The town is 920 metres (3,020 ft) above sea level, but the local fossil record contains marine molluscs that show the profound geological forces that have shaped the region.

A very important neolithic site - la Barranca de Las Majolicas - is within the town, and human remains, decorated ceramics, and bone tools and ornaments have been found there.

History shows that the Arab inhabitants of Alfacar continued living in relative peace under the new regime and did not participate in the subsequent unsuccessful uprising of the "Moriscos".

The town is most famous for the death of poet and dramatist, Federico García Lorca, born 1898 in nearby (23 kilometres (14 mi)) Fuente Vaqueros.

On 19 August 1936, at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, Nationalist forces detained him; he was subsequently shot during the early morning at a location between Alfacar and the neighbouring village of Víznar.

There are extensive regenerated pine forests, large areas of native evergreen oaks and the rare Spanish conifer, Abies pinsapo, has been reintroduced here.