City Guide: Cadiz

Cadiz is a very charming city in the South of Spain, located in the Andalusia region. In this extensive city guide, I’ll show you what you should see when visiting Cadiz!

The South of Spain is a really charming region and mostly known for beaches and lots of sun. However, there is also lots of culture, from cities like Cordoba or Sevilla to smaller and as charming places like Marbella. However, Cadiz is a city that’s often overlooked even though it is really beautiful. In this guide, I’ll show you why visiting Cadiz definitely is worth it and why it reminded me quite a bit of cities in the South of France, like Montpellier or Nice.

Castillo San Sebastian & Castillo de Santa Catalina Cadiz

One of the highlights of visiting Cadiz is paying the two castles in the North of the city a visit. The smaller one is Castillo de Santa Cantalina, but it’s not any less charming.

The old castle can be visited free of charge and in a still in quite a good condition.

What’s best though are the views of the beach and the other castle as well as the charme of the little towers and castle walls.

The Castillo San Sebastian on the other hand can be reach through a long walk on a stone path that leads you through the ocean.

This alone is already quite an experience as there’s water on both sides as well as some rocky landscape – fascinating!

The castle itself was closed when I visited, but I was able to catch a glimpse of the inside and it looked promising. Furthermore, you can take some stunning pictures of the walls even without entering.

I’d say that visiting the two castles is absolutely worth it and I can just recommend doing so.

Another spot worth visiting is the Caleta Beach, which is located right between the two castles.

Here, you can also find a couple of nice buildings, either on the beach or right behind it.

If there’s a spot in Cadiz, which you definitely shouldn’t miss, the North of town with the beach and the two castels definitely is it.

Mercado Central, Cathedral and the City Center

If you head South from the Caleta Beach, you’ll immediately find yourself in the city center with its beautiful little streets.

You’ll also spot some really beautiful buildings from time to time as the historic core of Cadiz hasn’t changed much in the last decades.

I’d particularly recommend walking by the charming Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de la Palma.

This church is located not far away from another place worth visiting, the Mercado Central, where you can have a nice lunch or shop some food and other things.

Just around the corner is the charming Historic Postal Office, which you should take a picture of!

One of the most important squares as well as the Cathedral of Cadiz are also just a stonethrow away from here and another spot you shouldn’t miss.

The area around the cathedral comes with further interesting buildings, including the Casa del Almirante.

If you are into historic, you might also consider visiting the Teatro Romano, which doesn’t come with an entrance fee.

Generally speaking, this area of Cadiz has tons of different sights, so just walking around here for a couple of hours is really recommendable.

Historic City Center and the various squares in Cadiz

The actual historic city center of Cadiz is quite large, which is why there are various differents spots in the city, where you can find beautiful historic buildings. For example, you should definitely see the Casa de los Pazos de Miranda.

This building is located on one of the major squares, where you can also find lots of restaurants and the massive town hall of Cadiz.

If you walk North from here, you’ll not only find lots of more charming streets with interesting buildings, but also several further squares, including the Plaza de San Juan de Dios.

I also really liked the smaller, but very charming Plaza del Mina.

You should also definitely keep an eye on the square at the Iglesia San Antonio.

I could definitely go on here for a while and speak about further interesting buildings and squares in the area, but I think it’s obvious that exploring this part of Cadiz definitely is worth it.

Parque Genoves and the beautiful Promenade of Cadiz

In the Northeast of Cadiz, you can find a very beautiful promenade, which consists of different parts. One of the nicest is around the Baluarte de la Candelaria.

You shouldn’t keep your eyes focused on the water only though as there are a couple of interesting historic buildings on the other side of the street, including the Centro Cultural Municipal and the Iglesia del Carmen.

When it comes to the promenade, you can just keep on walking for a while and will be rewarded with really beautiful views.

Eventually, you’ll also get to the Parque Genoves, which is also very nice and comes with lots of fascinatingly cut trees and more.

You can easily combine this part of Cadiz with visiting the two castles, so I’d highly recommend not skipping it.

Plaza de la Constitucion and Playa de la Cortadura Cadiz

If you happen to have some time left, you should also pay a visit to the Plaza de la Constitucion. Even though it is quite busy with cars, it’s still quite nice with remainings of the historic city wall.

Another highlight is located quite a bit further South, actually not even in the real city of Cadiz anymore. I’m speaking of the Playa de la Cortadura.

This is a several kilometer long beach behind some dunes and it’s just incredibly beautiful and feels very peaceful at the same time (depending on the season you are visiting).

If you have some time left, be sure to not miss this part of Cadiz either!

Overall impressions of Cadiz

I think it’s quite obvious that I very much enjoyed visiting Cadiz. The city is very charming, has lots of great food options and an incredible amount of historic buildings and sights worth seeing. All of this combined with the charme of a coastal with beautiful beaches makes Cadiz a must visit, in my opinion!

Do you have any questions about Cadiz? Feel free to ask or share your impressions in the comments!

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