Cáparra Roman Site

What It Is

The remains of the Roman city of Cáparra, on the Vía de la Plata, the road that linked Emerita Augusta (Mérida) with Asturica Augusta (Astorga). Its origin is unclear, but it grew thanks to the road and became a Roman municipality under the emperor Vespasian, in the 1st century. It is a Site of Cultural Interest. Its best-known piece is its four-faced arch, the tetrapylon, with four round arches on piers built over the road: Extremadura Tourism presents it as unique in the peninsula.

What You Will See

The city was walled and had three gates, to the south-east, east and west. Its two main streets were the cardo and the decumanus, which is the Vía de la Plata itself as it passes through the city: you can still see its paving, the lines of the porticoes that flanked it and part of the facades of some Roman houses. Beside the arch are the forum, with remains of the basilica, the curia and three temples, and the baths, where you can make out the hot-air heating system, the palaestra and the shops that opened onto the decumanus. Three necropolises have been discovered; the route starts at one of them, beside the interpretation centre, and also passes the amphitheatre and the south-west gate.

Between 2025 and 2026 the Junta has undertaken the first major rehabilitation of the site in more than twenty years, with €1.9 million: complete refurbishment of the interpretation centre, restoration of the arch, the baths, the domus, the south-east gate and the amphitheatre, and excavation of the forum, where the full perimeter of the wall has been traced. In summer the forum hosts the extension of the Mérida Classical Theatre Festival, which in 2026 brought six productions to Cáparra.

Hours

Free entry. According to the Hervás tourist office's autumn 2026 timetable: Tuesday to Saturday, from 10:00 to 13:30 and from 16:00 to 18:00; Sundays and public holidays, mornings only, from 10:00 to 13:30. The Extremadura Tourism listing gives different hours (Tuesday to Saturday from 9:30 to 16:30, Sundays from 10:00 to 14:00, closed Mondays, 1 and 6 January and 25 December), so call beforehand on 927 19 94 85 if you are going first or last thing. It has adapted access and parking, an adapted toilet and admits guide dogs.

Getting There

It is beside the A-66 and the N-630, at the exit at kilometre 455, in the direction of Guijo de Granadilla, already in the municipality of Oliva de Plasencia. By car from Hervás, going down the valley to the south. Allow an hour and a half for the full tour. If you prefer to see it with a guide, Visitas Hervás organises guided visits to the site, and back in Hervás you can continue with the Jewish quarter.