New high-speed rail services from France to Spain have helped make Tarragona even easier to reach by train. You can now travel to this historic Catalan port in a single day from both London and Paris (it is, however, a journey of about 12 hours from London). There are two railway stations, viz. Tarragona itself, just south of the city centre; then there is an out-of-town station, served only by high-speed trains, called Camp de Tarragona (and locally referred to as Éstacio del Camp). A shuttle bus links the out-of-town station with central Tarragona; it takes about 15 minutes.

Tarragona is first and foremost an industrial city, but that does not deter the history buffs who come to explore the city’s fine Roman remains. The historic town centre (called La Part Alta) is superbly located high above the Mediterranean. You'll find fresh fish aplenty in the Serrallo port district and there's even a handful of secluded beaches.

Regular local trains shuttle between Barcelona and the town centre station in Tarragona, taking just over an hour for the journey. From Tarragona, there are good onward connections to other Spanish cities, with direct trains from the city centre station down the Levante coast to Alicante and Valencia. For those who cherish slower rail travel, there’s a marvellous once-daily Talgo service to Córdoba and Seville which avoids high-speed lines and takes a delightfully rural route to Andalucía.

If high-speed is more your thing, then make for the out-of-town Camp de Tarragona station, from where the fastest AVE trains dash to Madrid in a shade over two hours. The Éstacio del Camp has fast trains to Barcelona (just 35 minutes away) and occasional direct trains to an impressively large number of other cities across Spain and southern France. Avignon, Córdoba, Girona, Málaga, Marseille and Seville all feature on the departure boards.