Tarragona

A Tarragona weekend from the Roman circus vaults to the Pont del Diable

A weekend suits Tarragona. Spend the first day climbing from the amphitheatre through the circus vaults to the cathedral, then walk the Passeig Arqueològic and watch evening fall from the Balcó del Mediterrani; give the second to the Rambla Nova, a seafood lunch in El Serrallo and the Pont del Diable aqueduct.

Day one starts at the amphitheatre while the light off the sea is still soft. Walk up to the Circ Romà next and follow its vaulted passages, which once carried the seating of the chariot track and now hold up the houses of the Part Alta. Keep climbing to the cathedral and give the cloister, with its carved Romanesque capitals, a good half hour.

Eat tapas on Carrer Major at lunchtime, then circle the outside of the Roman walls on the Passeig Arqueològic, a shaded path that stays cooler than the lanes inside. End the afternoon on the Balcó del Mediterrani, touching the iron railing as the locals do, and have dinner on the terraces of Plaça de Mossèn Cinto Verdaguer.

On day two, walk the length of the Rambla Nova down to the port and take a long seafood lunch in El Serrallo. Later, go about 4 km north by taxi to the Pont del Diable, a two-tier Roman aqueduct in a pine wood. Families can swap it for PortAventura in Salou, and wine drinkers for a drive inland to Priorat. On a Wednesday in July or August, be back at the cathedral steps in the evening for the castells.

Romesco, fish rice and vermouth in El Serrallo

Order romesco in Tarragona, ideally at El Serrallo, the fishing quarter beside the port, where quayside restaurants cook whatever the boats landed that morning. Rice cooked in fish stock is the other dish to try there, and a vermouth before a weekend lunch is the local habit.

The signature romesco is a thick sauce of dried ñora peppers, toasted nuts, garlic and olive oil, spooned over grilled fish or used as the base of a seafood stew that shares its name. The place to eat it is El Serrallo, the fishing quarter beside the port, where restaurants along the quay cook whatever the boats landed that morning. Rice cooked in fish stock is the other order to make there.

Up in the Part Alta, Carrer Major drops from the cathedral lined with tapas bars, and Plaça de Mossèn Cinto Verdaguer, a modern square with nothing to look at, is packed with terraces. Before a weekend lunch, order a vermouth: several bars pour a house blend made from local white wine fortified with grape spirit and flavoured with botanicals.

The hills behind the city make DO wines, and Priorat, further inland, produces some of the most serious reds in Spain. From January to March the town of Valls, about 20 km inland, hosts calçotadas, outdoor feasts of chargrilled spring onions dunked in a romesco-style sauce and eaten with a bib.

Quiet months, Costa Daurada summers and Santa Tecla in Tarragona

Late May and the first half of September bring quiet ruins and a warm sea together in Tarragona. July and August peak at 29 to 30°C with beach crowds along the Costa Daurada, winters are gentle at about 12°C by day, and the city's big festival, Santa Tecla, builds to 23 September.

The sea keeps winters gentle here. January averages about 12°C by day and 8°C at night, too cool for El Miracle beach but fine for the Roman sites, which you will have largely to yourself. Spring warms steadily to around 22°C in May. July and August peak at 29 to 30°C, and July is almost dry, which means beach weather and crowds along the Costa Daurada. Autumn is the wettest stretch: September and October each average more than 60 mm, usually in short heavy bursts rather than days of drizzle.

The calendar revolves around the castells. Through July and August the colles build towers outside the cathedral on Wednesday evenings. The high point is Santa Tecla, the patron festival, which builds to her feast day on 23 September with human towers in Plaça de la Font, fire-runs, giants and processions through the Part Alta. In even-numbered years the Concurs de Castells, Catalonia's main competition, fills the Tarraco Arena in early October. In spring, Tarraco Viva brings Roman re-enactments and talks to the ancient sites.