Cádiz might not be the biggest city in Andalusia, but this ancient wonderland certainly packs a significant punch. One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, the city known to the Moors as Qādis, the Phoenicians as Agadir and the Greeks as tà Gádeira is a living treasure hunt of Europe’s most important centuries, a city where history is found around every corner, in every nook and cranny and everywhere in between.

Is that to say that Cádiz is all history history history? Far from it — this place has a youthful essence that simply cannot be faked. Its people are its greatest asset, vivacious and energetic in everything they do, whether that is filling up the tapas bars or going about their daily business in that most majestic of old towns. Saying that, there isn’t a huge amount of energy on the beach — it is the beach after all — but we all need to relax from time to time.

And Cádiz offers plenty of that. This little charmer on the Bay of Cádiz will engage and excite you with its restaurants, bars, clubs and unbeatable seafood joints, its proud history of flamenco and its festivals, not least its carnival, second only to Rio when it comes to extravagance. But the beaches are there when it all gets a bit too much, and there are few things we love more than an evening on La Caleta watching the sun go down, before heading to the Central Market for all manner of entertainment.