We Watched Cartagena's Cartagineses y Romanos Festival

Cartagena's Cartagineses y Romanos festival takes over the city for two weeks every September, and if you've never seen thousands of locals march through the streets in Roman armour and Carthaginian costume, you're missing one of the best free spectacles on the Costa Calida. We drove in from Roda Golf on a Saturday night for the main parade and stayed for three of the smaller events. Here's what's actually worth your time.

1. The Desembarco Cartaginés (Carthaginian Landing)

This is the opening set-piece and it's worth planning your whole trip around. Boats "land" at the port with Aníbal's forces storming ashore in front of the harbour, complete with smoke, drums and a genuinely enormous crowd. Get to the port area at least an hour early if you want a clear sightline, the seafront fills up fast and there's no barrier-free viewing once it starts. Parking near the port is hopeless that night, so we left the car near the train station and walked in.

2. The Gran Desfile (Grand Parade)

The big one. Thousands of participants from the various "legions" and "tribus" walk the full parade route through the centre in costume, and it goes on for hours. Don't try to see it from one spot for the whole thing, the route runs past Calle Mayor and several of the squares, so pick a spot with a bar nearby and settle in. We found a table outside a bar on Calle Mayor and it turned into a three-hour evening without us planning it that way.

Best viewing spots

Plaza del Ayuntamiento gets rammed early. Calle Mayor is longer and easier to find a gap. If you've got kids, the stretch near the Roman Theatre has more room to stand back from the crowd without losing the view entirely.

3. The Feriae Cartaginenses market

A recreated Roman and Carthaginian market sets up in the old town with stalls selling food, crafts and trinkets, plus performers doing bits of theatre between the stalls. It's touristy, but it's good fun with kids and the food stalls do proper Roman-style bread and roasted meats that are worth the queue. Go in the late afternoon before the evening parades start, it's calmer and you'll actually get near the stalls.

4. The battles and skirmishes in the streets

Smaller staged fights break out around the old town on various nights, sword clashes and shouting between the two "sides", and they're free to watch without tickets. These pop up with less warning than the big parades, so check the programme boards around Plaza San Francisco if you're wandering the town during the day. We stumbled on one by accident near the Roman Theatre and it was one of the best five minutes of the whole trip.

5. Practical tips for coming from Roda Golf

Cartagena is about 25 minutes from Roda Golf and the Los Alcázares area, so it's an easy evening trip rather than a full day commitment, unless you want to make a day of it with the Roman Theatre and the museums too. A few things we learned the hard way:

• Park at the multi-storey near the Auditorio El Batel and walk in, street parking is a lost cause during festival nights.
• Book a table if you want to eat in the old town before or after the parade. Restaurants near the route get booked out days ahead.
• Wear proper shoes. The parade route is long and the cobbles in the old town aren't kind to sandals.
• If you're staying over rather than driving back, check holiday rentals near Roda Golf for something closer to the coast so you're not fighting festival traffic on the AP-7 late at night.

September's also a decent month to combine this with a quieter round of golf before the festival crowds hit Cartagena in the evening. Check the golf courses near Roda Golf if you want to get a morning round in before heading over. And if you want more on what else is worth doing locally this autumn, our Local Area posts cover the rest of the Costa Calida calendar. Worth noting: this isn't a one-night event, it runs for around two weeks, so if the big parade nights are booked out for parking or restaurants, there's usually a quieter weeknight event you can catch instead.