Tarragona is a mid-sized city on the Costa Daurada —around 135,000 people—, an hour from Barcelona, and it holds Catalonia's greatest Roman treasure. It was Tarraco, capital of Roman Hispania, and from that era it preserves a complex declared a World Heritage Site.
Its star monument is the Roman Amphitheatre, overlooking the sea, but the whole city is an open-air museum: the circus, the forum, the walls and, on the outskirts, the aqueduct of Les Ferreres (Devil's Bridge). All crowned by the medieval Cathedral and the Balcó del Mediterrani, the viewpoint over the port.
A few kilometres away, in Salou, is PortAventura World, one of the largest theme parks in Europe with Ferrari Land, the coast's big family draw. Tarragona is seen well in one or two days and combines history, beach and leisure.
The best time to visit is spring and autumn; summer ad