11 Best Sights in Andalusia, Spain

At 150 feet tall, this watchtower is the highest point in the old city. More than a hundred such structures were used by Cádiz ship owners to spot their arriving fleets. A camera obscura gives a good overview of the city and its monuments. The last show is held 30 minutes before closing time.

Five blocks southeast of the Torre Tavira are the gold dome and baroque facade of Cádiz's cathedral, which offers views from atop the Torre del Reloj (Clock Tower) that make the climb to the top worth it. The construction of the building was begun in 1722, when the city was at the height of its power. Cádiz-born composer Manuel de Falla, who died in 1946, is buried in the crypt. The museum, on Calle Arquitecto Acero, displays gold, silver, and jewels from the New World, as well as Enrique de Arfe's processional cross, which is carried in the annual Corpus Christi parades. The cathedral is known as the "New Cathedral" because it supplanted the original neighboring 13th-century structure, which was destroyed by the British in 1592, rebuilt, then rechristened the Iglesia de la Santa Cruz (Church of the Holy Cross).

Four blocks west of Santa Inés is the Plaza Fragela, overlooked by this amazing neo-Mudejar redbrick building. The classic interior is impressive as well—try to attend a performance.

On the east side of the Plaza de Mina is Cádiz's provincial museum. Notable pieces include works by Murillo and Alonso Cano, as well as the Four Evangelists and a set of saints by Zurbarán. The archaeological section contains two extraordinary marble Phoenician sarcophagi from the time of this ancient city's birth.

Next door to the Oratorio de San Felipe Neri, this small but pleasant museum has a 19th-century mural depicting the establishment of the Constitution of 1812. Its real showpiece, however, is a 1779 ivory-and-mahogany model of Cádiz, with all of the city's streets and buildings in minute detail, looking much as they do now.

A few blocks east of the Plaza de Mina, next door to the Iglesia del Rosario, this oval 18th-century chapel has three frescoes by Goya. On Good Friday, the Sermon of the Seven Words is read and Haydn's Seven Last Words played.

A walk up Calle San José from the Plaza de Mina will bring you to this church, where Spain's first liberal constitution (known affectionately as La Pepa) was declared in 1812. It was here, too, that the Cortes (Parliament) of Cádiz met when the rest of Spain was subjected to the rule of Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte (more popularly known as Pepe Botella, for his love of the bottle). On the main altar is an Immaculate Conception by Murillo, the great Sevillano artist who fell to his death from a scaffold in 1682 while working on his Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine in Cádiz's Chapel of Santa Catalina. You can hear Mass in Latin on Sunday at noon.

There's plenty of golden sand at this wide, urban beach. The boardwalk fills with beach bars in summer.

Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards (in season); showers; toilets; parking (no fee).

Best for: partiers; sunset.

Near the ayuntamiento is this pretty square surrounded by white-and-yellow houses and filled with orange trees and elegant street lamps. It's especially lively during the evening paseo.

Next door to the Church of the Holy Cross are the remains of a 1st-century-BC Roman theater, one of the oldest and largest in Spain. The stage is unexcavated (it lies under nearby houses), but you can visit the entrance and large seating area as well as the visitor center.

Few Phoenician settlements have survived intact, but excavations underneath the Puppet Museum revealed some of the best-preserved ruins in Southern Europe. You can visit the 9th-century-BC remains and discover eight houses along two cobbled streets, complete with animal hoofprints encased in mud and clay. The site also has the remains of a Roman fish-preserving factory with saltwater pools.