Things to do in Murcia

Landmark · Old city centre

A Gothic cathedral wrapped in one of the great baroque facades in Spain, on a square that functions as the city's outdoor living room.

Local tip: The facade is designed like an altarpiece and is best seen in late afternoon light. Climb the tower — it is one of the tallest in Spain, the ascent is a spiral ramp rather than stairs, and almost nobody does it. Then sit on the square, which is where the city actually is at eight in the evening.

Food · Central, north of the cathedral

Two adjoining squares that form the tapas heart of the city, ringed by bars that have been doing the same three things for decades.

Local tip: Order a marinera and a caña standing at the bar rather than sitting outside — the price and the service are different, and standing is how it is done. If a bar has a queue at nine on a weeknight, that is the recommendation.

Culture · Calle Trapería, central

A nineteenth-century gentlemen's club with a Moorish patio, an English library and a ballroom, opened to the public and immaculately restored.

Local tip: It costs very little to walk through and it is one of the most extravagant interiors in Spain — the Arab courtyard is modelled on the Alhambra and the ladies' powder room has a painted ceiling. Ten minutes off the main shopping street, and almost every visitor walks past the door.

Culture · Barrio del Carmen, west centre

The polychrome processional sculptures of Francisco Salzillo, the eighteenth-century master whose figures are carried through the city in Holy Week.

Local tip: Go before Easter rather than during it. Seeing the figures at eye level in a quiet room, then seeing the same ones carried at dawn on Good Friday, is the single best way to understand what Semana Santa here actually is.

Nature · Algezares, 8 km south

The city's patron sanctuary on the edge of the Carrascoy range, with the whole huerta laid out below it.

Local tip: Drive or cycle up in the early morning for the view over the plain — you can see the entire irrigated belt and understand the city's geography in one glance. The regional park behind it has walking routes that are usable most of the year, unlike almost anywhere else in the region in August.

Nature · 45–60 minutes south-east

Europe's largest coastal salt lagoon, in serious ecological difficulty, and beyond it a regional park of undeveloped beaches between the lagoon and the open sea.

Local tip: Calblanque is the reason to make the trip — protected, unbuilt, with a summer shuttle bus because private cars are restricted. Read the current water-quality notices for the Mar Menor before swimming in the lagoon itself; the situation genuinely varies year to year and the regional government publishes the status.