The coastal city of Tarragona, 95Km south of Barcelona is known for its preserved ancient Roman ruins from its days as a Roman colony known as Tarraco, founded in 218 BC. While not the only Roman city of Spain, this was The first Roman settlement on the Iberian peninsula outside of the Italian mainland.
To visit all of the Roman ruins you should allow two days, However, you can explore the most important ones as a Tarragona Day Trip if you start at ten in the morning in Tarragona. On this page I will detail the most important Roman Ruins that form part of the collection of MHT, Museos historics de Tarragona.
Explore the Roman city of Tarragona and discover the multiple UNESCO sites as you journey back in time in Tarraco. Click on any of the below images to find out more about each particular Roman ruin.
Catalunya is divided into four provinces, Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona. Tarragona city is the capital of this province and is located on the Mediterranean Costa Dorada and so has frequent trains with a journey time of one hour from Barcelona.
The Renfe REGIONAL R14, R15, R16 & R17 lines all go to Tarragona city centre from Barcelona-Estació de França, Barcelona-Passeig de Gràcia and Barcelona-Sants.
Note: Do not use any high speed AVE. AVLo, Ouigo or Iryo trains because these all go to Camp de Tarragona which is a new station built 15Km outside of the centre of Tarragona.
For information about beaches on the Costa Dorada around Tarragona visit the Costa Dorada page.
For hiking routes around Tarragona in the mountains I recommend Llaberia Natural Park, Serra de Montsant & Prades Mountains.
Happy Exploring!
