Cruising to Ceuta, Spain

Ceuta tourist information.

Ceuta, one of two Spanish colonies in North Africa is an 18.5-square-kilometre autonomous city located on the north coast of Africa, sharing a western border with Morocco. Ceuta and its larger sister city Melilla, situated some 250 miles further south along the coast, trace their Spanish past to the 15th century. It overlooks the mouth of the Mediterranean, a fortified port city in the shadow of a towering rock. Long notorious for its smugglers, it is now a duty-free haven, owned by a country across the sea but claimed by the sovereign nation that surrounds it.

Ceuta’s Old Town

The nerve centre of this multicultural city is the Plaza de Nuestra Señora de África, situated right in the old town, where there is a monument to those who died in the African War. Around the square stand the Sanctuary of Nuestra Señora de África, in which the image of the patron saint and permanent mayor of the city is venerated, the Cathedral, on the site of an old Muslim mosque, the City Hall and the Comandancia General military headquarters.

Ceuta enjoys a wonderful Mediterranean climate with an average temperature of 20° and 300 days of sun per year which makes it an ideal holiday destination any time of year. Because Ceuta is the point where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic, all manners of water sports and beach recreation can be found here, particular favourite with scuba divers, as this is the place where the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea meet and mingle together, thus encouraging a constant regeneration of its flora and fauna.