jardim cartagena
Spain

Cartagena in South Spain: the Costa Calida

Cartagena, a city known for its people, the Carthaginians, who used it as the main gateway to the Iberian Peninsula, founded in 227 BC by the Carthaginian General Asdrubal, later conquered by the Romans, is a city of southern Spain that must visit when you take a tour of southern Spain and the Costa Calida.

Cartagena is full of history, which is located near the Mediterranean sea but does not have a large beach or a promenade full of bars and beachfront as many cities along the Mediterranean. On the contrary, Cartagena has a small bay and a large harbour, which was and still is of at most importance due to its location. In the past, it was used as a military port as the hills around the harbour and bay protected it and several artillery posts were built on these hills.

barrio cuevas 3 1

In more modern times Cartagena was marked by its mining activities, with lead and silver mines. More recently its major activity is in the Valle de Escombreras, with important petrochemical facilities and refineries. This area is located between Cartagena and the Mar Menor.

escombreras

Cartagena Map

What you don’t want to miss

Our visit began by the sea wall near the harbor. This wall divides the city from the port and has some gardens.

jardim cartagena

Arriving at the most central area of the city, we visited what is Cartagena’s main monument. The Roman Theater was once covered by an old residential area.

teatro romano 1

The Roman theatre is in the centre of the city and was discovered after several houses have torn down in 1988.

teatro romano 2

As we walk through it, we can hardly think about the city before the excavation to bring the whole of the Roman Theater into sight.

teatro romano 3

Close to the Roman Theater is Torres Park with its Concepción Castle inside and accessible by a Panoramic Elevator. This park gives you a panoramic view of the city and the harbour.

The Barrio del Foro Romano is another point of great historical interest that can be visited. It is one of the largest urban archaeological parks in Spain and was once an ancient Roman city where the Roman sidewalk and Roman Baths stand out.

Cartagena’s central area is full of shops and restaurants allowing for the rest of the day shopping and admiring the imposing architecture of some of these existing buildings.

Cartagena centro

If you are a big fan of museums, Cartagena will not let you down as it has so many of which we highlight the following:

However, to be able to visit all the museums and monuments listed above, you certainly need to stay more than one day.

Beach and Walking trails

The nearest beach is the small La Cortina beach, located in a bay near the entrance to the port of Cartagena.

This whole area of the coast has many trails for those who like to walk. The trails run through the hills and lead you to the ancient war installations that protected Cartagena’s strategic harbor. Moreover, they always provide a spectacular view of the Mediterranean Sea and the whole city of Cartagena.

Also know more about the beaches in La Manga del Mar Menor in this post.

Compare prices to visit Cartagena. Múrcia its the nearest airport.


Plan your trip using the following tools and/or website


Using the following links and tools on the website you are helping to maintain Scannertrip. This use is the same for you and you do not pay more for it. For Scannertrip it makes all the difference!!

  • To find the best stays use Booking. It is one of the best websites for booking stays and always with some promotions on some destinations. The reliability and ease of booking and cancelling make it even the most popular. 
  • To compare prices for your Stays you can use the Hotels Combined or hotellook. These search engines show different prices from other websites for the same destination. There may possibly be a lower price for the same hotel on another website and these search engines will show it.
  • If you need to fly, search for flights on a price comparator. We recommend the jetradar or the Kiwi.
  • When you are preparing what to do at your destination, you will obviously search for activities to occupy you. Use this activity comparator in the scannertrip provided by Musement, or tiqets or the civitatis.
  • Transfers to and from the airport can be purchased via the website kiwitaxi. So you don’t need to get in touch with the different companies in your destination looking for the best price.
  • If you choose to rent a car, also use the price comparators. The autoeurope website compares prices from different rental companies.

Practical Guide

Cartagena is not a very big city and it was easy to get there and park the car for free. We parked next to the Polytechnic University of Cartagena which is next to Av. Trovero Marín which allowed us to walk along the waterfront to the oldest part at near walking distance. The whole city can be seen on foot, as the points of interest are not far away.

The level of safety did not seem to us to be a problem either since at no time do we feel insecure on every street.

Popular stays

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