The physiognomy of Baños de la Encina is marked by the presence of its imposing caliphal fortress, built on a rocky spur dominating the Guarromán River. Its plan follows the contour of the rock, narrowing at the ends.

It is built in tabiyya, a material typically Arab made from a mixture of clay, sand, lime, and very small stones, which is placed in layers, similar to the current formwork of cement, using wooden 'boxes', a mold of fixed measurements into which the mixture is poured, solidifying through the evaporation of water and the setting of the lime. It is considered a very fast and cheap construction method, which has been contrasted with careful works made with masonry or ashlars. However, its use is justified by the extraordinary resistance and hardness it can achieve, depending on the proportion in which the various materials enter the mixture. The walls of Baños have a total of 11 'boxes', each about 75 or 80 centimeters high.

The castle is equipped with fourteen towers of square tendency, which originally could have been fifteen, if the last one was replaced in the 15th century by the great keep tower that exists today. The towers barely exceed the height of the wall, were hollow, and retain the traces of the corbels indicating that they had three floors, each with a loophole, lined up alternately on the north and south sides. Some had a fourth floor without openings to the outside.

In the courtyard, there is a large cistern divided into two naves, separated by pillars, and covered with a semicircular vault.

Thanks to an inscription, preserved today in the National Archaeological Museum, and of which there is a copy and translation on the door jambs of the castle, we know that it was ordered to be built by the caliph al-Hakam and was completed in the year 968. Along with other castles also built around these years, such as those of Tarifa (Cádiz), el Vacar (Córdoba), or Zorita (Guadalajara), it would have been intended for the quartering of the Berber troops enlisted for the annual campaigns against the Christians, whose final concentration point, already on the border, would be the fortress of Gormaz (Soria).

After the Christian conquest, the eastern part of the fortress was converted into an alcázar, by creating an inner wall, composed of a powerful circular tower, of which only the base is preserved today, and two sections that connected it with the side walls, of which only part of one of them remains today. The second wall must have been removed, and in the area where it fit, there is a staircase. However, no traces are seen on the inner wall, perhaps because it was simply attached. This alcázar must also have included the great keep tower.

The latter rises considerably above the rest of the complex. The exterior front is rounded, indicating that it was built when artillery had already begun to develop significantly. The lower part is solid, presenting a chamber at the height of the parapet of the Islamic castle, which is reached by an external staircase. From this chamber, a staircase leads to the terrace.

The tower does not face the front, towards the countryside, but is oriented towards the town, projecting above it, indicating that it is a lordly construction, whose purpose was not to resist a hypothetical external enemy, but the intimidation and control of the local peasant population.

The Castillo de Burgalimar was declared a Cultural Interest Site in 1931.

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