Village
Cambrils is a coastal fishing town in the comarca of Baix Camp, in the province of Tarragona, anchored in the centre of the Costa Daurada and surrounded by the Serres de Llaberia, l'Argentera and la Mussara. With 37,042 inhabitants (INE 2025), it is the fifth most populous municipality in the province and the second in its comarca. Its name is first documented in 1152, in the grant of the place made by the Count of Barcelona Ramon Berenguer IV to the knight Ponç de Rigomir, although its etymological origin remains disputed: some theories derive it from the Arabic Qámrila, linked to a lineage of Maghrebi legal scholars (alfaquís), and others from the Latin camera, chamber. Today it is known for its beaches and for the Parc Samà, a romantic garden of colonial inspiration.
Monument
Parc Samà is a private historic garden and botanical garden of 14 hectares, declared Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Spain's highest level of heritage protection), located in the municipal area of Cambrils, 90 metres above sea level and 5 kilometres from the coast. It was created from 1881 by Salvador Samà i Torrens, Marquis of Marianao, heir to a Catalan family established in Cuba, with a design by Josep Fontserè, author of the Ciutadella Park in Barcelona, and Antoni Gaudí as assistant. It is a notable example of 19th-century romantic gardening that reproduces the exotic atmosphere of colonial Cuba, with a main promenade flanked by plane trees over 20 metres tall, plantations of mandarin trees and palm trees, and a fountain decorated with sea-snail shells and giant clams.
Monument
Also called the Torre de l'Ermita or del Carme, it stands next to the sanctuary of the Mare de Déu del Camí, near the route of the old Via Augusta. It is a rectangular tower about ten by eight meters, with a ground floor, three upper floors, and a terrace, built of medium-sized stone with large ashlars at the corners; it is usually dated to the 14th century.
Monument
A coastal defence tower situated beside the port of Cambrils (Baix Camp), on Carrer del Consolat de Mar. The Council of Cambrils agreed to its construction on 30 December 1664 to watch over the coast amid the insecurity of the period; in 1681 it obtained authorization to be equipped with artillery, ammunition and gunpowder. Circular in plan with the lower part battered, it is built of green stone masonry with ashlar reinforcements at the base; it stands about fifteen metres high and preserves inside a vault at six metres. After the disentailment it was auctioned in 1894 and acquired by Josep Ribot, later passing into private hands until in 1992 it once again became the property of the Cambrils Town Council.
Monument
The Torre del Mas del Bisbe stands beside the route of the old Via Augusta, in the municipal area of Cambrils, to watch over and defend the coast from Barbary pirates. From the 16th century, almost square in plan, about 5.75 metres to a side and 18 metres high, it is built of masonry with limestone ashlar reinforcing the corners and topped with single and double machicolations; in front of its walled-up door a filled-in well is preserved. Declared bien cultural de interés nacional (Spain's highest level of heritage protection), around 1950 a Roman pedestal with a funerary inscription, found at one of its corners, entered the Museum of Reus. The town council restored it in 1987, after the collapse of the southwest corner in 1978, preventing its definitive collapse.
Monument
The Torre de l'Hort de Maria, also known as Torre del Llimó, stands outside the walls but very close to the old quarter of Cambrils. It is a circular tower about four metres in diameter and ten metres high, with a slightly conical profile, built between the 16th and 17th centuries of masonry, rounded stones and ashlar reinforced with brick; it had a central wooden pillar that supported the beams radially and preserves remains of four machicolations and several arrow slits, although its top is partly damaged. Declared bien cultural de interés nacional (Spain's highest level of heritage protection), it was erected to defend the area from attacks by Barbary pirates, especially frequent in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Monument
A 19th-century optical telegraph tower, square in plan with the lower part battered, beside the sea on the beach that bears its name, in Cambrils. It was part of the line meant to link Madrid with la Jonquera along the coast, between Valencia and Barcelona, following the standard model of these towers, used for coastal surveillance by optical signals. It was also known as Torre de la Massaguera, because of its connection to the Cambrils family Massagué Bieto, owners of the adjoining land until the late 20th century. Heavily altered, especially the interior and roof, it is considered one of the best-preserved optical telegraph towers in Spain; restored by the town council, it has been part of the Museu d'Història de Cambrils since 2005. It is Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Spain's highest level of heritage protection).
Monument
In the old quarter of Cambrils, in Baix Camp, some remains of the old wall that surrounded the town are preserved, among them a gate, a stretch of wall and a tower, grouped together on Carrer Major; the tower, called del Bou or de la Presó, is built of masonry, square in plan, and measures four by five metres with a height of seven. The gate is a voussoired round arch topped by a coat of arms. The wall was built in 1359, on the occasion of the War of the Two Peters, and was reinforced in 1406; it was besieged and largely torn down during the War of the Reapers, later rebuilt, and partly dismantled in the 18th century, once the danger of pirate attacks no longer existed. Recent urban works have brought to light new stretches of wall and towers.
Nature
A stretch of Costa Daurada beaches running nine kilometres between Cambrils and Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant, divided into two sections. To the east, next to the boundary with Salou, 4.5 km of long, shallow beaches follow one after another, with fine to medium sand and little slope, such as those of Vilafortuny, l'Esquirol or el Cavet. To the west are coves of artificial bays such as l'Horta de Santa Maria, la Llosa or l'Ardiaca, often known by the name of the nearby developments.
Historical milestone
In December 1640, at the start of the War of the Reapers, the army of the Marquis of Los Vélez besieged the villa with more than twenty thousand men. The garrison capitulated after two days of bombardment and hundreds of defenders were executed.
Historical milestone
The locality suffered fifty-five aerial bombardments between 1936 and 1939 because of its position beside the railway line and the coast. The attacks destroyed part of the fishermen's quarter and forced shelters to be dug in the old town.
Food and drink
The only fishing port of the comarca lands each afternoon at its auction some one thousand five hundred tonnes of fish a year. From there come the rice dishes, the suquets and the fideuàs that have given the villa a reputation as the gastronomic capital of the coast.