Strongly walled city, which conveys to a certain extent the military importance it had in the Middle Ages both from a strategic point of view, as well as from its own social structure, also experienced an economic boom through its commercial and artisanal activity which it joined in the sixteenth century an important political-representative and cultural relief as it was the cradle of great statesmen, such as Francisco de los Cobos and Juan Vázquez de Molina, Secretaries respectively of Carlos V and Felipe II, and of other distinguished members of this family, which with specific construction companies (palaces, churches or hospitals) gave Úbeda a unique Renaissance mark.

The declaration of a monumental complex has its nucleus in the Plaza del Salvador, presided over by the funerary temple of El Salvador, the pantheon of Francisco de los Cobos and María de Mendoza, his wife, designed by Diego de Siloé, following classic models of rotunda inspired by the Pantheon of Rome connected to a nave, something already experienced in the cathedral of Granada. Andrés de Vandelvira, who was master executor, contributed from his harvest the layout of the sacristy, with the original portal open at an angle, and the two side panels.

Two palaces aligned on the north side of the square make up the space next to another, on the opposite side, recently rescued by archeology, that of the Orozco. The first two belonged, the one closest to the Chapel of El Salvador, to the clergyman, Hernando Ortega, known as Dean Ortega, for holding that position in the Cathedral of Malaga, Cobos's henchman, now a National Tourism Parador . The other, the so-called "Palacio de las Cadenas", was commissioned by Juan Vázquez de Molina (current City Hall). Both buildings are the work of Andrés de Vandelvira and represent two versions of the classic theme of the Roman house, but with original interpretations by the author.

In front of the Vázquez de Molina palace, the medieval Collegiate Church of Santa María de los Reales Alcázares, the highest-ranking church in the city, built between the 13th and 17th centuries, although most of its structural factory of three naves and cloister, it can be dated to the end of the 15th century, in a Gothic-Mudejar style. Only the exterior facades respond to the early seventeenth century, then reformed in the nineteenth century. Its chapels are noteworthy in its interior for its Renaissance movable art, in particular the series of bars by Maestro Bartolomé.

On the southern side of the square the nucleus of the old Alcazar rises slightly, today very uninhabited, but where you can see very interesting houses of popular tradition with curious elements of Hebraic sign on their facades, as if corresponding to what was the old Jewish quarter.

Behind the Chapel of El Salvador, the Hospital de Honrados Viejos, is part of the healthcare improvements that Cobos conceived for the city, in this case on a hospital foundation that has already existed since the end of the 14th century, also with plans for expansion and reform of Vandelvira, and that connects almost with the unfinished Palace of Francisco de los Cobos, in the street that bears his name, started with traces of the royal architect, Luis de Vega.

Continuing the tour to the north of the Plaza del Salvador, another important square centers the heart of the Gothic Úbeda: Plaza de San Pablo or del Mercado, articulated around the parish church of San Pablo, a 14th and 15th century Gothic temple with a façade, that of "the carpenters", older, from the thirteenth century, at the foot, and the primitive Town Hall, which shows a beautiful Renaissance loggia.

In the surroundings of this square is the Carmelite convent of San Miguel, with the Oratory of San Juan de la Cruz, where the saint died in 1591, although it is a work of the 18th century, rebuilt where his cell was. Now it houses a Museum with objects and memories of the saint. Not far from this convent, on Montiel street, is the Carmelo female convent with the title of La Concepción, founded at the end of the 16th century and built throughout the 17th century. It also has a museum with important sumptuary works. The Archaeological Museum is also nearby, installed in a Mudejar house from the 15th century, and some palatial houses from the 16th and 17th centuries, among a maze of medieval streets.

Towards the western sector of the intramural nucleus and behind the Plaza de San Pablo, Calle Real is the main artery that connects the Plaza de El Salvador with the Puerta de Toledo. In it is located the Palacio de Vela de Cobos, the work of Andrés de Vandelvira, already from his last years, internally renovated, but with an elegant and original facade. Meters further up the Palace of the Count of Guadiana, of turriform type, dated at the beginning of the XVII, sums up well the Vandelvirian influences.

Behind it, the parish church of San Pedro, of medieval origin with late Renaissance façades, and the Convent of Santa Clara, a Franciscan foundation from the 13th century, where Queen Isabel la Católica stayed one day, and next to it, another palace , trace of Vandelvira, that of the Marqués de la Rambla.

Interesting pieces of this sector, in its southern part, are the Casa de las Torres, an early Renaissance work, ordered to be built by the knight Don Andrés Dávalos, and near it the churches of San Lorenzo and Santo Domingo.

Outside the walled enclosure, in what were the outskirts of the city, the parochial churches of San Nicolás and San Isidoro stand out, both of Gothic origin but with important Renaissance elements directly or indirectly related to Vandelvira. The first of them owes to Vandelvira the design of its main portal, an original baptism chapel, a work of his maturity, and perhaps one of his first interventions in Úbeda: the Deán Ortega chapel, and with a clear Vandelvirian influence its Sacristy. In San Isidoro, an extensive reform begun shortly after Vandelvira's death by his collaborator, Alonso Barba, closely following the scheme of the Jaén cathedral, but interrupted at the height of the transept, continued in a sober way with a single nave In XVII century.

Equally noteworthy is the church and convent of La Trinidad, strategically located opposite the Puerta de Toledo and the very interesting Torre del Reloj, whose graceful upper body is designed by Vandelvira (1561). The convent is a medieval foundation, which has a spacious and elegant Renaissance cloister and a Baroque church from the 18th century.

But the undisputed part of the suburbs is the Hospital de Santiago, founded by the bishop of Jaén, Diego de los Cobos, in 1560, and the most breathtaking work of A. de Vandelvira in full maturity, where his architecture becomes more abstract , detached from superfluous ornamentation. To highlight within it, the staircase, the central patio and the chapel-pantheon.

Úbeda has a rich artisan tradition, mainly ceramics and plaiting materials. Also given its long commercial tradition, the visitor will find a good offer of all these objects in numerous shops on his walks around the city. However, a visit to the potters' neighborhood, the old parish or collation of San Millán, is highly recommended, structured by Valencia Street, which we arrive at by leaving through the historic Puerta del Local. There you can visit the pottery of Titos or the Hermanos Alameda, of recognized prestige.

As in Baeza, Úbeda offers a magnificent series of hotel establishments, located in old palaces.

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