The windmills of La Mancha are among the most iconic images in Spanish literature, forever associated with the misadventures of Don Quixote. The area around Alcázar de San Juan retains several restored windmills on the ridge south of town — white cylindrical towers with conical roofs and wooden sails, exactly as Cervantes described. They are the quintessential La Mancha image, surrounded by the flat ochre plain with its vineyards and patches of sunflower.
The windmills are accessible by car or bicycle along the road south from the town centre. Several have been restored to working order and are open to visitors in season. The view from the ridge — over the endless flat plain, with the town below and the distant sierras to the south — gives a vivid sense of the landscape that produced the most famous novel in the Spanish language. Campo de Criptana, about 15 km east, has the largest surviving group of windmills in the region.