It is located in the comarca of Santa Domingo de la Calzada, some 45 km west of Logroño.

The first references to the village of Bañares confirm its existence as early as 1051: (Scemeno Munioz de Cerratón[a] in his letter about a donation that he makes to Saint Millán, when Garsea was King of Pamplona in 1089,[b] where he stands witness before Lope Enecores de Vaniares[c]).

In the papal bull of 1199 which granted privileges to the Monasteries of San Millán de la Cogolla, it appears as "Bannares", with the collective suffix -ar and the Mozarabic feminine plural -es.

Currently only the Banares castle ruins are preserved, situated on the exit road toward Hervias, which allows reconstruction of a rectangular floor plan, with an entrance, facing east, on one of the long sides, flanked by cylindrical turrets, that also reinforce the corners of the rectangle.

Rectangular in form, it was constructed with massive cobblestone and pebble core masonry walls, reaching approximately 3.5 m in thickness.

The interior space of this tower is divided longitudinally (E-W) in two naves, by two semi-circular arches which support a square pillar in the center and two corbels on the eastern and western walls.

Every day of the fiestas is celebrated by a procession, where the young people raise the patron saint in dance through many streets of the pueblo.

Now it is different because there are no young people responsible for teaching the future dancers, it is very difficult to find youth, so, for lack of men, the women have had to do it.

In the first a type of combat is carried out between two dancers, and subsequently between everyone at the battle scene, which ends with neither victor nor vanquished.

Additionally, the meat is excellent, good examples being the local chorizo, sausages, and chuletillas al sarmiento (lamb chops with vine shoots), taking advantage of the wood that is a result of the pruning of the abundant vineyards in the area.

In addition there is a tourist cycling route that runs along the old railroad track path included in the catalog of greenways.