Cartagena

The great first-century BC Roman theatre, rediscovered in 1988 and reached through a museum that houses the finds. Dogs are not allowed inside the museum route, but the tiers are clearly visible from the streets and terraces overlooking the site.

The pedestrian spine of the centre, lined with modernista buildings and their ornate facades and café terraces. It makes for an easy leashed walk and links the neo-baroque town hall to the foot of the castle hill.

The medieval castle crowns Parque Torres, a terraced garden of peacocks and pines with sweeping views over the whole port. Leashed dogs are welcome in the park, and a panoramic lift climbs up from town to spare the slope in the heat.

The revamped waterfront runs alongside the naval basin and displays, in the open air, the Peral, the first electric-powered submarine, designed by a local engineer. The promenade is walked on leash and offers rare shade near the water, ideal late in the day.

The small urban cove closest to the centre, sheltered and easy to reach. Like the town's supervised beaches, it bans dogs in high season, so fall back on the wild beaches of Calblanque instead.

A protected regional park of long golden beaches, dunes and cliffs, some twenty kilometres to the east. These wild beaches tolerate leashed dogs away from marked areas, but summer car access is capped and there is no shade, so bring water and start early.