The city of Tarragona, one of the most outstanding cities on Costa Dorada and capital of the Catalan province, has been the setting for some of the most famous films that have marked the history of Spanish cinema, as well as that of other countries.
The narrow streets of the Parte Alta, its Roman heritage as one of the most important settlements in the area, its majestic Cathedral of Santa Tecla, in Romanesque and Gothic style, and the entire Ensanche, make this city a perfect place to create a fictitious film set. In this article, we are going to explain all the films and TV series that have been filmed in the city of Tarragona.
If you want to know the places where great artists of the cinematographic world have been filmed, we recommend you to travel to the capital of the province with Shuttle2Sun‘s shared transfer services and private transfer services, low-cost and sustainable, available from Barcelona airport, Barcelona port, Reus airport, Girona airport and Camp de Tarragona AVE train station. Remember that you can book your transfer up to 24 hours in advance.
Sierra de Teruel, by André Malraux, filmed during the Spanish Civil War
One of the first film shoots in the city of Tarragona was in September 1938, the year in which the film ‘Sierra de Teruel’, in French ‘Espoir’ (Hope), by the French writer and filmmaker André Malnaux, was made. This feature film, based on the novel by the same author, ‘L’Espoir’, tells the story of Republican aviators who carry out bombing missions against Franco’s forces during the Spanish Civil War.
‘Sierra de Teruel’ starred great Spanish actors of the time, such as Andrés Mejuto, Nicolás Rodríguez, José Sempere, Julio Peña, Pedro Codina, José María Lado, Serafín Ferro and Miguel del Castillo.
Some of the locations that appear in the film are the exterior staircases of the Castell de Pilat, also known as the Torre del Pretorio or Castell del Rey, one of the Roman buildings that served as a connection between the lower part of the city and the provincial Forum.
The Calle Mayor, with Tarragona Cathedral in the background; Carrer Merceria, a street characterised by the 14th century vaults that maintain the façade of the whole block; the Roser descent and Passeig de Torroja; as well as the Portal del Roser and Portal de Sant Antoni, two of the main accesses that connect the Ensanche with the old quarter.
As a curiosity, it is worth noting that the film was shot during the war itself, suffering, during the filming, a bombardment in the area of the port of Tarragona. Even so, the chosen locations were in the Parte Alta, far from the affected area. In addition, the crew stayed at the Hotel París, which no longer exists, located in Plaça Verdaguer.
The Balcony of the Mediterranean and the Tarragona coastline, two favourite locations
Another of the films that chose the city of Tarragona to film some of its scenes was ‘La Gran Familia’, from 1962, by director Fernando Palacios. In one of the most outstanding moments, the family parks their van at the end of the Rambla Nova, and the children run off, passing by the monument to Admiral Roger de Llúria, until they reach the Balcó del Mediterrani, one of Tarragona’s favourite spots.
There is also the film ‘La Ciudad de los Prodigios‘, by director Mario Camus, based on the novel by Eduardo Mendoza. Although the film is set in Barcelona, the port of Tarragona was chosen because of its similarity to what the port of Barcelona used to be like in the past.
Shuttle2Sun offers you its shared transfer services and private transfer services, low-cost and sustainable, from Barcelona airport, Barcelona port, Reus airport, Girona airport and Camp de Tarragona AVE train station, so you can get to the city of Tarragona in a comfortable way.
The Upper Part of Tarragona, full of history
The Indian film director Sai Kishore Macha filmed in Tarragona, in 2015, his work ‘James Bond (Telugu)’, which mixes romance, mafia and comedy. Some of the locations that appear are the Tarragona Cathedral and its famous stairs; and the Carrer del Comte, popularly known as Pilon’s Street, because of the original painted pylons that give a picturesque air to this small street in the upper part of Tarragona.
Other places of interest
The Tabacalera de Tarragona, as its name suggests, a former tobacco factory, is a large 20th century industrial building, located very close to the Francolí river, which is now mostly disused. This space was transformed, in 2021, into the fictitious Nuestra Señora de la Fuentecilla psychiatric hospital, on the occasion of the filming of the successful movie ‘Los renglones torcidos de Dios‘, directed by Oriol Paulo and based on the 1979 novel by the Spanish writer and journalist Torcuato Luca de Tena.
Another of the places in Tarragona chosen by Spanish film directors is the Bank of Spain building, which appears in several Spanish films, such as Netflix‘s ‘Un hombre en acción’, starring Juanjo Ballesta; ‘Secuestro’, directed by Mar Targarona; and ‘Félix‘, by Cesc Gay, in which Tarragona’s El Miracle school also appears.
The Tarragona Educational Complex, formerly known as the Labour University, has also been the setting for several films, such as, for example, ‘Los ojos de Julia‘, in which Belén Rueda goes into the disused underground corridors of the centre to film this thriller.
If you want to continue discovering Catalan locations that have been part of film history, don’t miss our article ‘Cinema venues in Barcelona’, in which we explain all the places most desired by directors in Barcelona.
Remember that with Shuttle2Sun‘s low-cost and sustainable shared transfer services and private transfer services, you can get to Tarragona from Barcelona airport, Barcelona port, Reus airport, Girona airport and Camp de Tarragona AVE train station. Remember that you can book your transfer up to 24 hours in advance.
