Our Guide to Spain’s Hidden Gems- Merida and its Roman City.

Post 4/9 in our Spain series

Every year thousands upon thousands of people visit Spain. Holidaymakers come to enjoy the warm balmy weather and soak up the sun, tourists come to see the sights and visit the big cities, and travelers come for a slice of the cultural pie that makes up the delightful Spanish heritage. However, if you’re a regular visitor to Spain and looking for a new sight to see, or even if you’re just trying to escape the crowds, at Economy Car Hire we have uncovered another of Spain’s hidden gems that might take your fancy…

We’ve already shared the secret of Madrid’s secret gardens but this week, thanks to our guest travel writer Andy Jarosz, we explore the ancient city of Merida and its stunning collection of Roman ruins. We asked Andy a few questions to better discover why this particular town is worth a visit…

Q1. Why would you recommend visiting Merida?

It has one of Europe’s best-preserved set of Roman ruins. Merida was an important Roman city on the Iberian Peninsula and today has one of the most impressive collections of Roman sites. Even if you’re not really into old history, the theatre and amphitheatre complexes are very impressive and give an idea of the scale that the Roman city must have had. It’s fascinating as well to see how some of Merida’s ancient treasures have been left squeezed in between its modern buildings. The night tours that run through the summer are a great way to experience this unique place – it’s cooler too, as the mid-summer temperatures here often go above 40°C.

Q2. Is it a day trip, weekend break, or longer vacation?

We made an overnight stop in Merida and it’s perfectly placed as a place to break your road trip. If you’re travelling east to west then it’s roughly halfway between Madrid and Lisbon; if you’re heading down to the Mediterranean coast from the north then it’s almost midway between Salamanca and Malaga. We stayed for an afternoon and evening and left the next morning and while we could have stayed longer, it was time enough to see the main historic sights and get a flavour of the town.

Q3. Besides the Roman ruins are there other attractions?

The town itself has a pleasant modern centre with its main attractions centred on its Roman history. If you did want to base yourself here there are several places within a couple of hours’ drive that are well worth exploring, with the beautiful walled city of Caceres to the north and several fortresses and vineyards on both sides of the nearby Portuguese border.

Q4. Is there a good social scene? What about eating out?

This is a tough question to answer as we arrived on Easter Sunday so it would be unfair to judge the town’s quiet appearance on that one night. And besides it being Easter we also had to take the other Spanish religion to take into account – Real Madrid were playing that day and almost every bar was full of fans watching the match on large screens. We went out to find a place for dinner at around 8.30pm and as is typical in much of Spain everywhere was deserted at this early hour. There were a few places with outdoor tables and tourist menus near the amphitheatre but in the end we settled on a non-descript tapas bar in the town’s pedestrian area and soon had a table full of snacks brought out to us. In true Spanish style the place was only getting going as we left at around 10 o’clock.

Q5. Is it an expensive place to visit?

Merida is not an expensive place to stop with hotel rooms and meals very good value compared with the big cities and the resorts along the coast. We stayed in a decent hotel for €50 and our tapas meal with drinks cost us €30 (we ordered too much food). Entrance to the Roman ruins is €12 per person and there’s an audio guide for an extra €3 that’s definitely worth getting (I’m not normally a big fan of audio guides but this was one of the better ones).

If you are looking to fit a visit to Merida and its Roman ruins into your holiday itinerary, it is easily accessible from both Portugal and Spain due to its proximity to the Portuguese border. If you rent a car, don’t forget that we include a free additional driver in most locations so you can share the driving responsibilities and the views along the way – just check the list of inclusions when you get a quote. If you have some alternative suggestions for hidden gems in Spain don’t forget to leave a comment!

When Andy Jarosz isn’t regaling readers with the secrets of hidden gems in Spain, he spends his time exploring the world and writing articles for the likes of National Geographic Traveller, BBC Travel and CNN Travel.