Tarragona - Llorito Route
This is an easy, well-connected walk because it can be started from Tarragona city, which you can reach by train and bus. The idea here is to walk up to a sanctuary on a small hill near Tarragona and, from there, enjoy the panorama of the city itself and of the sea that gives the Costa Daurada its name.
Following the route shared by user Josep Maria Dalmau, we set off on this semi-urban route, which is also steeped in history, in one of the cities with the most outstanding historical heritage in the Mediterranean. In the 16th century, Pere Mir fell ill on a trip to Italy and promised the Virgin of Loreto that if he recovered he would buy an image and build a sanctuary in her name in the city of Tarragona.
The present Sanctuary began to be built in 1957 with the help of the parishioners of Tarragona and the Ministry of Aviation. In 1964 it was inaugurated with a great popular and religious festival. Today the Sanctuary of Loreto, also known as the Llorito, offers one of the best views of Tarragona and of its cathedral.
And how do you get there? You leave Tarragona along the old Llorito path, now a well-signposted paved track, which takes you to the spring at the foot of the Llorito hill. In the past, water was carried from this spring to the city of Tarragona by a long aqueduct, parts of which still survive. Beside the spring there are some steps that act as a shortcut across one of the tightest bends of the track. From the start we take a path that will later cross the main road leading to the Llorito Sanctuary. A few metres further along the track, we take a mountain path on the left that descends until it meets another track going downhill, which we follow to the junction with the path leading to the two Llorito Caves, well hidden among the vegetation. These caves were used to extract stone and as a shelter during the Civil War. Returning to the main track, we follow the old Llorito Caves path back to the Camí del Llorito track and continue to the starting point.