11 Reasons to Visit Cádiz, Andalusia's Most Underrated City

Unaccountably, Cádiz’s oldest quarter is rarely named as one of Andalusia’s most beautiful barrios. Yet this maze of shabby-chic streets that surrounds the city’s great cathedral is every bit as enchanting, in its own unique way, as Seville’s Santa Cruz or Córdoba’s San Basilio. It’s packed with old-school tapas bars and boutique clothes shops and is home to some of the city’s most beautiful buildings.

The people of Cádiz are known throughout Spain for their thick accent – said even by other Andalusians to be hard to understand – and their fondness for cracking jokes or making witty remarks. They have thus earned themselves the (ever so slightly sarcastic) nickname of graciosillos – people who try to be funny. This is a great city, then, in which to improve your Spanish by getting involved in some witty bar-room banter with the locals.

Cádiz’s February carnival is the most famous celebration of its kind in Spain. Its stars are the wandering bands of street artists known as comparsas or chirigotas, who perform musical skits satirising Spanish current affairs and Spanish celebrities. As well as attracting huge crowds on the streets and squares during Los Carnavles, these groups also take part in a formal competition that’s held in the Teatro Falla.