Spain · Andalusia · Cadiz
Santa María, Cadiz — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Flamenco classes run on Plaza de la Merced in Santa María, a barrio of Cádiz, Spain, held between the port and the Puerta de Tierra.
About Santa María
Where to stay in Santa María
Not every neighbourhood fits every trip — here's what each one is good for.
Santa María covers the landward end of the old town of Cádiz, a close grid of houses on Calle Sopranis, Calle Santa María, and the lanes off Plaza de la Merced. Trains end at Plaza de Sevilla. A room here sits a few minutes from the Puerta de Tierra, with the Campo del Sur sea wall on one side and the working port on the other.
Stay in Santa María if you want the flamenco centre and the train platforms within one short walk.
About Santa María
What are the main landmarks in Santa María?
Santa María's convent churches anchor the barrio: the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Merced was finished in 1638 and rebuilt after the fire of 1936. The Convento de Nuestra Señora del Rosario y Santo Domingo closes the port side, its church finished in 1666. On Plaza de la Merced, the Centro Municipal de Arte Flamenco La Merced occupies the old market building.
Chano Lobato's statue stands outside. The old tobacco factory on Calle Plocia stands three storeys in exposed brick under glazed ceramic roofs, remodelled as the Palacio de Congresos.
What is the history of Santa María?
Santa María took shape in the fifteenth century, when the medieval walled town at El Pópulo overflowed its limits and building spread east. A chapel of Santa María, later a convent, gave the barrio its name. The Mercedarios Descalzos won a licence on 10 March 1629 to found in houses in the barrio, and the Dominicans followed on 14 July 1635 with a convent by the walls.
The state tobacco factory entered the old Alhóndiga on Calle Plocia in 1829. Torcuato Benjumeda designed the Cárcel Real. Its cells took prisoners from 1836, and the Merced convent came down in 1867 to open the square that holds the barrio's flamenco centre.
Where is Santa María?
Santa María is the southernmost of the historic-centre barrios of Cádiz, running from El Pópulo and Plaza de San Juan de Dios southeast to the Puerta de Tierra.
Good for
More areas in Cadiz
Updated September 2026