Cádiz Cathedral: tickets, opening hours, crypt and tower

Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.

The short answer

Cádiz Cathedral, the Catedral de Santa Cruz sobre el Mar, is the gold-domed church on the seafront that you see in almost every photo of the city. We think it is worth an hour or two: one ticket covers the church, the crypt below sea level where the composer Manuel de Falla is buried, the Torre del Reloj (the bell tower you climb for the view) and the cathedral museum.

• Time needed: about 1.5 hours with the audio guide, plus time for the museum
• Price: €12, including the tower, the crypt, the museum and the audio guide
• Book ahead? Not usually. Buy at the ticket office or on the official website
• Hours: Monday to Saturday 10:00 to 20:00, Sunday from 13:30; last entry 19:00
• Where: Plaza de la Catedral, on the edge of the El Pópulo quarter, about 10 minutes’ walk from the train station

One correction to older guides, including some of our own earlier notes: the tower open to visitors is the Torre del Reloj (the clock tower, on the east side), not the Torre de Poniente. The west tower closed to the public around 2013, and the clock tower opened in its place in 2015.

Opening hours and prices

Hours can change without notice for services and church feasts. The official website, catedraldecadiz.com, posts changes on its home page, such as a later start on certain Saturdays.

Tickets

Buy the ticket at the cathedral’s ticket office or online through the official website, which sells through the Articketing platform. Outside Carnival and summer weekends you rarely need to book, but an online ticket saves the queue on busy days, so we’d book one then.

Free entry: there is no free tourist slot. You can attend the Sunday mass at 12:00 without a ticket, but you can’t tour the building, the crypt or the tower during services, which is why Sunday visits start at 13:30.

The old cathedral is separate and free. The Iglesia de Santa Cruz, a short walk away in El Pópulo, is not on the cathedral ticket. It is a working parish church with its own, fairly short opening times, usually closed on Mondays.

A short history

Cádiz grew rich in the 18th century, when the monopoly on trade with the Americas moved here from Seville, and the city wanted a cathedral to match. Work began in 1722 under the architect Vicente Acero, who left the project in 1739. Money ran short, several architects followed, and the building was only finished in 1838, 116 years later.

That slow start shows in the result. The lower parts are Baroque, with curving walls and rich decoration, while the upper parts and towers are cooler and Neoclassical. The exterior mixes marble with the local piedra ostionera, a porous shell-stone that weathers badly in the salt air.

The dome over the crossing, about 54 metres high, is covered in yellow glazed tiles that shine gold in the sun. The two towers either side of the main façade came later: the clock tower in 1845 and the west tower in 1862.

What to see inside

The visit follows a single set route with the audio guide.

1. The nave. A tall, light interior in pale stone, very different from the dark Gothic cathedral in Seville. Look up at the dome from the crossing, and at the choir stalls, which came from a Carthusian monastery in Seville.
2. The crypt. Below the high altar, and below sea level, is a circular crypt with a wide, almost flat vault. Here lie Manuel de Falla, the Cádiz-born composer of El amor brujo, and the writer José María Pemán, along with several bishops of the diocese.
3. The Torre del Reloj. You walk up inside the tower on gentle ramps rather than stairs, to a viewing level about 40 metres up next to the bells. From the top you see the whole peninsula: the rooftops and watchtowers, the Atlantic on three sides, and the Bay of Cádiz. The clock, made by José Miguel de Zugasti in the mid-19th century, has been restored and is one of the oldest in Spain.
4. The Casa de la Contaduría. The cathedral museum is in a group of old houses around a 16th-century Mudéjar patio, a couple of minutes’ walk from the cathedral, next to the Roman theatre. Its treasury holds the Custodia del Millón, an 18th-century monstrance said to be set with about a million precious stones, and the Gothic Custodia del Cogollo, attributed to Enrique de Arfe. It closes at 16:30, so see it first if you arrive in the afternoon.

The old cathedral: Iglesia de Santa Cruz

The first cathedral of Cádiz was founded in the 13th century under Alfonso X, traditionally on the site of a mosque. It was badly damaged when an Anglo-Dutch fleet sacked the city in 1596, then rebuilt, and it served as the cathedral until the new one was finished. Today it is the parish church of Santa Cruz, simpler and quieter than its neighbour, and worth ten minutes if you find it open.

Tips for your visit

• We’d start with the tower in the morning, before the heat and the tour groups, or late in the afternoon for softer light over the sea.
• We’d see the museum before 16:00, when last entry closes.
• Our favourite view of the cathedral is from outside, from the Campo del Sur, the sea wall to the south. We’d walk it at sunset, when the light turns the façades and the dome gold.
• Dress: it is a place of worship, so cover shoulders in the church. A scarf is enough in summer.
• We’d combine it with the Roman theatre, just behind the cathedral in El Pópulo. It is free and usually closed on Mondays.
• We’d then walk to Torre Tavira, about ten minutes away, for the camera obscura. Its live image of the city complements the view from the cathedral tower rather than repeating it.

Guided tours

The audio guide is enough for the cathedral itself. If you’d rather see the old town with a guide, we think a walking tour of El Pópulo, the cathedral square and Torre Tavira is a good first morning: Cádiz old town walking tours. Coming from Seville for the day? See Seville to Cádiz for trains and a one-day plan.

Nearby: combine it with

• La Caleta: the city’s small beach between two castles, about 15 minutes’ walk west.
• More ideas: the full list of things to do in Cádiz and our Cádiz city guide.

Where to stay near the cathedral

The old town is small, so almost any hotel in it is within 15 minutes’ walk. The streets around the cathedral and El Pópulo put you closest; the Barrio de la Viña is better for the beach and the fried fish. See where to stay in Cádiz for the areas and the best hotels in Cádiz for our picks.

FAQ