leaving the motorway, and they miss a good deal. The city has a walled Moorish citadel, a long stone bridge over a wide river, a fortress-like cathedral and a hard history, and it is a lived-in Spanish city rather than a museum town.
The photograph above shows the walls of the Alcazaba on their hill with the Espantaperros tower rising above them, and the painted house fronts of the Plaza Alta below. What one frame cannot show is the river that explains the whole city: the Guadiana that bounds the citadel to the north, the Puente de Palmas crossing it, the twin towers of the Puerta de Palmas gate at the bridge's end, the cathedral down in the lower town, and the gardens and archaeological museum inside the walls. Those are described below rather than shown.
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The Alcazaba and the Espantaperros Tower
A Moorish citadel of about 400 by 200 metres on the hill where the city began.
Badajoz was founded by Ibn Marwan around 875, and he built a citadel on the hill that commands the river crossing. The Alcazaba as it now appears is largely Almohad work: in 1169 the caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf rebuilt the fortress and gave it the shape it still has. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries it was the residence of the rulers of the taifa of Badajoz, an independent Muslim kingdom, and the city passed to the Kingdom of Leon in 1230. The Alcazaba was declared a national monument of Spain in 1931, and it is the most notable monument in the city.
The walls measure about 400 by 200 metres and are bounded on the north by the Guadiana and on the east by the Rivillas stream. The citadel is described as the only important fort on the southern Portuguese frontier during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and walking the circuit above the river shows why.
The Espantaperros tower, also called the Torre de la Atalaya, is the one in the photograph. It was built in 1169, stands 30 metres high on an octagonal plan, and is topped by a small Mudejar temple added in the sixteenth century. Its name is attributed to the sharp ringing of a bell once installed in the tower.
Between the tower and the wall walk are the Jardines de la Galera, a garden of myrtle, laurel, orange, lemon and pomegranate trees that reopened to the public in 2007 after being closed for more than thirty years. Inside the walls, the Palace of the Dukes of Feria houses the Provincial Archaeological Museum, whose collection runs from prehistory through the Roman and Visigothic periods to Islamic and Christian Badajoz.
The citadel is open ground with very little shade and the climb from the lower town is steep. Go early in the day in summer, and check current opening times for the museum before you plan around them.
The River, the Bridge and the Gate
The Puente de Palmas is the oldest bridge in Badajoz and the best way into the old town on foot.
Badajoz has five bridges, four of them over the Guadiana. The oldest, the Puente de Palmas, also called the Puente Viejo, has a long history of being rebuilt: masonry was first laid in 1460, a sudden rise in the river destroyed it in 1545, floods took 16 of its 24 spans in 1603, and it was rebuilt again in 1833. Work in the early twenty-first century increased it to 32 spans with towers at both ends, for a total length of about 600 metres.
At the old town end stands the Puerta de Palmas, built in 1551, two cylindrical towers flanking a double-arched gateway decorated with the shield of the Emperor Charles V. Crossing the bridge at the end of a summer day is the best free thing to do in Badajoz.
The river itself is not tame. On 6 November 1997 a heavy flood devastated several neighbourhoods and killed 21 people, after storms filled the Rivillas and Calamon streams, which are usually dry. Treat any heavy rain warning seriously, especially near those streambeds.
The Plaza Alta, the Cathedral and the Lower Town
The old square under the walls, a fortress of a cathedral, and two museums worth a morning.
The Plaza Alta sits just below the Alcazaba and was for centuries the centre of the city, formerly known simply as the square. It has been restored, and flamenco performances are put on there and at other venues in the city. This is the square in the lower part of the photograph.
Down in the lower town, the thirteenth century cathedral of San Juan Bautista looks more like a fortress than a church, with massive walls and a Gothic tower 41 metres high built in 1542. Its museum holds works by Luis de Morales and Zurbaran. The Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes, described as the premier gallery of Extremadura, holds more than 1,200 paintings and sculptures from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, and the MEIAC across town collects Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American contemporary artists.
Badajoz is a border city in its everyday life: its restaurants and nightlife draw Portuguese visitors, and the Feria de San Juan from 23 June to 1 July brings crowds from both countries. Expect late dinners and very quiet afternoons.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Siege of 1812 and the Massacre of 1936
Two events that define how the city remembers itself, told plainly.
During the Peninsular War, a British and Portuguese army of some 27,000 under Wellington besieged Badajoz and its French garrison of about 5,000 from 16 March to 6 April 1812. The breaches were stormed on the night of 6 April at a terrible cost. What followed was worse: the victorious troops got drunk on captured alcohol and sacked the city, killing and raping civilians, and it took three days to restore order. Estimates of the civilian toll differ widely between sources. Wellington wrote afterwards: "The capture of Badajos affords as strong an instance of the gallantry of our troops as has ever been displayed, but I anxiously hope that I shall never again be the instrument of putting them to such a test as that to which they were put last night."
In August 1936, early in the Spanish Civil War, Nationalist forces seized Badajoz on 14 August and then carried out mass killings of Republican supporters, many of them at the city's bullring. Estimates of the number murdered range from 500 to 4,000. It is a painful part of local memory, and a visitor should treat it with the seriousness it deserves.
When to Go
Spring and autumn, with winter for anyone who does not mind cool mornings.
Badajoz has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate. The average July high is around 35C, July is almost rainless at about 3mm, and the record high at the airport is 45.5C. Summer afternoons here are genuinely punishing, and the city's rhythm reflects it: streets empty after lunch and fill again in the evening.
Spring and autumn are the best seasons, warm by day and comfortable for walking the walls. Winter is mild by northern European standards, but January lows average around 3C, so mornings can be cold, and December is the wettest month of a fairly dry year.
Is Badajoz Safe for Women Travelers
Badajoz is an ordinary provincial Spanish city with low crime, and the realistic risks are heat, petty theft and the roads.
The FCDO publishes no advised-against areas anywhere in Spain, and the country is one of the most straightforward in the world to travel in. Its safety and security page concentrates on petty theft, which is the realistic risk, and on the fact that Spanish police require you to report a theft in person to get the denuncia your insurer will ask for.
The FCDO's Spain advice says that attacks, including sexual assaults, are rare but do occur, and that the number in an emergency is 112. It names GHB and liquid ecstasy among the drugs used in drink spiking, and tells travellers to buy their own drinks and keep them in sight.
The FCDO names two scams worth knowing. So-called highway pirates flag down hire cars claiming something is wrong; if you stop, do it somewhere public and lit. And thieves pose as police asking for your wallet: genuine officers ask for ID, never a wallet. You must carry photo ID.
Spain's advisory carries an extreme-temperatures section, and the inland plateau is where it bites: summer afternoons regularly pass 40C with no shade and little wind. Walk early or late, carry more water than feels necessary, and treat the middle of the day as time indoors rather than time to be endured.
Wildfire is the summer hazard in the countryside around the city. The FCDO notes that wildfires happen often in Spain during the summer months, and that causing one is a criminal offence even if unintentional. No cigarette ends, no barbecues and no bottles left behind on a walk, and report any fire you see to 112 straight away.
If you cross to Elvas or further into Portugal, you are in a different country with its own FCDO page; Portugal's advice also lists no advised-against areas anywhere in the country.
Spain is in the EU, so a UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU European Health Insurance Card gives you state-provided medically necessary care on the same terms as a resident. That is not the same as free, it does not cover repatriation or a private clinic, and on the islands and the costas many clinics aimed at visitors are private and will bill you, so check before you are treated. Spanish public hospitals are good and a farmacia handles minor problems without an appointment. Tap water is drinkable across the mainland and the Balearics. Heat is the realistic summer health risk rather than anything exotic.
The Badajoz Packing List
Shoes for a steep hill and hot pavement
Walking shoes with grip for the climb to the Alcazaba and the uneven stone of the wall walk, and merino wool socks that do not hold sweat through a long, hot day on foot.
Base layers that work in serious heat
The packing problem in Badajoz in summer is heat, not cold, and the answer is fabric that moves moisture and dries fast rather than more of it. Merino at 160gsm is light enough to wear in a hot city, it breathes, it covers shoulders for the cathedral without overheating you, and it does not smell after a long day. Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron with no synthetic blend, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is the one garment worth bringing in any month, from a hot July evening to a cold January morning.
Sun protection
A wide brim sun hat is the most useful single item on the citadel walls, where there is almost no shade. A lightweight sun hoodie covers your arms in the middle of the day without trapping heat. Bring high factor sunscreen too; we do not link one because our product list carries no sunscreen we can recommend, so buy a brand you trust or pick one up at a farmacia.
Water
An insulated water bottle that keeps water cold through an afternoon is worth its weight here.
A mid layer for the cooler months
From late autumn to early spring, a fleece mid layer for cold mornings and evenings by the river. A light packable rain jacket is also worth having in winter, the wettest season, but we have not linked one here because this post has reached its limit on product links, and the fleece does more work in a dry city.
The small things
Photo ID on you at all times, a light scarf for covering shoulders in churches, cash in euros for small bars, a European two-pin adapter, and some Spanish.
Essential Resources for Women in Badajoz
Emergency numbers: 112 for police, ambulance and fire, free from any phone including a locked mobile, with operators who will find an English speaker. It is the single number across the whole European Union.
Police: 112 for any emergency. Report any theft in person to get the written report an insurer will ask for.
Hospital and medical care: the Hospital Universitario de Badajoz, next to the University of Extremadura campus, is the city's main hospital. Dial 112 for an ambulance. A farmacia, marked with a green cross, handles minor problems and posts the duty rota for nights and Sundays.
British consular help: the FCDO gives +34 917 146 300 or +44 207 008 5000 for British Consulates in Spain.
Official health authority: the Spanish Ministry of Health. Spain is in the EU, so a UK GHIC or EU EHIC gives you state-provided care on the same terms as a resident, but not at private clinics and not for repatriation.
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Madrid, in Madrid.
Official tourism authority: Turespana, the national tourism board, with the Extremadura regional tourist office the place to check current opening times for the Alcazaba and the museums.
Wildfire: report any fire to 112 immediately, and in summer follow official advice on closed areas.
US State Department travel advisory: the Spain advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Solo women safety assessment: Badajoz is a low-risk city for a woman travelling alone. It is a provincial capital with a university and a busy, sociable evening life, not a tourist hotspot, so the petty theft the FCDO emphasises for Spain is less concentrated here than in the big coastal and city destinations. The honest caveats are practical: the old town around the Alcazaba is very quiet in the afternoon heat and some of its lanes are empty after dark, so stick to the lit, busy streets late at night, and take the summer heat seriously, which is the risk most likely to actually hurt you here.
Reading On
For Extremadura's Roman capital, about 60 kilometres east, read the Merida packing list, and for the walled old town about 90 kilometres north, the Caceres packing list. The Guadalupe packing list covers the region's great monastery. About 220 kilometres to the south, the Seville packing list covers another hot summer city. Across the border in Portugal, the Evora packing list and the Marvao packing list cover two Portuguese neighbours, and the Lisbon packing list covers the capital about 230 kilometres west, with the Portugal travel guide for women for the country. For the whole of Spain, start with the Spain packing list and the Spain travel guide for women. For why fine wool works in a 35C July as well as a cold winter morning, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
