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City and municipality in Catalonia, Spain
Photo: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Tarragona is a city on the northeast coast of Spain, the chief city of Tarragona Province with a population of 143,000 in 2025. It's 100 km west of Barcelona and has a beach but its distinctive attraction is its Roman ruins listed on
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Bling mansion built in the 15th century, with a mix of styles.
Roman Catholic cathedral with a mix of Romanesque and Gothic design built over the 12th-14th centuries. There are some 19 chapels, the best are of Corpus Christi and of Santa Tecla l'Antiga. The cloister has some excellent Romanesque stonework and has the Diocesan Museum.
Mansion decorated in plush heavy 19th century style, to show off the Canals family wealth and to accommodate their guest King Carlos IV.
Painting and sculpture from the 20th century, in a knock-through of 18th century houses.
Exhibiting Tarragona's maritime past and present, including life on the docks, their fisheries and freight.
MNAT
Exhibiting the history of the Roman colony of Tarraco. This is a small temporary exhibition, the main museum on Plaça del Rei is closed for refurbishment with no word on its re-opening.
A scale model of Tarraco in the second century AD, a good orientation before visiting the other Roman sites.
Walkway along the best section of the city walls. They were built in the second century AD and modified in the Middle Ages and 18th century.
Roman amphitheatre built around 100 AD. It could hold 15,000 spectators and looks over the sea. It fell out of use in the 4th century and a Visigoth church and cemetery were built within. It's been partially restored.
The chariot track was built late 1st century in the reign of Domitian. Only a portion of the structure is left but some of the passages and vaults in the basement can be seen. Admission includes the nearby Torre del Pretori.
The remains of the Roman theatre. It was built in the first century AD and could hold 6000 spectators.
A colonia was a settlement of Roman citizens abroad, organised for trade and defence but not incorporated as a city. Tarraco was designated a colonia by Julius Caesar around 45 BC. The site is in two parts linked by a footbridge over C de Soller. It's an open square with the main surviving structure in the western part, the basilica which was a multipurpose civic building.
This was in use from the 3rd to 5th century. The Roman Empire became Christian in that era, and this is one of the earliest Christian burial sites in the western Mediterranean. The museum has sarcophagi, epitaphs and other funerary objects.
Pont del Diable
A Roman aqueduct with two tiers of arches, 249 m long and 27 m high. It was probably built in the reign of Emperor Augustus (r 27 BC - 14 AD) and brought water from the Francolí river.
Roman villa built circa 400 AD. Its dome mosaic may be the oldest Christian-themed mosaic in the Roman world, and the building survived by use as a church and hermitage into the 19th century. It's now managed by the Archaeology Museum.
Miracle Beach
Some 500 m long with calm waters. It's the closest to city centre so it can get crowded.
Another 500 m of golden sand, with some small beach restaurants and a palm-lined promenade.
Smaller Blue Flag beach.
Popular 3 km beach with restaurants, rentals, showers and sailing club.
The northernmost beach in the municipality, near the outflow of the Gaià River.
Coffee bar, mixed reviews for the food
Friendly place for tapas.
Authentic inexpensive Moroccan food, all halal.
Good authentic Turkish food, you may have to wait.
It sounds like a tacky drive-thru, but it's a pleasant old trad bar with tapas.
Pizza, pasta and other Italian dishes in a building that used to be part of the Roman Circus.
Grilled meat, burgers and fish.
This earns rave reviews for its Catalan food. Go for the tasting menu.
Great Mediterranean food.
Simple 30 room hotel near the railway station. Thin walls so expect noise.
Clean, comfy and central.
Boxy modern hotel at the top of the Rambla. Comfy and convenient.
Convenient hotel, sometimes clean.
Efficient clean Marriott hotel.
60 room budget hotel, mixed reviews on comfort and cleanliness.
Slick modern place overlooking the amphitheatre.
Modern hotel towards the beach strip.
Produce, meat, bread, pastries and other foods in a modernist building. The clock outside has figures that emerge at 12:00 and 18:00.
Extensive Sunday market for foodstuffs, clothing and miscellaneous tat. Not the least bit touristy, buses run out here but you really need a car if you bulk-buy.
By train
Tarragona Station has regional trains every 30 min from Barcelona Estació de França, Passeig de Gràcia and Sants, taking 1 hr 15 min.
By bus
Alsa buses from Barcelona run five times a day, taking 1 hr 15 min.
By road
Tarragona is on AP-7, the Autopista de la Mediterrània coastal motorway, with Barcelona 100 km northeast and Valencia 250 km south.
Many of Tarragona's sites are concentrated within or near the compact Old City.
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