Tarragona - Day trips from BCN

heartbcn
May 24, 2016
3 min read

Barcelona is a great base to explore Catalunya from and Tarragona is definitely one of my favourite places to visit when I want to escape the hustle and bustle of the city for a day. Once the capital of Roman Catalonia, the city has beautifully preserved Roman ruins amongst other attractions. So if you are a history buff this is a great day trip! On the other hand if you just like to soak up the atmosphere, have long lazy lunches and explore the charming streets, then this is also the place for you.

View towards Tarragona Cathedral

Looking over the Roman Circus

Views from the Meditarranean Balcony

Around 60 miles from Barcelona, Tarragona is easy to reach by public transport. Rail is our preferred method of transport for us as you can take in the stunning and often unbroken views along the charismatic the Costa Durada . Make sure you sit on the left side of the train for the best views! Usually we get the slow train, which takes around an hour and a half Estacio de Franca but you can also get a faster train from Estacio Sants if you wish. Timetables can be found here, and a return ticket will cost approx. €17 for the slow train. TIP: You can’t use certain tickets for all trains so make sure you know what trains you can return on.

Rambla Nova

Tarragona is easily and best explored on foot and I would say the best place to start from is the Roman Amphitheatre, it’s just a 5 min walk from the train station. You can buy individual tickets for each sight, but I would recommend buying the combination ticket (approx. €12). This gets you into most of the major ancient sights and is well worth the money, especially if you are staying the whole day. With the ticket comes a map where you can what route to take around the sights.

The Roman Amphitheatre

The main Roman sights are The Amphitheatre, Roman Circus, Roman Tower, The Local Forum, The Roman Wall and the Cathedral is well worth a look (this is not included in the combination ticket) There are also some museums too; The Archaeology Museum of Tarragona and there’s one inside the Cathedral – The Diocesan Museum. There are many more but I would say these are the ones not to miss. There are also some modern sights as well which are all marked on the map.

Tunnel way in the Amphitheatre

Roman Circus

Roman Circus

Tarragona Cathedral

Cloister

Cloister

Roman Wall

In the Old Town area there are lots of little terraces and restaurants where you can have your "long lazy lunch " to refuel for the rest of the day, or once you have finished exploring you can relax with a “vermut ” or a wine and soak up the atmosphere. If you enjoy views of the sea, the Mediterranean Balcony is a must!

Placa del Rei

Placa de La Font with Tarragona Town Hall in the background

Browsing the charming streets

The Tarragona region is also known for being the birthplace of the great Catalan tradition of “Castells” which is Catalan for castle. If you haven’t seen them, they are amazing ! There’s a great tribute statue on Rambla Nova. The assembly of the Castells is complete once all castellers have climbed into their designated places, and the "enxaneta" (the person who completes the Castell and who is usually an impressively fearless young child) climbs into place at the top. Once at the top they raise one hand with four fingers erect, this is said to symbolize the stripes of the Catalan flag.

Staue of the "Castells" on Rambla Nova

Barcelona has a lot to offer but if you are spending more than 5 days in the city I would recommend Tarragona as a day trip. It’s a really interesting and charming day out – like Barcelona only on a smaller scale! The Tarragona Tourism website also has lots of other ideas and trips you can book when there. Happy exploring and enjoy the gallery!