Plaza de San Juan de Dios

The Plaza de San Juan de Dios, in Cadix

The Plaza de San Juan de Dios is the historic heart of Cadix for more than five centuries, the former great square of the town open onto the port. The Cadix audio-guided tour stops here to evoke this commercial crossroads with its irregular layout, inherited from a former arm of the sea, that knew its golden age with the trade of the Americas, dominated by the fine façade of the town hall.

The former main square open onto the port

Here you are on the Plaza de San Juan de Dios, the historic heart of Cadix for more than five centuries. You find yourself in front of the former main square of the town, formerly known by the name of La Corredera. Its irregular layout often surprises visitors: it corresponds in reality to one of the former mouths of the arm of the sea that crossed the island of Cadix, giving this space a unique shape from the Middle Ages. The square was for a long time the first image offered to travellers arriving by the port. From the sixteenth century, it became the nerve centre of urban activity. Open onto the quays, animated by merchants and crews, it imposed itself as the great commercial crossroads of the town. Its golden age came with the trade of the Americas: it is here that the exotic products brought back by the fleets of the Indies were displayed and sold, until the creation of the Mercado Central that put an end, at the end of the eighteenth century, to the permanent market installed on the square. In front of you stands the Ayuntamiento, the town hall, whose façade mingling neoclassical and baroque dominates the whole; since the sixteenth century, the municipal power has sat at this location. Vast and luminous, lined with palm trees and terraces, the square remains today an essential point of passage between the port and the old town. A historic square and a gateway to the town, the Plaza de San Juan de Dios is a fine stop of the discovery of Cadix.

What to see

Here you discover the historic heart of Cadix, the former main square called La Corredera, with its irregular layout inherited from a former arm of the sea; open onto the port, it was from the sixteenth century the great commercial crossroads of the town and knew its golden age with the fleets of the Indies, dominated by the town hall with its neoclassical and baroque façade. The Plaza de San Juan de Dios is the gateway to Cadix. It is a fine stop, to be explored on foot.

Practical information

The Plaza de San Juan de Dios lies between the port and the old town of Cadix, reachable on foot. It is a public square freely accessible, lined with palm trees, terraces and the town hall. You discover it during a walk in the historic centre.

Why does the Plaza de San Juan de Dios of Cadix have an irregular shape?

Because its layout follows one of the former mouths of the arm of the sea that once crossed the island of Cadix, giving it this unique shape from the Middle Ages; the former main square called La Corredera, open onto the port, it was the great commercial crossroads of the town at the golden age of the fleets of the Indies, dominated by the town hall.

Where is the Plaza de San Juan de Dios in Cadix?

Between the port and the old town of Cadix, in Spain.