Tarragona Travel Guide

97km (60 miles) S of Barcelona, 554km (343 miles) E of Madrid

For sheer number historic sites, the Roman port city of Tarragona is one of the grandest, yet most overlooked cities in Spain. A natural fortress, the city perches on a rocky bluff 82m (269 ft.) above its deep and sheltered harbor. Although the Romans landed farther north at Empúries in 218 b.c.e. to savage the Carthaginians during the Second Punic War, they made their military and administrative headquarters at Tarraco, now Tarragona. At its Roman apogee, Tarraco was a city of nearly one million people. From here, legions marched forth to conquer the peninsula, bringing the western reaches of Europe under Roman control.

The most famous of the Roman roads in Iberia, the Via Augusta, connected Tarraco to Rome; pieces of it remain in the plazas of the city. Tarragona’s extensive Roman ruins were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000, although not all the architectural elements remain where the Romans placed them. Just as the Catalans absorbed Roman culture, they also appropriated the Roman architecture, mining the monuments for building blocks that appear in the medieval city that clusters around the cathedral.

In the new town, walk along the main artery, Ramble Nova, a fashionable wide boulevard. Running parallel with Ramble Nova to the east is the Ramble Vella, which marks the beginning of the Old Town. The city has a bullring, good hotels, and even beaches. The Romans were the first to designate Tarragona a resort town.

After seeing the attractions listed, cap off your day with a stroll along the Balcó del Mediterráni (Balcony of the Mediterranean), where the vistas are especially beautiful at sunset.