How to Spend 48 Hours in Cádiz, Spain

Kickstart your 48 hours in Cádiz by exploring the maze of streets and squares that make up its historical centre. This is the first part of the city you’ll come to when alighting from the train or bus (via the impressive Puerta de Tierra) and consists of the barrios of Santa Maria, San Juan and El Pópulo. Plaza San Juan de Dios is a particularly attractive square and is overlooked by the elegant town hall building; follow Calle Pelota off the plaza and you’ll find yourself in a maze of shabby-chic streets lined with funky cafés, old-school tapas bars and smart boutiques.

After a leisurely lunch, enjoy a seaside stroll along the Campo del Sur promenade, which takes you past Playa Caleta, the smaller of the city’s two beaches. In low tide, fishing boats sit stranded on the sand in the shadows of Santa Catalina castle. This defensive fortress was commissioned by Philip II in 1596, after that year’s sacking of Cádiz by Anglo-Dutch forces. Some of its interior spaces have been converted into exhibition halls, in which you can see (for free) shows by leading local artists.

Castillo de Santa Catalina, Calle Campo de las Balas, s/n, Cádiz, Spain, +34 956226333

From the Santa Catalina castle, follow the main seaside walkway as it bends to your right and you’ll soon find yourself standing in front of two of Cádiz’s natural wonders. Just outside the entrance to the university’s economics faculty are a couple of enormous, gnarly rubber trees – or ficus macrophyllas – that are over 100 years old. Another of these incredible specimens can be found in the Genovese Park just opposite, which is a great place to take a rest in the shade.

One of the giant old rubber trees in Cádiz | © Tauralbus / Flickr

Begin a more leisurely second day in Cádiz with coffee and churros (fried dough pastry snacks) dipped in melted chocolate at Bar La Marina. This decadent breakfast is the house speciality at Marina and locals flock here in the morning and late afternoon to get their chocolate fix. It’s situated on the charming Plaza Topete, unofficially called Plaza de las Flores because of its several colourful flower stalls.

After breakfast, take the pulse of Cádiz streetlife by crossing over to the Plaza Libertad, home to the city’s biggest and best food market. The central aisles are given over to fresh fish stalls – where locals noisily haggle over catches brought in from the Bay of Cádiz just a couple of hours earlier – while butchers and fruit and veg stands line the sides of the plaza. There are plenty of bars surrounding the market if you fancy a cheeky caña (small beer) and some tapas with some of the freshest seafood in Andalusia.

For an exhilarating finale to your stay in Cádiz, take in a flamenco show at Peña La Perla. La Perla usually stages two or three concerts a week, most of which feature performers from the local flamenco academy and are free to attend. Here, you’ll see performances that are flamboyant rather than intimate, with five or six dancers on the stage at once, stomping and whirling to the guitar and singing: it’s tremendously noisy and utterly life-affirming.

Playa Caleta, Cádiz | © kanbron / Flickr