Welcome
Enter Torre Tavira. The best views of Cádiz. Step into the 18th century—the city’s golden age—thanks to Cádiz’s trade with the Indies.
Climb one of its 134 watchtowers—Torre Tavira, the highest point in Cádiz’s old town—home to a pioneering attraction in Spain: La Cámara Oscura can be seen.
Come and see it all from TORRE TAVIRA.
At the Torre Tavira reception, there are three areas:
- Tourist information point, where visitors can obtain opening hours and brochures about the different attractions available in the province, city maps, activities to enjoy, schedules, and more.
- A small Cádiz souvenir shop where visitors can find a wide range of products.
- The ticket sales and customer service area, where the visit is explained in detail, including all information about the activities at the tower, the time of the Camera Obscura session, and the duration of the visit to the different rooms.
Our staff will be delighted to assist you with anything you may need.
Lieutenant Frigate Officer Antonio Tavira himself must have climbed these very stairs many times. In total, there are three different floors with easy-to-climb stair sections, where you can take a short rest before enjoying the Camera Obscura experience and its unbeatable viewpoint.
For more than ten years now, Torre Tavira has been striving for an accessibility project, whose main feature is an elevator. Unfortunately, the Heritage Commission of the Culture Department of the Regional Government of Andalusia has rejected this proposal, citing ‘visual impact.’ However, this decision has not discouraged us, and we will continue to fight for what we believe is right, as we consider that heritage should be accessible to everyone. That is why, in 2013, we launched the awareness campaign. «101 Ways to Climb Torre Tavira Without an Elevator», which was met with great success among the people of Cádiz. Likewise, in 2015 we presented a new accessibility project featuring an elevator inside the tower, and we are currently awaiting a decision from the Provincial Heritage Commission and from Cádiz City Council, the owner of the building.
The first exhibition room is thematic and features informational panels that address different topics related to the history and evolution of the Camera Obscura can be seen.
The information in this first room focuses mainly on the operation of a Camera Obscura, its history throughout the centuries, and other Camerae Obscurae installed in Spain and around the world.
This room features a screen that continuously shows interesting reports about Cádiz, as well as a children’s area, where kids can draw and enjoy activities related to Torre Tavira.
The second exhibition room, from which magnificent panoramic views can be enjoyed, is dedicated to 18th- and 19th-century Cádiz. Two of the most important centuries in modern Cádiz history, when the Casa de Contratación de Indias was established in Cádiz, thanks to the development of Cádiz’s trade.
In this room, we find panels describing the Port of Cádiz and its intense traffic along the commercial routes with America; the merchants’ houses with their watchtowers; how Torre Tavira was designated the official watchtower of the Port of Cádiz in 1778, as it is the highest point in the old town; and an introduction to Don Antonio Tavira, its first watchman.
We can also find an interesting panel that shows the urban development of the city from its foundation to the present day.
A panel about the Cádiz Cortes of 1812 explains the history of Spain’s first Constitution.
The Camera Obscura is a pioneering attraction in Spain. It is based on an optical effect through which the scenes taking place outside the tower at that very moment are reflected onto a white concave screen, shaped like a table.
The Camera Obscura operates in sessions with limited capacity so that everyone can sit comfortably around the screen. Currently, and due to COVID-19, capacity is limited to 12 people. A guide explains the city’s monuments and history while the optical instrument rotates 360°, offering a unique tour of the entire city of Cádiz.
Each session lasts approximately 15–20 minutes, with sessions in different languages taking place every half hour, continuously throughout the day.
It is the highest area of the tower, from where the entire city of Cádiz and its bay can be seen.
In the lookout point, positioned like a periscope, is the tube containing the optical system of the Camera Obscura which allows us to see the projection of the entire panoramic view of Cádiz.
